Going going gone, to Willingham.25 Feb.

On a bright but cold morning, nine well wrapped members gathered at Trumpington Park and Ride at 9.30am to ride various distances from 30 – 40+ miles. Brian and Tom had already ridden from Shelford / Stapleford and it was good to have Howard join us again, who lives in Cambridge. Others included our leader Maurice, Deputy Dawg Andrew, Ken, John B, Rod and the Extreme Right Reverend Holy Moley Martin.

The route that Maurice devised was to the auction rooms at Willingham via Granchester, Cambridge, Cottenham and Rampton, and back via the guided busway to Milton, through Mill Road back streets to the Railway Station (thanks Tom!), and then the busway again back to Trumpington. Cycling alongside the river on both the outward and return journey was a great pleasure except for Rod who crashed into a bollard on the way back. Rod, we hope your leg and bike survived the crash without too much damage. As you did not make a detour to A&E at Addenbrooke’s we assume you escaped relatively unscathed, but it was quite a bang.

Here are some pics of the gang enjoying the route through Cambridge:

The auction rooms at Willingham were last visited in October 2015 and  was remembered for its wide choice of extra strong beers (presumably to encourage higher bids). But, this time, it was mainly coffees and cakes  because it is easy to fall asleep on the very smooth cyclepath alongside the busway.

We said farewell to Howard near Histon and to Tom near Addenbrooke’s and then some stopped to examine the busway crash that happened on 22 February, luckily with only a few injuries to passengers but as it had careered across the pedestrian / cycle path it could easily have been a lot worse. The general consensus was that it was driver error, which has since been confirmed, but a flaw in the design could easily result in a similar occurrence.

An excellent lunch at The Queen’s Head in Newton then followed, the menu not having changed in living memory.

Thanks, Squadron Leader, for planning the route and Deputy Dawg for keeping members informed of what’s happening.