Author: GrahamDolman

A relatively incident free ride from Cafe 19, Duxford to the Stove Cafe, Bourne with the chance of photo bombing a TV production.

Two groups set off from Duxford on a warm breezy morning. The hitherto bike trap of a gravelled drive up to Cafe 19 has been replaced by possibly the best strip of tarmac in Cambridgeshire. Pristine and silky smooth. Group 2 opted to try this route from the café rather than the advertised footpath and very pleasant it was too, for all of 50m, before it gave way to the pot holed public road.

Having negotiated the A505 we continued through Whittlesford and Shelford to join the Trumpington Wildlife reserve cycle path.

Grantchester. Home of the much critically acclaimed, loved and respected author, Jeffrey Archer and setting for the TV drama of ‘Grantchester’. Grantchester (the TV series) has been running for 10 years and 8 series (and counting) and follows the the detective adventures of the local vicar in the 1950s (not to be confused by the Windmiller’s very own reverend). As luck would have it, an episode was being filmed as our motley peloton emerged onto the streets of Grantchester (the village), fake wisteria adding to the gentle countrified ambience.

Celebrity spotting over, it was out via bridle paths to Barton, Comberton and Toft (St Andrews church looking resplendent) and finally to the Stove Pipe café in Bourne for much needed refreshment.

With the breeze strengthening and the possibility of showers later, it was heads down past the Eversdens, Harlton, Haslingfield and Harston thenfinally back through Newton and Whittlesford.

Charles lost a rear light cover and the lady taking our lunch orders inadvertently wrote “crap cakes” for my order (in case you were wondering about the blog title. the crab cakes definitely were not crap).

Geoff for lunch. Graham, Paul, Martin B, Alan, Charles, Ric, Andrew, Howard, Jeremy, Chris, Rod, Roger

A good turn out of cyclists congregated at Andrew’s house in Wendens Ambo to meet puppy Dillon and to set out on a ride to celebrate the re-opening of the Refurbished Bell Inn.

First mention of the Bell appears in documents in 1576, when it was sold as a 40 acre farm called “Beauchamps” (with stables, barns, meadowlands, pastures and a malt house). The six pilasters on each face of the chimney stack built at this time is considered a fine example of Elizabethan workmanship. In 1806 it appears as a public house when it was sold to Elizabeth Hawks of the Bishops Stortford Brewery Company who in turn sold it to Benskins Brewery of Watford in 1898. It was finally sold as a free house in 1992.

Back in the present, three groups headed out via the metropolis of Saffron Walden towards the first climb of the day, the long but gentle slope up to Hadstock Common.

Hadstock Common is a relatively exposed area and home to the former RAF Little Walden, otherwise known as Station 165 of the USAAF. Some buildings remain visible to riders crossing Hadstock Common.

When construction of Station 165 began in 1942, it was allocated to the Eighth Air Force as a Class A bomber airfield. Little Walden’s main runway was slightly shorter than those of its counterparts, 1,900 yards as opposed to 2,000 yards, but the two auxiliary runways were both the standard 1,400 yards in length (I will acquiesce to using imperial measurements for history, but never for rides !). On March 6th, 1944 the airfield officially opened, the day before the 409th bomber group arrived. Little Walden transferred back to RAF ownership in early 1946. For the next twelve years it was used to store surplus military equipment. After that, the site was returned to agriculture, the majority of the buildings pulled down and the runways dug up for road building hardcore.

Once again, back to the present: A fast descent took us through Hadstock and across to Linton and Abington. At Abington, it is necessary to cross the very busy A11 using a steep, stepped footbridge which is regularly put into Windmill rides in order to slow up those with e bikes.

A bridal path leads to Babraham where a course error led to a number of Windmillers straying onto a footpath, before coming to a halt at an uncompromising looking gate. Our course error was confirmed be a friendly dog walker, no doubt bemused by the number of stranded cyclists on ber path.

A hasty U turn took us further up the road to the start of the designated and eminently cyclable bridal path which led to Stapleford Granary for coffee.

Always friendly but never quick, the coffee and cake service was even slower than usual due to parents availing themselves of school holidays and sunny weather.

From Stapleford, the route diverted through Sawston, Whittlesford, Duxford and Hinxton to Ickleton (Sawston and Hinxton being bypassed by group 3 to avoid any danger of being late for lunch). From here, the Ickleton Alps beckon – started by another long but gradual pull up Coploe Road to the best viewpoint of the ride.

Undulating scenic lanes finally led to the Wendens Ambo road, with a fast descent of the hill known to Windmillers as “El Bastardo” (when tackled the other way). A short sprint led us back to the sunny beer garden of the Bell where we met up with Maurice, Lindsey and Dillon.

