Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Nigel writes: The current spell of warm April weather continues, but rather more cloudy then in recent days, and with just a touch of rain in the air. I turned up at Brookside to find Tony waiting and we were soon joined by Paul. A smartly-dressed Conrad passed by on his ride home and said he'd join us later.
We set off south along the usual route via Trumpington Road, the busway and the DNA path to Great Shelford. There we turned right for Little Shelford and followed the road to Whittlesford. A short distance beyond we crossed over the A505 and continued south through Duxford to Ickleton. From there we climbed Coploe Hill and continued to Catmere End.
I had planned to take a loop via Littlebury Green and Wenden Lofts to Elmdon, but Paul suggested we take a shortcut along the bridleway from Catmere End to Elmdon. None of us had tried this route and I was curious to discover what it was like. In retrospect this was a mistake, since it involved about a mile along a deeply rutted track and we had to dismount frequently. Some sections were muddy, though for the most part it was dry. Neverthless it was a pleasant route with some nice views, and although I don't expect I will ever use it again, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to try it at last.
When we reached Elmdon and were reunited with tarmac I celebrated with a fast ride along Hertford Lane to the double junction south of Chrishall and then an even faster descent to Chrishall Grange. We crossed over the A505 to Fowlmere and continued via Thriplow to Newton, where we stopped for a drink at The Queen's Head. After a while we were joined by Conrad and we had a pleasant half hour's char whilst I enjoyed a mug of "brown soup", the house speciality.
Afterwards we returned to Cambridge via Hauxton, the A10, Trumpington P&R and the busway to the station. I arrived back home at 9.30pm, having cycled
30 miles.
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