Sunday, 12 February 2017
Nigel writes: The weather today was similar to last Sunday: dull and damp all day. When I arrived at Brookside for the start of today's ride I found seven other riders waiting: Rupert, Alex, Eva, Tom, John R, Nick W and John Seton, our leader for today.
Brookside, Cambridge
It's not far from Cambridge to Ickleton, so I was expecting John to fill the time by taking us on a loop before heading to the cafe. And so it turned out, though since John had forgotten his wallet, the loop was quite a short one, to John's house to collect it, after which we rode more or less directly to our coffee stop at Ickleton Barns. That meant we were there by 10.30am, allowing us plenty of time for a relaxing and sociable breakfast. After a while a number of other members arrived: Mick, Edmind and Adrian.
Coffee at Ickleton
After coffee we re-grouped, with John S leading Tom, Eva, Alex, Edmund and me on to lunch, and everyone else returning back to Cambridge.
About to climb Coploe Hill
Arkesden
Our lunch stop today was the Elder Street Cafe at Debden Barns. I've only been here a couple of times before, but it's already become one of my favourite places to visit, and one of the few where the quality of the food leads some of my companions to reach for the wine list. I think this is a nice feature of our short winter rides: since we're going to be riding home afterwards we're not in a hurry and can enjoy a sociable, leisurely lunch.
Lunch at Elder Street Cafe, Debden Barns
John's "Fen Man's Dockey"
Afterwards we didn't take the shortest route home but instead turned north-east towards Radwinter and Ashdon before turning west towards Cambridge. This involved lifting our bikes over the A11 footbridge at Abington followed by an unsurfaced path across a field to Babraham.
Approaching Babraham
At Babraham we took the opportunity to try out the new cycleway through the Babraham Research Campus which opened last week. This was entirely satisfactory and brought us out on the A1307 opposite the point where the cycleway from Cambridge ends.
The new cycleway through the Babraham Research Campus
Wandlebury
When we reached the edge of Cambridge we parted ways and I continued the short distance home, arriving there by about 4pm, having cycled a modest but pleasant 91km (
56 miles).
Nigel Deakin
Download
GPS track (GPX).