Captain Brian devised a brilliant route around Cambridge for this ride, assisted by Lieutenant Jeremy, which provided an update on some of the major developments taking place around this hotbed of science and technological research, with a cultural tour of Eddington thrown in for free.
Starting from The Three Horseshoes in Stapleford, Brian’s group A comprised Simon, Nigel, Howard, Roger, Charles, Victor and Martin, whilst Jeremy’s group B with Suzanne, Andrew, Graham, Chris, Rod and Deborah followed a few minutes later – 15 Windmillers heading out to soak up the sights of Cambridge.
This is where we went, anticlockwise:
Brian’s group sped along the multi-coloured DNA path towards Addenbrooke’s but Jeremy reports that his group stopped and he mentioned its significance: “In 2005, as a celebration of the 10,000th mile of the national cycle network, Cambridgeshire County Council and Sustrans created a DNA-inspired cycle path. The path is decorated with 10,257 colourful stripes, which represent the four nucleotides of the BRCA2 gene.” Brian’s group: Nota bene gene, and stop thinking about coffee.
The Cambridge busway created much discussion as Group A approached Cambridge, following the tragic death of a pedestrian when hit by a bus in October. This followed the death of a Sawston cyclist, Stephen Moir, in 2018, the investigation of which by the HSE has yet to be published. Another bus veered off the busway and crashed into the embankment in 2016, luckily missing cyclists and pedestrians. Whoever thought up such a crazy scheme? Scandalous!
Once through the back streets of Mill Road, the route took us up the side of the River Cam where precautions were taken not to do a Rod, Vernon, Martin or Charles, all of whom had crashed previously in one form or another whilst passing bollards or on the river path. Luckily nothing untoward happened but there was still a crash to come……….
Brian chose a fine coffee stop at the old station in Histon, alongside the busway, where Groups A and B met up momentarily. Both groups stopped to admire the new Chisholm Trail bridge over the Cam and this is what Jeremy said about it, “The Chisholm Trail bridge, which connects Abbey ward and Chesterton, was lifted into place by very large cranes in the early hours of November 8 2020. It is a key part of the Trail, which when completed will be a 26km route from Trumpington to St Ives. It is named after sustainable transport campaigner Jim Chisholm, who first proposed the idea more than two decades ago.”
On a less cultural level, knobbly knees were again in evidence on this ‘shall we, shan’t we wear long trousers day’.
Not long after leaving Histon, the crash happened at the Oakington junction on the busway, but nothing too serious, when Nigel collided with Brian. Here is the evidence:
The route then took us through to Girton and down to the new University site of Eddington with its modern architecture and all the trappings of a new community – fields, footpaths, cycle paths, a lake, bus station, supermarket, an award winning community centre and sculptures. Skirting the lake the first sculpture was the Fata Morgana Teahouse, as above, an impressive tower of stainless steel mesh with steps up to the top level for good views over the lake (although opening the mesh in places might have afforded better views). The sculpture was designed by Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Horbelt and was presumably inspired by a trip to Japan.
Next up was the Pixel Wall, by the same artists, which was not dissimilar to the distorting mirrors on the Palace Pier in Brighton:
Group B also stopped to take a look at the award winning Storey’s Field Centre and Eddington Nursery, which is also a very impressive space for all community purposes – probably the best village hall in the UK.
Then it was a question of wending our way along cycle paths and alleys on the west of Cambridge, down to Newnham and along the bike path to Granchester before heading through to Trumpington Meadows, over the M11 to Hauxton, through what was Fison’s contaminated site and which is now a housing estate, and finally back to The Three Horseshoes.
Group B’s cultural tour took a bit longer than Group A’s but eventually we all sat down to an excellent lunch washed down by some fine ales.
Many thanks to Brain and Jeremy for planning and leading us around the delightful route, to Andrew for organising us and to photographers too numerous to mention.
Martin
The Windmill Cycle Club 