I have quite a lot going on in life at the moment and felt the need to go for a longer ride, really to think thoughts but also to test my endurance in the saddle. I have cycled around 2000Km/1250miles since being give the OK after having my collar bone broken by an inattentive motorist. After a lay-off from cycling of six weeks I was surprisingly tender in a number of places at first but I have now gotten to the point where things have almost returned to pre-break levels. A pleasant run from Cambridge is via the Sustrans Route 11 up to King's Lynn, then depending upon timing, work and fitness levels I have the option of catching a train back to Cambridge or stations on the way.
In order to justify my cycling time I sometimes take some work with me and do it on the train. I have also been known to check the wind direction and either cycle to or from King's Lynn with the wind behind me! (Letting the train take the strain of heading into the wind).
The weather was pleasant there was some wind but less than 10miles per hour so I cycled up to Kings Lynn and depending upon how I felt would make a decision about how far to come back by train when I got there. One of the delights of the Sustrans' Routes is that they often follow little used roads and car-free tracks. Where the route gets to Ely it runs alongside the Great River Ouse with views across the city to the Cathedral. The cycle track is the brown strip to the left of the tree.
Here is the same aspect in close-up. You might also be able to see the Railway Station in front, to the left of the Cathedral.
Although I know Ely quite well and have cycled this way many times I normally do not take the Sustrans route out of the city. Sustrans pick picturesque routes on the whole, but they are not always even remotely direct. The truth is that I am not quite sure where it goes through Ely the signing is sometimes a little ambiguous. This time I did follow it but still got lost and took a route I knew to meet up with the actual route. My route was even more scenic than the Sustrans route. generally I cycle from Ely to Litteport by one of two routes and then cycle along a small road to Ten Mile Bank, which is the other side of the river to the A10 road (My alternate routes are actually both part of the Southern Loop of the Fens Cyclkeway. The route then joins with Sustrans 11 at Ten Mile Bank. However this time I followed route 11 from Pymoor up past Welney Wildlife Centre which has recently been expanded to make provision for even more cars. I am not sure quite how you square the circle of protecting wildlife whilst facilitating even more cars to pollute the environment - but there you go with, expensive trains and limited access by bus then the car is king at the moment. The community of Welney have their own website as well.
On reaching Ten Mile Bank (at around 64Km/40miles) it was time for a drink and some nourishment. My cycling snack of choice has to be Jelly Babies - tasty energy packed sweets. Here are a couple of Jelly Babies looking to escape their fate by stealing my bike. They did not make it!
The route into King's Lynn follows an off-road path for the last few kilometres/miles alongside the Great River Ouse as it passes through King's Lynn. On the other side of the path is an old industrial area that is being re-vamped. They are constructing some large buildings with what looks like cladding intended to look like windows - but is not. There will be some interesting reflections when they finish it though.
This is one of the buildings being constructed - you need to imagine the building as straight - it only looks bent because of the way the 4 pictures were stitched together. Pretty long though.
Once in King's Lynn there is a nice route along by the side of the river, you can see West Lynn across on the other bank.
Like most places that rely, to some degree, on tourism there are information panels around. Here is one in King's Lynn that details the history and describes some of the buildings.
This chap is Captain George Vancouver RN - who amongst other things explored and precisely charted much of the North American coastline from San Diego up to Anchorage Alaska. I presume that Vancouver is named after him. As it happens we holidayed in Canada last year in 2008 and visited Vancouver and also went up into Alaska. I cycled from Canada into Alaska into a place called Skagway during the trip - but on hired bikes. His connection with King's Lynn? He was born there in 1757.
The nautical history of King's Lynn as an important port is highlighted by these anchors laid out in the street.
I then caught the train from King's Lynn to Ely and cycled back from Ely. That cut some of the journey, but still allowed me to clock up a reasonable distance. The first time I did this run I had no idea quite what the deal was with taking my bike on the train. It turns out that unlike the train from Cambridge to London which does not allow bikes during rush hour (improbably long times in the morning and late afternoon) bikes were free and could go on any train. Trains run every hour and only once have I turned up just as a train was leaving. Most of the time I get there, buy some lunch and hop on the train eat my lunch and then it leaves. If you try this train the trick is to park your bike on the right hand side at one of the exit doors. All of the platforms until Cambridge are on the left, that way the bike does not get in the way of passengers getting on or off.
These pictures are actually taken a day later but are on the route from Ely to home. I could not resist taking a picture of my speedo showing 64,000Km - this speedo is used on my Longstaff and Marin which together have done 64,000Km/40,000miles since March 28th, 2003. I have clocked up additional miles on my MTB, Brompton and Tandem though.
This is arable country and as the Flatlands of East Anglia are relatively dry require quite a lot of irrigation. This was taken across from the Railway Station in Ely. The water comes from drainage ditches and you can see loads of it being pumped onto the land.
People often talk about the wide open skies of East Anglia - here is one such picture - I took it because of the interesting clouds.
So whilst not the longest cycle ride I have ever been on it was a great day out after the clavicle break - in the end I did around 130Km/80miles and spent around 5 hours in the saddle and according to my Garmin GPS expended 4,500kcal's. My shoulder, legs and bottom showed no signs of problems although I did notice a bit of chafing - not so bad it required cream though.
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