A Cycle ride from Horningsea to Quy from Lode to Wicken and back again - past a burnt out car and a road closure

The weekend again and a sunny Saturday - what could be a better day for cycling - although the shopping has to get done first. I have four approaches to choosing where to cycle. Sometimes I will look at the map and then see where I haven't been before and head out to explore. My route when I have a fixed amount of time is to pop around Wicken Fen with either short-cuts or long-cuts depending upon how much time I have, or I plan a route either over a couple of days or with a railway station as the ultimate destination (to provide a way home). The final method - I just head out to see where the wind takes me! For choice I prefer to head out onto quiet roads and Sustrans routes when exploring. Generally the routes are pretty reasonable on a hybrid bike, but do tend to be quiet and offer some interesting scenery. When meandering I add by-ways and farm tracks to the equation - they are normally quiet and offer lovely scenery, but they are not always fast or easy.

With the pleasant weather I find myself heading out over the byways around Horningsea, Lode and Quy quite a lot at the moment - in some ways they have become an alternate start to my ride around Wicken Fen. Here is a view from the bridge over the A14 on the Low Fen Drove Way which leads off High Ditch Road. In fact a quick look at the map suggests that the clump of trees in the background on the right is called Upper Norris.

This time I also checked how many drain covers were missing - 25 out of 26 - my guess is they have been stolen from scrap and whoever did it could not lift one of them. I guess with times getting harder (with need to sort out the UK's large deficit) we might see more crime?

Low Fen Droveway then either turns a corner or the by-way is un-named - either way this is it and it shortly passes Snout Corner. This sort of track requires a bit of care - but is fun and helps my balancing skills. The reason I took the photograph is the Oxfam sign - a reminder to check it out when I get back to a computer. I turns out that there is an Oxfam Walk on the 16th of May. There are various routes ranging from 3 to 26 miles. Although I will happily cycle 100+miles (160+Km) walking uses a different set of muscles. As a student I once walked 26 miles with a friend in Wales. At the end before we drove back over the Severn Bridge we stopped to get a snack and I could barely hobble over the road - in the end I had to hold my hand up to halt the traffic. (This was not the Motorway of course - just the service road.) As it happened I saw quite a few of these signs as I cycled around - they have certainly planned some nice routes for the walk.

Just before Low Fen Drove Way joined the Horningsea Road I took this picture of the village of Horningsea in the distance - a very pleasant leafy little village. The new shared cycle path between Horningsea and Fen Ditton has not yet had a layer of tarmac added (in case you are wondering).

After cycling through Horningsea I followed the Harcamlow Way off towards Quy, past Allicky Farm and then over the route of the disused Cambridge to Mildenhall Railway Line (for the second time of what will be 5 or 6 times) back towards Quy along Station Road - pausing to take this picture of Quy Water looking towards Anglesey Abbey (to the left is the route of the Harcamlow Way I think- only a footpath though - so not "navigable" by bicycle. So I end up cycling along the B1102 - quite a busy and fast road - following the IAM advice I "claim the lane". Pretty much most cars respect my position and overtake with plenty of room - in fact probably only two or three vehicles drove as if they only just noticed me as they whizzed past. Do the people of make up this advice base it upon well tested data, do they try it themselves or is it all just theory. The problem is it only takes one idiot to kill or maim a cyclist and you don't get your life back because the driver was at fault.

After reaching White Fen I cycled briefly alongside Swaffham Bulbeck Lode before turning back towards the road near Highbridge Farm. In fact the farm as at the far corner of the field in this photograph - the crop - turf. The farm appears to be set up for horse-riding - I do not know who farms this field.

As I wasn't in a hurry (and it was such a pleasant afternoon) my plan was to cycle along Headlake Drove and Split Drove and then left up Straight Drove towards Upware. That way I avoided any traffic until I rejoined the Upware Road. It seems that this part of Headlake Drove (just where it turns into Split Drove) is a popular spot for setting fire to stolen (I assume) vehicles. I am guessing it is stolen - that is why it has been burnt out - to destroy any fingerprint/DNA evidence. when you see the result it is frightening how flammable cars/vans are.

As you can see this was a van, once upon a time. It is as if the tyres had been taken off and not just burnt off. Maybe they were stolen? This is why we end up paying higher vehicle insurance rates and local taxes.

