Sunday, 26 June 2016
Peter writes: Hoping for a more pleasant afternoon than the previous day (hail in Cambridge!), six of us left Brookside: John F, Matt, Mike K, Stan, Simon and myself.
We headed straight down Hills Road, using the finished part of the cycleway, on to Worts Causeway and over the hill into Fulbourn, aiming to get out of town as quickly as possible. We then continued through the Wilbrahams and on to Brinkley. Here is John with a great view behind him on the climb up from Six Mile Bottom:
John climbing from Six Mile Bottom
At Carlton Green we decided we had time for a longer loop via Temple End Road and The Thurlows. Here we are with the sun out:
The ride at Carlton Green (John is behind the camera)
The roads around the loop had been hit pretty badly by the previous days' weather: there was an informal ford at one point and countless places with gravel and earth scattered right across the road so care was needed. At Withersfield the ride got separated as some of us didn't hear me call to turn right towards West Wratting. After a token attempt to chase them I gave up and led the rest to the tea stop. The others turned up about ten minutes later, having taken a longer loop (I was not too worried as they all know the area.)
Tea at The Chestnut Tree, West Wratting
There were eighteen of us at tea in total. Afterwards most of the ride returned straight back via Balsham to Cambridge, but a small group came with me via Dullingham and Swaffham Bulbeck for a bit more riding. Along the way I had a good chat with Lesley about her electric bike conversion; her bike is a similar vintage to mine and she has added a new front wheel, battery pack and sensor, and the result seemed to be working very well. I arrived home at 7pm after riding around
47 miles. This was good timing as heavy rain started about half an hour later.
Peter Hutchison