The Spring weather seems to be continuing, although the weather forecast suggests next week will be much colder so I am continuing to favour "off-road" routes. My definition of off-road does not include shared-use paths alongside roads. I don't object to them - in fact I will often use them in preference to cycling along the roads - but what I look for in off-road, round these parts is to get away from motor traffic, whilst still being able to cycle and look around me as I go. In MTB terms I do not look for routes that are too technical. Having said that it is great fun cycling along the single track over at Thetford Forest - there are some great trails that run between the trees there.
One way of tacking on an extra bit of "off-road" cycling is to take advantage of some of the bridleways between Horningsea and Lode. With the dry weather the tracks generally turn into hard-packed mud, which is fine on my hybrid bike, the only thing to watch for is the deep tractor tyre ruts. Farmers have to carry on working whatever the weather which means in wet weather the byways get quite churned up - this then "freezes" when it dries, into deeply rutted paths - subsequently farm vehicles then tend to grind it flat again though. Personally I am just happy that there are so many cycle-able routes available. I have always found the farmers (well tractor drivers) to be very courteous around here. Mind you whilst cycling along the Upware Road (sing track road) the other day a large Parcel delivery van seemed to be bouncing down the road as it came towards me - when that happens I generally pull onto the grass verge - better safe than sorry - it was a good call (mine not the drivers), he was on the phone. I just hope he was not delivering any delicate electronic equipment or glassware!
The area I am talking about is on this OSM (Open Street Map) link. I generally emerge from Cambridge on the Sustrans 51 link, but just before the point where it crosses Ditton Lane (which becomes Horningsea Road) I take a local route, in blue, which brings me out a little further north, where Ditton Lane becomes Horningsea Road and cross over onto High Ditch Road (zoom in on the link to see its name) As an aside the map shows that it was part of Fleam Dyke one of the series of ancient defencive earthworks in the area - hence its name High Ditch Road - although there is not much evidence of a high ditch nowadays. Two thirds of the way along there is a bridge over the A14, check out this Google Map link which shows a Streetmap view of Low Fen Droveway. After the bridge the track is pretty rutted with lots of loose gravel and potholes - so be careful speeding down the other side of the bridge. I once lost a drinks bottle from my MTB when I shot down the "hill" and did not see it bounce out. I found the bottle several days later, it had been squished though.
The track is easy to follow and emerges further north on the Horningsea Road after passing through farming country. Browner soil and not quite so many drainage ditches as further into the Fens. Although it was windy the skies were blue with a few white puffy clouds.
This is the "worst" this particular route gets. When it is wet it is pretty sticky, at the moment it is quite cycle-able, but I generally stick to the edges. The ruts have a habit of "steering" the bike where you don't always want to go and in a deep rut the pedals can catch the ground and tip you off - yes it has happened to me in the past - one of the reasons I generally wear a helmet on these sorts of tracks..
The route emerges onto the Horningsea Road here. As I took this picture a car emerging from the track on the other side stopped. The driver wondered whether I was particularly interested in pylons and how sometimes these pylons get "lit" spectacularly by the sun. I mentioned how I sometimes take pictures of the electricity sub-station over at Burwell. The finer weather is definitely lifting the mood over everyone - at least in terms of the number of passing car drivers that stop to pass the time.
This is the track opposite and what I had really stopped to photograph - it was the avenue of trees that caught my eye. The lane is called Biggin Lane and leads to Biggin Abbey. The route does not show as public on the OS map but does appear as a track on the OSM - which does not mean right of way though. In fact I think that it is marked as a Private Road on the gate post.
I then headed up Horningsea Road to, well Horningsea of course. This road is a bit of a rat race for people commuting into and out of Cambridge and although it is not very wide it is fairly straight and cars do travel quickly along here. As a result they are putting in a shared pedestrian/cycle path of 2.5m on the side of the road. This will hopefully encourage more cyclists/walkers between Fen Ditton and Horningsea. There is not a Primary School in Horningsea (looking at the map anyway) but there is on the outskirts of Fen Ditton so this should also make it easier for schoolchildren to get to and from school as well. Hopefully when they have built it cars won't then stop across the track as in this picture. This cyclist had stopped to turn off down the path, you can just see the signs on the left of the picture.
After Horningsea there is a turn onto the Harcamlow Way (or part of it) which leads to the old Cambridge to Mildenhall railway line alongside Anglesey Abbey and emerges into Lode. Then it was back round the usual route along to White Fen and then to Upware and around Wicken Fen. I took a picture of this field a couple of days ago - but could not resist another shot of the precision drilling.
Instead of the Upware road I took the little used, almost impassable by car, Headlake Drove route to Upware, and yes Google Streetview has been up Headlake Drove. If you check out the link my route then heads right along a very bumpy, but paved road which has not been "Streetviewed". It joins Straight Drove and then Harrison's Drove which has.
There was a pile of carrots in the yard!
Then it was round Wicken Fen and back home again - but this time not through Horningsea.
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