Sunday, 23 April 2017
Nigel writes: I had done rather a lot of cycling over Easter so was happy that today's ride was relatively short: what we call a "short day ride", which means that it had stops for coffee and lunch and then returned back directly to Cambridge without stopping for tea. My companions at Brookside for the first part of the ride were Alex, Rupert, Ray, Tom, Susan and John S our leader.
Brookside
It's really not very far from Cambridge to our coffee stop in Ickleton, and with a full two hours to get there John took an appropriately circuitous route to get there.
On the Barton Road cycleway
We set off along the Barton Road cycleway to Barton, turned off to Haslingfield and climbed over Chapel Hill to Barrington.
Chapel Hill
It was a rather dull morning, and although it felt relatively mild whilst we were stationary, the moment we started moving we felt the chill of the cold air.
From Barrington we continued through Shepreth to Fowlmere, crossed the A505 to Chrishill Grange and then undertook the long but gentle climb to Chrishall.
On Hertford Lane approaching Elmdon
That was just about the last of the climbing for now: after Elmdon we enjoyed a long and fast descent back down to Ickleton, and arrived for coffee at Riverside Barns about fifteen minutes early at 10.45am.
After coffee at Riverside Barns, Ickleton
After coffee we re-grouped: Rupert and Susan returned to Cambridge and we were joined by Sue, Ian B and Mike S (on electric bike) for the next stage of the ride, to Buntingford for lunch.
As we climbed Coploe Hill, the sun came out and the armwarmers came off.
Coploe Hill
Langley
After a very pleasant meander through Langley, Meesden and all three Pelhams we arrived in Buntingford at about 1.30pm. Our lunch venue was Buntingford Coffee Shop, where we found David W waiting for us.
After lunch at Buntingford Coffee Shop
After lunch we returned directly back to Cambridge along the B1368. I arrived home at about 4.20pm, having cycled 105km (
65 miles)
Nigel Deakin
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GPS track (GPX).