Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Nigel writes: It had been very windy earlier, but by 6pm conditions had calmed down considerably, allowing our first moonlight ride of 2017 to take place on a breezy but dry evening; quite cloudy but with enough breaks to allow us to enjoy the full moon for much of the time. The temperature was a steady 5C, relatively mild compared with the freezing temperatures forecast for later in the week.
My companions this evening were Gareth, Sven and Dimitris, and together we enjoyed a very pleasant spin round the hills on the Essex border, taking the familiar loop down to Ickleton, over Coploe Hill, along Royston Lane and then back via Chrishall Grange and Fowlmere.
This was my first evening ride using my new
dynamo-powered front light, and Gareth helped me align it to provide a good, long view of the road ahead: not as dazzlingly bright as my Exposure battery light but illuminating much more of the road ahead (and of course never needing a recharge).
After a couple of hours we stopped for refreshments at The Plough in Shepreth.
At The Plough, Shepreth
We stayed rather longer than usual this evening, with three of us ordering meals and one of us ordering the traditional bowl of chips. I think that we all felt we deserved to indulge ourselves slightly, having braved a January evening for a bike ride - even though conditions were actually fairly benign.
Afterwards we set off back to Cambridge via Barrington and Chapel Hill, arriving back in central Cambridge slightly later than usual at about 10.15pm. According to my Garmin I had cycled 55km (
34 miles).
Nigel Deakin
Download
GPS track (GPX).