Sunday, 01 February 2015
Nigel writes: Today was forecast to be a dull day with wind and wintry showers. In the event, it turned out to be a relatively bright day with a strong north-westerly wind which, apart from a few spots of rain at one point, remained dry for the whole ride.
The unpromising weather meant than when I cycled across to Brookside for the start of today's ride I didn't expect to find anyone else waiting. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find John E, Ian D and Seb getting ready to set off.
We didn't have a designated leader today so we set off in the appropriate direction and discussed our route as we cycled along. This took us east along the river to Ditton Meadows and then via Fen Ditton to Quy.
As we approached Quy Church we caught up with Mick C and Edward who were making their own way straight to coffee.
Ditton Meadows, Cambridge
The designated coffee stop today was in Fordham, and since everyone else was planning to return home afterwards rather than continue to lunch in Ely, I suggested we take a longer route to coffee and then ride straight back afterwards.
From Quy we followed the main B1102 to Lode where we turned north into the fens. After a mile and a half we turned east once more onto White Fen Drove.
Crossing Swaffham Bulbeck Lode
We crossed the bridge over Swaffham Bulbeck Lode and then turned north to Upware. This took us along a single-track road with passing places, but a steady series of cars wanting to pass us made this less of a quiet backwater than usual.
With a strong headwind we made slower progress than I had expected and so by the time we reached the A1123 I suggested we abandon my earlier plan to continue to Barway and Soham and instead turn east and ride directly along the main road to Soham, from where it was a further couple of miles to Fordham.
We arrived at Simpsons Nurseries in Fordham at about 11.45pm, much later than usual, but since we were all planning to go home afterwards it didn't matter. As we arrived, we passed Ian W who was heading east, presumably to lunch in Ely.
After coffee we returned to Cambridge via Burwell, Reach, the Swaffhams and Bottisham. At Quy I said goodbye to my companions and rode off ahead. When I reached Fen Ditton I decided to take the opportunity to visit Ben Hayward Cycles in Horningsea and buy a new rain jacket, taking advantage of the 10% discount they offer to CTC members.
Afterwards I returned to Fen Ditton and continued the short distance back to Cambridge by the same route was in the morning. Because of my shopping trip it was about 3pm when I arrived home, having cycled
42 miles.
Download
GPS track (GPX).
1 comments from old website
Friday 6th Feb 2015 at 11.13pm
This comment has been removed by the author.