You know the weather has taken a turn for the worse when Simon’ aka ‘The Professor’, abandons his trusty khaki shorts in favour of long trousers. However, despite the drop in temperature and the possibility of some hail, snow and rain, the promise of birthday beers courtesy of Maurice plus Pat’s famous homemade pies ensured a good turnout of 12 riders (it would have been two more except for Ken’s puncture and Geoff getting a back twinge, neither of which prevented either of them from attending lunch).
We followed a familiar and favourite route from Abbington Piggots to Waresly, but this time the pre-coffee leg of the ride was into an unfamiliar cold Northerly breeze. Because of this and to ensure a timely return to the Pig and Abbot, Maurice cut the route slightly short by eliminating the loop north of Gamblingay Cinques. There were no dissenters.
And so it was that, after placing food orders and topping up on coffee and croissants, two groups eventually set off from Abbington Piggots.
There was some discussion as to the etymology of the name of the village of Guilden Morden through which we passed. A quick scan of Wikipedia unearthed the following tit bits:
The name is derived from the Old English “Gylden More Dun”, meaning “Golden” (rich or productive) “Moor Hill”.
The parish of Guilden Morden is in the very south-western corner of Cambridgeshire, separated from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire by one of the Cam’s many tributaries. The area has been occupied for at least 2000 years with the Saxon village probably built slightly after its neighbour; Steeple Morden, from which it has been separate since the Norman Conquest. The Guilden Morden boar is an Anglo-Saxon copper alloy figure of a boar, found in a grave in the village around 1864. Not to be confused by the ever so slightly younger bores found in the village last Thursday.
For group 1, it was a fairly uneventful ride from here around the outskirts of Potton and onto the Garden centre café at Waresly. Group 2 did not fare quite so well, with Deborah (or at least her bike) sustaining a nasty puncture, possibly due to some broken glass on the road. Despite the best efforts of the ‘Slime’ self sealing innertubes, the ‘fix’ only lasted as far as coffee. Some tyre cuts are just too severe for self-sealing technology, it seems.
A welcome tail wind brought us to Hatley St George in the picturesque 730 Ha (1800 acre) Hatley Estate. The Hatley Park estate has been owned by the Astor family snce 1946. (Second geography lesson courtesy of Andrew, AKA “Dawg”).
No time to dally, however. Angry clouds full of rain and hail were looming behind. By the time group 1 reached the newly re-surfaced Croydon Hill, the hail had hit and it was full speed ahead back to the Pig and Abbot. Group 2, having a puncture to contend with, didn’t escape quite so much of the downpour.
Back at the pub, there was time to steam in front of the fire before the aforementioned pies, a rendering of “Happy Birthday” to Maurice and Roger and a fond adieu to Roger, who is on the move to Fakenham. Hopefully his companionship won’t be entirely lost to the Windmill Club.
Martin, Graham, Rod, Simon, Deborah, Victor, Howard, Maurice, Andrew, Roger, Paul, Neil,
The Windmill Cycle Club 