Just at the end of Split Drove looking towards Reach I took a picture of this field - a couple of weeks ago it was full of Leeks - - they were cleared by hand and now it is ready to "grow" again.

From the same place, but turning towards Reach Lode - the site of the new Lodes Way bridge - they are getting on with it - I wonder when the bridge will be "craned" into place.

After cycling up Straight Drove for a bit I took this picture of the Bridge from a distance - they have done a good job of designing something that fits in, in my opinion.

The spot I had stopped at was where the track - Straight Drove became the "road" - Harrison's Drove. This is Harrison's Drove, not to be confused with the one that is a few 100metres away and runs in a parallel direction on the other side of Reach and Burwell Lodes. This bit is very lumpy cracked gravel and tarmac, after a while it turns into better and flatter un-cracked tarmac before joining the Upware Road. The concrete bridge provides access to the fields on the other side of Commissioners' Drain.

This is the bit of Straight Drove I had just cycled up - a very rutted track - almost impassable when very wet and muddy - on a dry day a series of ruts to hop the bike into and out off - trying not to fall into the Drain alongside.

After Upware the route reaches the A1123 or Stretham Road - today it was closed with a sign preventing cars (technically vehicles) from turning right towards the village of Wicken - the way I wanted to go. Detours are a nuisance in a car - they add a bit of delay - on a bicycle they can be a nightmare, once such a detour added 20miles/32Km to a journey I took. Rarely do the detours indicate how much further they are, there is an assumption that is is not that important. Quite often though they are passable by bike - either by walking past on the pavement or in a field if necessary. The detour in this case was caused by a serious car accident in which a car had run into a ditch.

Two other cyclists were at the junction wondering what to do so I took the initiative and against the advice of the sign I cycled up the road towards the Police car blocking the road. (I pulled my earphones out of my ears - so as not to look too irresponsible). The policeman was very helpful in guiding me along a back route around the village. Now this was the route I normally take anyway - it is called Lower Road and is also the Sustrans 51 route from Ely to Wicken. The only snag was that all the cars coming from the other direction were being re-routed along it to by-pass the scene of the accident. This meant that a normally very (very) quite road - where I occasionally see a tractor or land rover had streams of cars - many of them were clearly not at all happy at having been delayed and forced to take such a "lower-class" road and they were even less happy to slow down for a cyclist travelling in the other direction.

At one enforced stop - to avoid being run off the road I took the opportunity to take a photograph of this barn - something I had been meaning to do for a while in any case. On seeing the results, and this is the best of a few shots, I can see I will have to add it to the list of things I need to have another go at.

After the drama of the accident I headed back home through quite a busy Wicken Fen. (I hope that those involved are ok - it is always sobering to see results of an accident and a reminder of the importance of being vigilant.) I could not resist this picture of the Oilseed Rape at the corner of White Fen near Swaffham Bulbeck Lode - this time it was the rays of sunlight (miracles as my son used to call them when he was young)

I also remembered to take a picture of the unidentified tree - I will also have a look back through some older photographs to see if I have caught it in leaf.

Whilst cycling through White Fen I was struck (not literally) by the number of dandelion clocks - these were yellow flowers a few days ago and now they have turned to seed. No wonder they are difficult weeds to get rid of. (Although a weed is what you call a flower you don't want!) So I stopped and lay down to take some pictures of the dandelion clocks. As is the case two cyclists happened by and gave me a funny look - mind you they stopped just up the way to take a picture of the yellow Oilseed Rape field.

I also discovered there were stinging nettles (stingles) in the field - not that painful - but persistent - I could feel the tingle the next day.

An over-dressed cycle ride around a Warmer Wicken Fen

After yesterday's cold day (recap due to out of sequence posts - Friday ok, Saturday: wet, cold and windy) I wore leggings a waterproof jacket, vest and cycling shirt. I did not want to suffer as I had yesterday, my only concession to Spring was to wear my cycling sandals, but with waterproof socks and long fingered gloves (not on my feet)!

After a short bit of cycling without a real direction in mind as I was heading out of Cambridge on the High Ditch Road I thought it was actually quite warm and sunny. I stopped to try to let a bit more air in as I cycled and looked back at the Low Fen droveway bridge over the A14 and thought it was both an interesting picture and direction. So I took the picture and turned back to cross over along the by-way. It is quite a construction for by-way - presumably it needs to be able to carry agricultural vehicles.

