Sunday, 03 July 2011
Conrad writes: 10 riders, including myself, turned up at Brookside this afternoon for the ride to West Wratting. This being the weekend of the 4th of July, I decided to wear my Bike USA jersey which I thought, if nothing else, would not attract as many of those flies that you see on country roads this time of the year because it was not a high-viz yellow (I was subsequently proven wrong on that count).
Today's route saw us negotiating the exceptionally heavy pedestrian and bike traffic (there was the annual Run for Life today and some colleges were holding graduation ceremonies) on Parker's Piece, MidSummer Common and the river path to Fen Ditton. From there, it was the usual route to Stow cum Quy and Bottisham.
This weekend was also the start of the Tour de France, and while there are no hors categorie climbs in the Cambridge area, we did make the long gentle climb from Bottisham to Swaffham Bulbeck, and then to Dullingham and up to Brinkley. My original plan was to carry on to Carlton, go down Temple End to the Thirlows, then climb up to Withersfield and onto the tea stop at West Wratting.
However, adaptation has become the theme of my afternoon rides and we decided to spend time at the Brinkley Village Fete instead. To the dismay of some riders, the beer and barbeque tents had closed, but there was still something for everyone. Mike K bought an old road map of the North; Jacob kept to the motto of the CTC (cake to cake) and had two cupcakes; and Howard admired the row of classic cars parked on the green.
By the time we left Brinkley it was already 4pm so I decided to take the direct route via Carlton to the tea stop at West Wratting. We arrived just in time to catch Adrian, Mike Cousins, Averil and Greta leaving. Inside the Chestnut Tree, we met the remaining day riders and after half an hour talking over cake and sandwiches, we made our way back to Cambridge via three groups :- Jacob with his customary off-road adventures on the Roman Road; Nigel going the longer route via Six Mile Bottom, and I led a small group via the direct way to Balsham, Fulbourn, Cherry Hinton, the Snakey path to Mill Road and finally to Brookside.
Total distance =
38 miles Conrad ChuaView this route on a larger map