Sunday, 29 April 2018
John F writes: A brutal North-Easterly wind, grey skies and the threat of rain did not deter nine riders assembling at Brookside for the afternoon ride. Perhaps it was the incentive of fruit scones – the Houghton Mill specialty – which provided the incentive.
Joining us as a guest was Vic Morris whom we hope to see him again soon. Another rider arrived on foot pushing his punctured machine.
Puncture repairs at the start
This was soon rectified and we set off into the teeth of the wind at 2:15 pm. The weather and the delayed start called for a fairly direct route so we set off along the cycle track beside the Barton Road through the villages from Barton to Connington. Ducking under the A14 at Fen Stanton we continued through the Hemingfords and crossed the River Ouse flood plane to arrive at Houghton Mill at 4:15 pm. The weather meant tea was taken in the café and not at the outside picnic tables: there few other customers. The day-riders did not appear.
We left the café at 5:00 pm just as it started to rain and took the delightful Thicket Path into St. Ives past a field full of llamas (or alpacas?)
John E, possessing local knowledge, advised that there was a submerged part of the cycle track beside the busway which was a mere three or four inches deep and was passable provided one did not mind wet feet. The consensus opinion was to attempt this rather than take the detour round by Fen Stanton and Fen Drayton to Swavesey. In fact John's advice was correct and he accompanied us to the start of the submerged section before returning to his home at St. Ives. The water in the submerged section seemed well above the water in the adjacent lakes. Wouldn't digging a few drainage gullies to the lakes allow the cycle track to drain?
Sebastian sped ahead to avoid getting cold whilst the remaining seven of us cycled together with the benefit of a tailwind. We started to disperse at Histon. My Garmin recorded a distance of
40.6 miles.
John Ferguson