On the bridge I noticed that they seemed to have lifted all the drain covers, which I assumed was to allow the drains to be cleared. But... if the council was doing this wouldn't they have put up warning notices. Looking more closely there did not seem to be any evidence of cleaning near the drain - I wonder if they have been stolen for scrap metal! All the drain covers on each side of the bridge were missing - I would guess that between 10 and 20 covers had been removed. This picture is taken from the top of the bridge having passed over the A14 before the bridge descends down the other side. There is pretty good tarmac here, beware the road becomes a farm track at the bottom with some large potholes - if you go whizzing down you need you wits about you. I did this once on my MTB and lost a water bottle as I slammed through a pothole, something I didn't notice until I stopped later for a drink...

The route loops back towards Cambridge and joins the Horningsea road between Fen Ditton and Horningsea - the site of a new shared cycle/pedestrian path construction. I visited it last week, they have now built the path, with kerbing and hard-core, it only needs tarmac and paint. It should certainly help those wanting to cycle and walk between the two villages. (Actually Fen Ditton is more a suburb of Cambridge.)

I read an article in the BBC on-line Magazine about "The Tree that Shaped Britain". Oak trees are being attacked by a mysterious blight - Quercus robur. The period from the first signs through to complete death is only about 5 years. Seeing this Oak tree made me wonder if that was what was happening here. When I was a young lad I was always warned to be wary of climbing Oak trees as they were likely to have hidden rot which meant the branches could break easily and unpredictability. Tree-climbing was a bit of a "hobby", I never broke anything falling out of a tree - I did fall into a bed of stinging nettles once collecting conkers (Horse chestnuts). I also fell out of an apple tree when scrumping apples - I landed on my back completely winded but still clutching the apples. I understood that the problem was because Oak trees had not built up a natural immunity to some of the rotting agents. This blight seems far more serious though. The picture is taken at the corner of The Drove Way, near Quy and the same path where it runs back towards Quy parallel to Quy Water.

The track does not seem to have a name on the Sustrans Map of the area viewed at a high zoom level, it might still be called the Drove Way. Although it is a by-way it seems to be mainly used by walkers and dog walkers rather than tractors. So it remains grassed over with a single path worn in it. This view looks back towards the Station Road Quy. (The disused Cambridge to Mildenhall Railway line passes nearby and the old Station is nearby as you might expect on Station Road.)

A quick stop at White Fen, near Lode to record the progress of the leaves on the trees along the banks of Swaffham Bulbeck Lode. I must check to see what species the "unleaved" one to the right is.

For some reason when cycled down Headlake Drove the last time I did not actually check to see how the new Lodes Way bridge over Reach Lode was getting on. I did pass some young people in a car driving along this track, the driver thought it appropriate to shout some sort of abuse at me. I was listening to my MP3 player so did not hear what he actually said - the tone was not pleasant though. I stopped and took a picture of the car - for reference.

As I approached the bridge construction site I was also overtaken by a Range Rover - by the time I stopped to take this picture the car was driving down this track. It looked as if the driver was going to go up the ramp. The car drove around a bit and then went back towards the Upware but instead of driving along the road appeared to take a track - Rand Drove. After taking this picture I went up the track as was just a little concerned that maybe the car driver was perhaps up to no good and I wasn't keen on cycling along a thin road with the car following me. Paranoia aside, the guy was probably a local farmer having a look around the farm.

As you can see the construction is progressing - there are three culverts and a ramp in place - I wonder if they are doing by sides at the same time or first one and then the other. I assume that as the road has been prepared for a heavy crane to drive down the bridge placement will be soon.

After viewing the construction I cycled (left) up towards Upware along what is first a mud track (Straight drove) and then what was once a tarmac road (Harrison's Drove) - but is now deteriorating into a gravel track. From time to time there are bridges from the track crossing over Commissioner's Drain to the adjacent fields. This picture was taken from one of those concrete slab bridges looking back down towards the new bridge construction mid-right of the picture.

Last week this field was being cleared of leeks - it has now been ploughed and tilled and is either ready or has been drilled with the next crop. Farmers can't hang around they need to sweat their assets!