Jenni, Andrew, Brian, Jeremy, Ric, Graham, Nigel, Neil, Keith, Alan, Simon. Howard, Rod, Charles, Geoff (Maurice, Lindsey, Dillon for lunch)

General Election day. Horseheath is in the South Cambridgeshire constituency and therefore returned Lib Dem, Pippa Heylings, as MP. The specific significance of this for this ride will become apparent.

The village of Balsham extends mainly along one road and has the church at the highest point. Roman roads form the west and south boundaries, Fleam Dyke is to the east, and one of the Icknield Way tracks is the northern boundary. In the Domesday Book, Balsham is called Balesham: the village of Baelli. Of far greater significance to the less cultured amongst us is that Balsham supports two pubs. On our last visit here we started from the Bell, but this time the ride returned to a start at the Black Bull.

Welcome to Clive, who joined 16 other riders for coffee and to place their food order before heading off in 3 groups toward West Wickam, noting as we went that we would have to retrace our steps back up that hill and into the wind into Balsham at the end of the ride.

The vast majority of people on the road are very courteous to us cyclists, often calling us across when we look stuck at junctions and acknowledging friendly waves. As a group, we like to think we are courteous and law abiding in return. There is, however a tiny minority of people in vehicles who are deliberately antagonistic and dangerous – as discovered by our second group on the road as they were close pass targeted by someone in a black Audi (other antagonistic driver marques are available). Luckily no injuries but this sort of thing can take the gloss off anyone’s day.

From West Wickham we headed towards the crossing point of the busy Haverhill road at Horseheath. Here we encountered the handiwork of one of the more politically engaged citizens. Three or four immaculately prepared banners across vehicles and gateways proclaimed their views in no uncertain terms. Massive dedication to their cause.

After pausing to read the somewhat wordy banners, we pressed on South to Cornish Hall End before turning back North towards a welcome coffee and cake stop at Tarkas cafe. Although the breeze was a bit chlly, in the shelter to the cafe garden it was very pleasant.

The return via Boyton End is via very narrow lanes. Our next vehicle encounter can only be put down as a countryside thing, as a full lane width hedgetrimming tractor approached group 3, with no room to do anything other than press on. Luckily a small patch of grass gave us just enough room to allow the monster to pass by.

Back at the Black Bull we were treated to an excellent meal and beer. I can personally vouch for the seafood linguine ! Many thanks to Maurice for arranging. The impressive roll call of 17:

Maurice, Brian, Victor, Graham, Martin B, Tom, Simon, Ken, Paul, Gareth, Howard, Keith, Alan, Ric, Martin W, Jeremy and, of course, our newest member Clive.

Northamptonshire – the self acclaimed ‘Rose of the Shires’ , new Windmill ride territory, and a belated Birthday drinks ride for Graham.

Starting from the Wheatsheaf, Titchmarsh with coffee and tales of crossing the A14 traffic, the route headed into the quiet lanes of Eastern Northamptonshire.

A small section of bridleway was the scene of an involuntary dismount for Neil (no bikes or humans damaged in the process)

Villages of ironstone cottages passed before a section of gated lane led us into Oundle.

Oundle, home of Oundle school (with whom Keith remembers playing rugby), Nene Valley brewery and Beans coffee stop.

From there, a relatively fast ride back to Titchmarsh and the aforementioned birthday beers.

Graham, Roger, Alan, Keith, Neil, Paul, Charles, Simon, Martin B, Jeremy, Victor.

The promise of Jeremy’s flat route meant that Charles had abandoned his trusty e bike in favour of his trusty push bike, possibly forgetting that having ridden to the start, he’d have to pedal back up the hill to Chrishall.

For the Summer end of May, it was flippin’ cold as 15 of us gathered at Cafe 19, Duxford for today’s ride. Given the amount of traffic likely to be encountered, three groups of five riders was the order of the day. A variety of routes out of Duxford took us over a very busy A505 onto quieter roads through Shelford and out to Hauxton.

Here we joined the Hauxton – Trumpington cycle way through the nature reserve (prolific dandelions replacing last years prolific cowslips) and into the delightful Trumpington Meadows Country Park with its many carved wood animals. Familiar trails took us out to Granchester meadows and hence into turmoil that is central Cambridge.

North of the river, we eventually made it to the Milton Country Park cafe for a brief warm up and welcome coffee and cakes.

Back across the river, near the station, we encountered some art. I suspect opinions on Ariadne Wrapped will be mixed ! https://www.cb1cambridge.co.uk/art/ariadne-wrapped

The guided busway and the genome cycle path provided a traffic free route out of the city and it wasn’t long before we were back at cafe 19 for lunch. Many thanks to Charles for buying the drinks (for the record, his birthday was 3 months ago !) and Jeremy for organising. A flat ride as advertised. Riders were Jenni, Deborah, Ken, Graham, Paul, Alan, Keith, Charles, Alan, Geoff, Howard, Martin, Brian, Andrew, and a special mention for new boy: Neil.

