The Gospel according to St. Luke and the nursery rhyme about Little Bo Peep losing her sheep sprang to mind after hearing from Simon about the 38 miles he and Andrew clocked up, when most Windmillers only managed around 24 miles on this repeat of a ride done only 2 weeks ago. Being PC about this, you’ll have to reach for your Bible to read the above passage, but suffice to say, The Unknowing leading the Unknowing is not far off the mark.
Simon explained that Andrew memorizes the route beforehand and has no need of modern contraptions like phones or GPX devices, or even Simon’s route on Komoot. Perhaps it was Andrew’s recent vaccination but Simon says long-covid had been avoided only to be replaced by long-rovid as they cycled along together. They indeed roved both near and far from the allotted route, despite the lovely Komoot lady from the Deep South screaming ‘Do a U-turn’, and ended up doing a semi-circumnavigation of Wimpole Hall. But, ‘It’s only fun when you get a bit lost’, claimed Andrew and by that measure Simon said they had quite a bit of fun! (Glad I’m not the only one who got lost on this route -see 4 February report. Ed. )
Just as a reminder, this is where we went 2 weeks ago and where we were all meant to go again:
There were other diversions too for some Windmillers due to a serious accident blocking the road between Chrishall Grange and the turning to Duxford Grange – a head on collision between a van and a car – but these only resulted in an extra mile or so via Ickleton. Reports of the accident have been difficult to find but we hope that no one was seriously hurt. By 12.30pm the vehicles concerned had been cleared away.
The remaining 14 Windmillers who did not get lost comprised Maurice, Charles, Alan, Geoff, Roger, Graham, Mike, Suzanne, Howard, Brian, Jeremy, Rod, Lawrence, Ken and Martin – another excellent turnout – with Lawrence kindly hosting the charity box. Once again, The Moringa Tree Café proved to be a good meeting place as the C’s met the AC’s, joined at one stage by a couple of Brompton riders who had commuted out from Cambridge on their fine bikes.
For Martin, the highlight was a sausage roll as recommended by Brian recently – one of the best ever. But he was a bit disappointed they didn’t sell Moringa, a tree whose chopped up leaves are thought to cure all known ailments, even hangovers.
The AC route from The Moringa Tree involved the steep Chapel Hill towards Barrington, where Geoff was encountered going C-wards and where Rod and Charles caught up with the socially distanced group of Graham, Suzanne, Mike and Martin going AC-wards, having rocketed up Chapel Hill on their e-bikes. The cruise through to Orwell was pleasant but thereafter a strong wind was on the nose resulting in Rod and Martin, it has to be admitted, holding hands at one point (but only because Rod kindly offered to give Martin a tow, in case you were wondering).
Back in Duxford, Mike spotted a beaten up Triumph Herald Convertible in a back garden awaiting restoration and promptly told a tale about how he and three other students drove such a car to Istanbul and back in the 60’s, with countless breakdowns there and back, including a wheel falling off, but getting back in one piece. Those cars were indeed repairable on the move, unlike today’s electronics-laden vehicles which are fine until they go wrong. Perhaps the same thing can be said for e-bikes!
And so ended a fine ride in very mild weather, which augurs well for the weeks and months to come.
Thanks to Maurice and Andrew for organising us, but step up someone to be Andrew’s map reading / GPX tutor! (And can I join in too? Ed.)
Martin
The Windmill Cycle Club 