Things to do on a Bank Holiday

[fivemack]

Today I cycled to Peterborough.

The route is here; through the villages - there's at least one lovely thatched cottage in Rampton and Ramsey seemed smart - then out into the Fens where the roads suddenly become perfectly straight and run along the sides of perfectly straight drainage ditches. Not sure which drains they were, though the one in Ramsey Forty Foot is fairly obvious; I planned this route in my usual way by running through it a few times on Google Maps and writing down notes about which roads to turn onto, and Google Maps doesn't name the drains.

42 miles, which took between 10 and 3:15, but included a leisurely hour at the Dog in a Doublet at mile 35 eating a large steak; having nothing to do in Peterborough, I rushed the last seven miles to get to the station just in time for the 1518 back to Cambridge, so this was purely a cycle ride and not a visit to Peterborough in the slightest. Averaged ten miles an hour, which is good for me.

I'm pondering something in the Ipswich or Colchester direction for my next ride; those are sixty miles, but I think I could manage that. In theory Hills Road extends to Colchester, but I'm sure there's a more interesting route to be found than 47 miles straight down Hills Road. naath warns me that in Essex, as well as villages with names like Helions Bumpstead, there are hills.

Comments

[aendr.livejournal.com]

But there's a steam train!

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

How about Bury St Edmonds, 27 miles? via delightful Lavenham is 50 miles

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I went to Bury St Edmonds, stopping off at Ickworth on the way, about this time last year; as this time, I didn't do anything in Bury other than observe that my feet hurt and jump on the next train to Cambridge.

Starting with a train to Thetford, meandering through the forest with the sound of small-arms fire in the air (it's full of rifle ranges, training grounds and the like), lunch in Bury and a look at the abbey, afternoon tea in Lavenham and thence to Ipswich and a train back to Cambridge sounds as if it might be quite a fun cycle. I'd need to buy one more map, but the map shop is between my house and the station, and you can never have too many maps.

[lnr]

Erm, do you have a printer?

If so then you could plan your routes on Bikely and make notes of each turn there and then just print out the cue sheet.

It's *so* much nicer to use than Gmap too IME.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Did you walk to Ely a while back, or am I imagining it? I'd like to do that walk at the weekend, and wondered if you had any tips.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I walked to Ely in an effort to prove to myself that my knee had fully recovered, and it hadn't; I regretted the walk for some days.

A train derailed and destroyed the bridge at

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.380023,0.264911&spn=0.002145,0.003363&t=k&z=18&om=1

and I have a horrible feeling that the bridge-fixing activities mean you have to keep away from the river at that point, I know there are diversion signs on the west bank of the river and there's clearly a possible route on the east bank, but you probably do need a map.

Tips: the west side of the river has the best path up to Cleyhithe, after Cleyhithe you have to cross the river and there's another good path. You can cross at the first lock after Cleyhithe if you want, but this means that five miles later you are feeling like a pub and the pub is tantalisingly on the other side of the river with no bridge. Also the west side seems more prone to flooding, though you can walk on the top of the flood defences in that case.

There's a pub with good food at Cleyhithe.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Of course, our Ordnance Survey map cuts off just north of Cambridge...

What's that - 18 miles? It's twice as far as I've walked in a long time. I might decide to opt out at Waterbeach :-)

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Along the riverside from the town centre (or, probably more convenient for you, from the Elizabeth Way bridge) to Waterbeach, a meal at the pub there, and back through Landbeach and Milton is a nice walk of ten or so miles. With cows, and village greens; sadly it's not term-time so it won't be full of rowing eights.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Sold :-)