Saturday, 07 July 2018
Roll up for the mystery tour!
John S writes: I always enjoy Ian's Saturday morning rides, because every time I go on one, I will be taken along a road or track near Cambridge I have never used before. Last Saturday's ride proved to be no exception. Twelve of us met at Brookside, where it was great to see Tom out riding again, after a few months off the bike.
We set off towards Grange Road and through the West Cambridge university site towards the 'new town' of Eddington. Here, Ian took a left turn down an unpromising path into what looked like a contractors' entrance to the building site, but which led on to a detour around Brook Leys lake that features two pieces of Public Art created by artists Winter and Hoerbelt. The first of these – the Fata Morgana Tea House is a modern day folly, made out of stainless steel grating.
The Fata Morgana Tea House, Brook Leys
There are two spiral staircases that lead up to a viewing platform, from which you can look out over the lake through the steel mesh. It feels a bit like being trapped inside a giant chip slicer.
A little further on, we passed Pixel Wall, which is a curved wall with a mirrored surface which distorts the reflection of the landscape.
Pixel Wall, Brook Leys
The artists say that they created these sculptures 'around the idea of a 'wanderer', someone who journeys without destination or purpose instead focusing on their perception and experience of their surroundings'. After pausing for a while to meditate on our surroundings, we set off again with a very clear destination and purpose in mind – Cottenham and cake.
From Eddington we proceeded through Girton to join the busway, and then turned off this at Reynolds Drove, a useful short stretch off off-road that leads to Rampton, from where we proceeded to Cottenham along the cycle path, up to the point where it becomes a narrow re-designated footpath. Our coffee stop was at Cottenham Community Centre, which is also a regular Thursday stop. Here orders were taken and delivered with the usual speed and efficiency.
From Cottenham, we proceeded to Landbeach, where we had a stop to walk across the fields to visit
Landbeach Tithe Barn. From here we took the road to Waterbeach, and on to Clayhithe, where we picked up the river path towards Cambridge, which for once was largely free of obstruction by anglers and rowing coaches on bikes. We all went our separate ways when we got to Green Dragon Bridge.
Thanks to Ian for another great Saturday ride, which introduced me to old and new structures I would never have been aware of if I hadn't taken part in this mystery tour. I didn't take my camera on the ride, so I hope our webmaster will make a special exception and accept pictures with no obvious cycling connection.
John Seton
Download
GPS track (GPX).