Sunday, 13 October 2013
Nigel writes: The forecast for today was for rain and wind, and when I looked out of the window at 8am both were much in evidence, so I decided not to join the all-day ride but to go out in the afternoon.
By the time the afternoon arrived the wind and rain had subsided and when I arrived at Brookside at 2pm I found our leader, Jacob, waiting there with Steve, Mike CC, Steve, Jeremy, Conrad, John and Sarah. We set off south out of Cambridge down Trumpington Road and then via some of the city's most expensive back streets to Long Road and the busway.
On the way out of Cambridge
We followed the busway south as far as Addenbrooke's and then turned onto the DNA path to Great Shelford. From there we took the road to Little Shelford and Whittlesford.
Whittlesford
We crossed over the A505 and continued to Duxford. At the nearby airfield an air display was in progress and when we reached the turn to Grange Road we discovered that it was closed to motor traffic, as is usual on such occasions, to make it more pleasant for the dozens of cost-conscious plane-spotters lining the road. This long, straight road runs along the southern side of the airfield, and as we rode through we, too, were able to pause and admire the acrobatics overhead.
There was much evidence of the earlier rain which forced us to splash through some substantial, but not very deep, puddles.
Flooding on Grange Road, Duxford
When we reached Chrishall Grange we paused to wait for the stragglers to catch up. It turned out that Jeremy had had a puncture and Mike CC had stopped to help, leaving the rest of us to continue left up the hill towards Heydon. I was feeling energetic and, after informing the leader what I was doing, rode ahead with Sarah. We continued through Heydon to Great Chishill where we rook the right turn back down the hill to Flint Cross.
We were now riding north, and for the first time realised that there was a strong northerly wind and we found ourselves in that rather unsatisfying position of having to keep pedalling to travel downhill. When we reached the bottom we crossed the A505 and continued to Fowlmere. From here it was just another couple of miles to Shepreth. About a mile before we got there it started raining quite heavily but fortunately we had only a few more minutes cycling before we could stop for tea at the Teacake Cafe. As I had expected, Jeremy and Mike CC were already there (having taken a short cut after fixing the puncture) and a few minutes later we were joined by Jacob and the rest of the group.
Two cakes (each) at the Teacake Cafe, Shepreth
After tea we emerged from the cafe to discover that the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. Our route home took us through Barrington and up Chapel Hill. We descended the hill to Haslingfield, turned left to Barton, and then followed the A603 back to Cambridge. Although I had brought my lights I didn't need them, and I arrived home at 5.35pm, about 40 minutes before sunset, having cycled a modest
33 miles.
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1 comments from old website
Sunday 13th Oct 2013 at 7.14pm
Delighted to see you all and pleased you enjoyed your stop at Teacake.
www.teacakeatshepreth.co.uk