How can you fit cycling in to the day as I generally work from home then I do not have a commute - which is both a sensible way to get in some exercise and sets you up for the day. The only downside is that it is not generally as nice early in the morning or towards the end of the day.
When I did have to commute the shortest route was around 7miles/11Km but I generally took the scenic route which as around 0.5miles/ 1 Km longer but much nicer. In the Summer though I could extend the ride to around 20miles/32Km - grab a shower at work and then take the shorter route home - it was a great way of cycling without taking away "home" time. Although my job used to do that - it involved quite a bit of travel - enjoyable but quite tough on the family.
So now I don't have to commute there is also less impetus to get up early for a cycle ride - I generally try to sneak out late afternoon. Today though the weather was looking wonderful and so I packed a bit of lunch and a drink, ice and lemon squash in my CamelBak Chill (was called Chilljacket - but appears to be the same). Two goals - to check out the orange flower I could not identify the day before and to sit on one of the benches on White Fen and have my lunch. A great way to combine two important activities - lunch and exercise.
So the first thing to do was head out on Sustrans 51 to the bit near the Quy Mill Hotel to get some better pictures of the orange flowers. I had stopped to take the pictures when another cyclist went by - I am convinced that cycle paths and quiet but direct routes away from traffic get people out cycling. This bit from Cambridge to the eastern villages has always been quite busy when I have been by in the evening "rush-hour". Now it has lights in the path by the airfield let's hope it gets even more people cycling.
It was not so windy today the strange flower shape was actually not at all strange - it was a form of poppy. It is a California poppy (Eschscholzia california) , not a UK Wildflower but an invasive species. Perhaps something we will see more of as the climate gets warmer here in the flatlands. According to Wikipedia the flower closes at night and in cold or windy weather which is when I saw it (windy) and mistook it for something strange.
This is a plant that I recognised straightaway growing near the California Poppy. This is known as Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis. This species of flower was associated with the rhyme "Granny pop out of bed" when I was a boy. You pop the flower off (at someone, I was a boy) whilst saying the rhyme. Whilst checking out websites to help identify flowers this one popped up with some nice photography. It is worth checking out the section on East Anglia - I must visit some of the places photographed and discussed.
Then I nipped back towards High Ditch Road to take Lower Fen Drove Way round Snout Corner up onto the Horningsea Road and then the Harcamlow Way towards Lode. As you can see the weather was glorious - with small white clouds in a blue sky.
The route I took was the permissive "by-way" around the back of the NT Anglesey Abbey estate. The white building peeping out is Lode Mill currently undergoing restoration, or at least it was when I visited earlier in the year - it might well have been completed by now. I did take this as three exposures but I did not hold the camera steady enough and the resultant HDR picture was badly blurred - more so than normal.
The next part of the route was White Fen where I popped up a track and back. There are a lot of plants growing in the ditches.
The same scene but with more on view as it is made up of 4 photographs. The ditch in the previous picture is on the left and the picture takes in a 90degree sweep. This is what they mean when they talk about East Anglia's wide open skies.
Then a quick stop for lunch - sausage rolls, Wensleydale and tomatoes and a Bakewell tart - exceedingly good. After that I decided to carry on around Wicken Fen. This is Headlake Drove - which will be part of the new cycle and walking route - Lodes Way. It is good to see that they are putting in a Public Convenience - I guess that because this is a quiet and secluded bit of countryside there is no need put up an unsightly building around. I wonder if they will use a reed bed approach to deal with the output!
After cycling back through Wicken Fen a (yet another) picture of the new Bridge over Reach Lode (part of Lodes Way). I have to say I am impressed this bridge looks good - it is there, but attractive and not obtrusive. (IMHO) I had to use full zoom to get the picture from CockUp bridge (Burwell Lode).
On the way round the back of Burwell, a road called Weirs Drove (part of Sustrans 11) I noticed that hay-making has started - as they say make hay while the sun shines. It has been cut and it looks as if it has been recently turned - they turn it a few times to help ensure it is dry before baling.
On the way back I did not hang about - but somewhere, and I can't remember where, I stopped to take this picture - it was the tractor tracks in the field pointing in almost the same direction that the clouds were pointing that I wanted to capture.
I got back home refreshed and refuelled and carried on with my work. (I did have a shower later on though!)
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