A bank holiday shopping trip

What better time for a bike ride than a bank holiday morning when traffic is light and those cafés that are normally shut on a Monday remain open for the long weekend.

Atop Coploe Hill

So it was that eight Spokers headed out into the hill country beyond Ickleton and pulled in for refreshments at Compass Courtyard and the Mixing Shed Café. Surrounded by rolling farmland this is a delightful place to hang out on a sunny morning, sup coffee and enjoy some rather good cake.

And it was here while browsing a display of garden knick knacks, that Dom took a shine to a fine garden gnome.

Dom and friend

Meanwhile Jan was rather taken with a sausage dog bench, so much so that later that day she went back and bought one for the grandchildren.

Jan's dachshund

26 miles clockwise from Stapleford

Ticket to Ride

No one wants to out-pedal a fenland headwind - we're too, er, mature to faff with that. So the forecast of a favourable tailwind made this the perfect day for the homeward ride from Ely to Shelford.

So it was that nine Spokers - Hetty, Jan, Jenny, Jeremy, Paul, Peter, Phil and two Brians - put their bikes on the train at shiny new Cambridge South, dismbarked at Ely and set off along the river on the 24 mile ride home. What larks!

Pausing for a breather at Burwell Lode

Pulling in a Wicken Fen, we enjoyed coffee and cake at the National Trust café and shared some Shelford gossip before setting off again towards home. We had the usual upper body workout hauling the bikes up and over the bridge at Burwell Lode(*) but, that apart, it was plain sailing all the way and we were home in time for lunch.

24 miles homeward from Ely

(* It seems there is a hold-up in the National Trust's plan to replace that awful bridge over Burwell Lode; see the recent press release.)

Tour de Cambridge

This week not one but two guest riders - Paul and Ray - joined eight old timers on our regular Monday morning outing. Paul, being local, was familiar with much of the route but for Ray, who was visiting from South Africa, it was all new. So it seemed appropriate to have a scenic tour of Cambridge by way of back roads, cycle-ways and - thankfully only briefly - a very bumpy farm track, with Brian leading the way on twisty routes through Grantchester and Coton Country Park.

All smiles - and look, no potholes - on the newly resurfaced Adams Road

Pulling in at Milton Country Park (two Country Parks on one ride!) we enjoyed coffee and cake overlooking the lake, before setting off on the return leg via the delightful River Cam towpath.

24 miles clockwise from Little Shelford

 

Spring is in the air!

Seven Spokers enjoyed a 25 mile, traffic-free jaunt to Waterbeach and back, the outbound leg mostly on quiet cycleways, returning via the River Cam towpath. We were particularly impressed with the new cycle / foot bridge spanning the A10 linking Landbeach and Waterbeach.

25 miles clockwise from Shelford

A dry day, at last!

Paul, Brian, Dom, Jenny and Hetty taking a breather by Madingley Hall

After the wettest January on record, it was good to get out on relatively dry roads. Brian - the one from Sawston - did sustain a puncture but that was soon fixed and we were back in time for lunch.

25 miles clockwise from Shelford - coffee at The Station House, Histon

Hilly and wet!

A bit murky atop Coploe Hill

Club regulars know better than to trust Brian's weather forecasts - and when he says it's going to be dry it's best to take no chances. So it was that Monday's ride, while dry in parts, was distinctly wet in others. Just as well then that most had packed wet weather gear and were prepared for the worst.

24 miles clockwise from Shelford