You'll be pleased to know that I wasn't run of the road by either a Range Rover or a blue car as I carried along the road to Upware and then Wicken. I did spot a pair of boots by the side of the road. My guess is that they were removed by one of the gangs of labourers (who work the fields) at the end of a long and tiring day and forgotten. They still look to be ok.

By now I was really over-heating - it was actually a pleasant Spring afternoon. I had seen quite a few cyclists on my ride including two tandems and as I was passing the Methodist Church in Wicken realised that this was the place offering Cream teas to cyclists - and as luck would have it two cyclists came out just as I stopped to take this picture. I hope they had an enjoyable tea. Actually the chap looking in my direction cycled up past me before turning back down along one of the back roads in the village to where he really was heading - he wanted a closer look!

The weather was really pleasant, the only problem is that there are more insects around and I had a close call with one fly that I almost swallowed. I must remember to keep my mouth closed - although that is easier said than done when cycling (for me anyway). My t-shirt was saturated by the time I returned - either I must get better at working out what cycling gear to wear when I set out or at least get better at adjusting it en-route.

Cycling around wet, cold and windy Wicken Fen

After getting back from the US and voting in the General Election I couldn't resist staying up to watch the results as they came in. I think I kept expecting something to happen - but it didn't. I did manage to go out for a cycle ride the next day though (Friday - the Post did not make it first time around I have now added it). Yesterday (Friday) it was OK-ish today (Saturday) I was amazed just how cold it seems to have gotten over the last week here in the flatlands of Cambridgeshire. When I left England the temperature was reaching the dizzy heights of 22C when I returned it was around 8C - I was beginning to think I should have stayed in California.

In fact it was so cold and rainy that I wore waterproof leggings and long-fingered gloves as well as a waterproof jacket. I needed to stretch my legs though and I think that exercise helps overcome jet-lag - mind you I also believe that it gets harder to deal with jet-lag as you get older!

Being tired probably also means I get a little grumpier and less tolerant. As a cyclist I worry that quite a lot of the traffic calming schemes designed with good intentions, presumably to reduce traffic speeds through certain areas are actually a cheap and politically expedient way of avoiding the issue of how to genuinely slow traffic down and more importantly gain general acceptance that slowing traffic speeds does matter in both improving the quality of life of village inhabitants and other road users.

This is a photograph of the traffic calming in Wicken Village. Typically one side of the road is restricted and cars have to give way. This is the Soham side of the village. You can see that this particular restriction has not got a by-pass for cyclists - because it is more important that cars be allowed to park immediately after the restriction. More worrying though is that quite often cars do not slow down but just move to the right of the road as they speed past the restriction. The trouble is there is a minor road junction just by the restriction. Now clearly you should always look both ways at a junction - but there is a tendency to assume that you have right of way if there is nothing coming from the right when turning right. However you can find that there is a car hurtling at you when you look left - not pleasant. Perhaps we should always expect the unexpected - but I believe that safe driving is also based upon some degree of predictability as well.

This is a rather random set of photographs - but does reflect my rather grumpy feelings - it was wet, windy and cold after all. I do like to be able to cycle away from noisy motor traffic and quite often cycle up farm tracks. This picture shows why you have to have your wits about you - brambles across the path. No I am not complaining that someone should go round cutting them - off-road is fun because it is a little unpredictable. This is why it can be a good thing to wear a helmet - it protects you against nasty brambles as well as bumps on the head. Sunglasses are also helpful as well in this sort of situation. Mind you I still think it should be a matter of choice - helmets are not an excuse for poor driving. There have been cases where a cyclist's damages could have been reduced for not wearing a helmet despite the accident not being their fault. In that case I would like to see a situation in which damages are increased when motorists are speeding and/or intoxicated.

Just to show that I was not grumpy throughout the cycle ride this cottage in Reach caught my eye, despite the gloom and rainy there was a bit of sun now and then.

Mind you just to top up the grumpy levels on my way back towards White Fen from the Upware side I waited at a side road (a farm track) for a green van to go by. I find that it always helps to let vehicles by when there are opportunities to do so. As the van went by I realised it was a good choice - the driver (she) was on the phone. I then followed her struggling to maintain any speed all the way to White Fen - and no I was not cycling that fast. Clearly she was struggling to focus on the driving and the phone call. She parked on near the Swaffham Bulbeck Lode - Lodes Way Bridge, still on the phone - unabashed she carried on talking - as her dog waited for its walk.