Sunday, 21 October 2012
Peter writes: It was a gloomy, overcast day, mild but with rain forecast for later in the afternoon, so it was a pleasant surprise to find nine other riders ready to leave from Brookside. We avoided the chaos in Hills Road by heading down Trumpington Road, and on to the guided busway by the cycle path from Long Road, which I had never used before!
A quick circuit of Addenbrookes brought us on to Worts Causeway and up into the Gog Magog Hills on the way to Fulbourn and the Wilbrahams. From here we turned towards Six Mile Bottom and found the road very busy with people loading vintage tractors on to lorries. We had to wait for a while and one rider got a bit too close to a reversing lorry for comfort but no harm done. After that we headed on up towards Brinkley and stopped for a photo. Leaden skies!
Time was moving on so I decided to turn right from here past the Woodland Cemetery, to allow time for a short loop through Weston Colville on the way to the Chestnut Tree in West Wratting, where we were welcomed with an excellent tea, and when the day ride arrived there were a total of 15 of us. Good turnout!
On the way home the rain started in earnest though it never got heavy enough to be unpleasant. The daylight was fading as we came across Stourbridge Common in the gloom and some local lads were very complimentary about my headlamp (along the lines of "your lights are ****ing bright mate!") Certainly brighter than their (non-existent) lights.
I arrived home just after 6pm having cycled a leisurely 34 miles. It was pretty much dark - winter is coming and with the clocks going back next weekend we'll be needing lights consistently for afternoon rides now.
Peter Hutchison