An amble to Aldreth and back (by bicycle) Part 2

The route from Aldreth to Over is almost entirely on tracks and byways with a brief bit on the A1123. The OSM Cycle Map does not yet show all the routes across. depending upon your size of screen the Streetmap view does show the tracks. Just as you reach the outskirts of Aldreth and the byway meets a road you turn left and left again onto a road called The Boot which you follow where it becomes Dam Bank Drove and Dam Bank Bridge. This picture was taken from Dam Bank Bridge where I got singled - that is the only problem with wearing sandals for cycling. The picture is of North Fen Drain with Gall Fen to the right

Just by the Bridge there is a private track with a few dilapidated buildings. The land is around 2 or 3m above sea level at this point at the bottom of the track are some buildings marked on the map as Haddenham Engine (Pumping Station) and near that is Frog's Hall.

Looking back towards Aldreth from the same bridge you can see a Water tower and Communication Tower. The land there reaches a peak of 37m above seal level and is where the village of Haddenham is found - not to be confused with the one in Oxfordshire. The road you can see leads back towards Aldreth. There were a lot of irrigation pumps operating in the fields. After dam Bank Bridge the road turns right and after 0.5Km there is a byway to the left (Gravel Pit Drove). The direction you head in is clear - the track is mainly a mud track (dry when I cycled along it).

The track then turns slightly and becomes Upper Delph Drive and becomes a farm road and you emerge onto the A1123 next to Hermitage Farm. The A1123 is quite busy but wide enough that it is not too bad after about 1Km you reach Hermitage Marina and this lock across the River Great Ouse. The road you can see is the B1050 and heads to Willingham. The route I took turns down the B1050 (Shelford's Road) before taking a small road just after the bridge over the River Great Ouse. If you follow the link it is the road on the left. As far as I can remember there is not a signpost as it is a road.

The "road" was one made up of concrete slabs - they seem to have folded and crumbled - it is not too difficult to cycle along - it is very bumpy and you (well I) cannot go very quickly along it. I passed the signs of a recent burnt out car. I also passed a pickup truck going in the other direction. (The track is called Long Holme Drive at this point.)

There are sand and gravel pits marked on the map and by the looks of things extraction is still taking place (or was up until recently) if these conveyor systems are anything to go by.

Looking the other way I could see the Communications tower alongside the Cambridge Guided Busway near Over along with the Over Water Tower.

This is a picture of the track - it looks quite innocuous but the way the concrete has broken up makes it quite bumpy - it was certainly providing a good shakedown for my newly repaired Marin.

When I reached Over I tried to find a convenient way onto the CGB to return to Cambridge I took a road by some allotments which led to a path through a field of grass and then a plank over a ditch and then another plank over a ditch. It was a good job I was doing this in the daylight and it was dry. After I got home I had a look to see where I had cycled. I had cycled down Mustill's Lane, which unfortunately is not a right of way - although it is clear that it is in regular use as a footpath.

TI had parked my bike using the concrete tracks - I won't be able to do this when the CGB starts running. The bridge in the distance is Windmill Bridge and as two landmarks either side of the CGB track. The bridge takes the Longstanton road between Over and Longstanton.

This is the type of "bridge" that has been put in place to get over the ditches For this path there were two such bridges to be crossed.

Just a short way along there was a Bridleway marked - which, as you can see, is used by cyclists. The odd thing is that this does not appear on the OS map, but does appear on the OSM Cycle map. I checked the Cambridge County Council "Rights of Way" map and it does appear on that but just out of sight seems to dog-leg right onto the Longstanton Road. There also appears to be a way through from just before Norman Way - but I have no idea whether that is a right of way or not. I did not check how the path crosses the ditch, but the track surface does not look to inviting and anyone using it will have to take their chances crossing the concrete track when buses are running. There does not appear to be any signage or ramp for those needing to cross over the track unlike in other places on the route. It amazes me that we can spend huge amounts of money on something like the CGB but not get some of the smaller, but essential details right.

Further along I came to the byway between Rampton and Longstanton. This has a "crossing". On one side of the CGB is is Rampton Road on the other it is Reynolds' Drove. I did not hang around waiting for cyclists to appear when I took these pictures - they just happened along. I wonder if there are more cyclists because of the CGB - although I would imagine the construction caused some access problems. Again a pity that there was not a little more attempt at improving the Byways in return for the hassle caused by the construction of the CGB.

At the moment I find that the cycle track on the CGB is pretty good, except where it is/was flooded and where it is waiting for a hard surface. I am not so sure it will stand up to a lot of the larger maintenance vehicle use though. (Tractors tend to imprint their tyre treads on paths like this - and imprinted tractor treads are unpleasant to cycle along. It is a real shame that it was not possible to build a decent cycle track I am sure that it would attract more bus users wanting to be able to mix cycle and bus transport for their own convenience. Perhaps the one challenge is that because it is pretty open it might be less pleasant when it is very windy - but what roads aren't less pleasant on a bike in the wind. Of course that is where there is an advantage to being able to mix cycling and buses. I don't think you will be able to carry your bus on the bike though - which is a missed opportunity.

My ride along the CGB was later than usual after 6pm I think. As well as the cyclists crossing the CGB I also passed 11 cyclists using the maintenance/cycle track and 21 cyclists using the concrete tracks. It takes some concentration to cycle on the concrete - the width is not great and you risk banging a pedal on the edge so it shows that there is a sufficient benefit to cycling along the smoother concrete that significant numbers of cyclists prefer it.