Thursday, 27 September 2018
Edward writes: Earlier in the week our village ride to Balsham and Isleham had no leader and it would have been a great shame if the ride had to be cancelled as the weather was nigh on perfect. Therefore we owe a debt of gratitude to Ian Bamborough who stepped in fairly late on to rescue the ride.
In Great Shelford under blue skies six members met, and right at the last minute Averil, true to form, arrived to make her entrance giving us seven all together.
For the shortish journey to Balsham we took the road out to Whittlesford where we were joined by Greg, Phil and Mike B, making ten of us. Not bad considering there was an away week in Suffolk for some of our regular cyclists; in fact with the nine from the city this was a decent turnout. A gentle westerly wind assisted our progress from Whittlesford to Sawston and then out to the cycleway alongside the A505 to Abington.
Sawston
Abington
After Hildersham, with the assistance of the following wind, the climb up to Balsham was made in relative comfort and this enabled us to arrive at the Old Butchers Shop before those city slickers. The Old Butchers shop has in a very short time since its opening become a firm favourite and it was very pleasant sitting outside on the patio.
Coffee at Balsham
After the usual shuffling around of personnel the village group set of on their journey to Isleham which took us first through West Wratting and then on a slightly north easterly direction through Dullingham and then crossing all the roads that lead into Newmarket before reaching Moulton and that hill. In fact it's steeper coming up from the other side so going down was fast at over 30 mph! This represented the last of the climbs and once we crossed the A1506 at Kentford, the A14 and the A11 we came into more fen-like territory and the flat lands. Once in Chippenham it was just the long straight ride into Isleham and lunch and a further 21 miles under our belts.
Leaving Balham
Leaving Balham
At the Griffin pub we all sat out in the sunshine and although someone at the pub hadn't left a note to say that we were coming it wasn't busy and they coped well enough and in fact were probably appreciative of our coming.
I had to leave early from lunch but I followed Ian's route which went through Soham and this was into the wind for the first time today. From Soham it was the back road to Barway, passing G's food processing plant followed by the cycle route to Wicken and Upware and the Lodes Way through to Lode. Quite unexpectedly the route didn't go along the new cycleway to Stow-cum-Quy but instead carried on to Bottisham and then the Wilbrahams and Fulbourn. After so much riding on the flat Ian must have decided that another hill to finish with would be just what we required. This accomplished it was through the hospital on the DNA path to the finish in Great Shelford after
65 splendid miles. A special thanks to Ian for taking us round on what was a most enjoyable route.
Download
GPS track (GPX).