So far it has been a Goodyear for punctures – not a patch on 2023, so pinched tyring and deflating puns have been few and far between. We were obviously treading on thin ice however – its a Marathon, not a sprint, after all and it all went flat today. For a blow by blow account, read on:

Martin’s ride was another “Only Way is Essex” spectacular, taking in some new quiet lanes, a new pub (the Maypole, Thaxted) and a new cafe (Booking Hall in Rayne).

Those wanting pre-ride coffees were thwarted by the discovery that one of our regular cafe stops, Parrishes, is now shut for the forseeable future. Luckily the Swan came up with the goods with great value coffee and bacon sandwiches.

12 riders set off from the Maypole in two groups. Group A initially in front, only to be overtaken by group B at the first puncture. Group A retook and kept the lead through punctures 2 and 3 in group B and maintained the lead despite sustaining puncture 4 at the cafe stop and managing the full route down to Waltham Cross and a cultural tour of Great Bardfield.

The route set off on a route devised to avoid the busy Dunmow road (but not to avoid puncture 1 to Martin W), across to Duck End (punctures 2 and 3, both to Simon) and down across the busy A120. Via a barely visible track, we joined the Flitch Way.

We have ridden a part of the Flitch way west of Great Dunmow before. This time we were heading east towards Rayne.

The Flitch Way stretches almost 24km along the track of the former railway line between Braintree and Bishop’s Stortford, which opened in 1869. Although the last passenger train ran in 1952, goods continued to be carried until the end of 1971. The name “Flitch Way” originated from the Flitch ceremony in Little Dunmow whereby couples who could prove that they had not argued in marriage after a year and a day would be awarded a flitch (side) of bacon.

At Rayne we stopped at the Booking Hall cafe for refreshments (and puncture 4, to Martin W) before rejoining the metalled roads heading back north. Group A had time to do the full Waltham Cross muddy lane experience followed by some, or all, of the advertised cultural tours, namely: “A brief visit to an ex-prison in Great Bardfield, now the home of a cottage museum where information about famous Great Bardfield artists is available”. Group B, having being more tardy in their puncture repairs, had no time for either.

From Great Bardfield it was a short ride back to Thaxted, fine food and ale and to meet up with Brian.
Group B: Graham, Keith, Simon, Geoff, Chris, Charles
Group A: Martin W, Maurice, Jeremy, Ric, Andrew, Howard
Group C: Brian (lunch only)

Jeremy, Graham, Howard and Brian had all ridden to Thaxted but the combativity award has to go to Ric who rode the whole return trip from Harston. Thanks to Martin W for another great ride exploring new routes.

A somewhat shorter than usual blog due to the author missing the second half of this week’s ride and lunch due to lingering coughs and sneezles. The rapidly diminishing start list bore testament to the fact that I’m not the only sufferer. (that, and the potential for some heavy showers, which never materialised). What we really need are some blue skies and sunshine to top up our vitamin D levels.

As it was, eight riders took to the road as a single group from Cafe 19 in Duxford. Ken apparently misread the ‘took to the road’ memo and literally ‘took to the road’ via an involuntary dismount on the loose gravel and boards around the cafe car park on his way into the cafe, having ridden in from Ickleton. The mud will almost certainly wash off.

Jeremy’s cunning plan this week was to visit a new local cafe at the Compass Courtyard, near Wendens Lofts. With this in mind, we headed off North, in completely the opposite direction, through Whittlesford, Newton, Thriplow and Fowlmere before heading South towards the cafe.

At Chrishall, Geoff timed his home departure to perfection, joining the peleton as it wended through the village.

For those familiar with the old Bicicletta in Saffron Walden, the Compass Courtyard is run by the people who used to run that cafe with the same coffee, menu and in-situ ‘home workers’ nursing their take away coffees and occupying the tables. Luckily the weather was clement enough to make sitting outside with the view a very viable option.

At the cafe, it was apparent that the combination of mucky roads and nagging winds were taking their toll and a slight short cut was adopted, eliminating a re-ascent of the hill to Duddenhoe End and the very wet and pot holed descent from Arkesden.

At the foot of the hill affectionately known as “Bastardo”, I left the group for a flatter run home. I can only assume that the remainder of the ride passed without incident and lunch was enjoyed by the partakers.

Thanks to the ever diligent Charles for the photographic record. The starters were Jenni, Jeremy, Andrew, Charles, Ric, (muddy) Ken, Roger and Graham.

There is a reason why Ireland is lush and green and called the Emerald Isle. It rains a lot. Maybe similar reasoning can be applied to the 9 Windmill riders that turned out despite flooded roads and a forecast of torrential rain later ? Everyone, for the first time I can remember, was garbed in bright green.

And the Gold ? there was a belated presentation of the prestigious Windmill Pédale d’Or to our statistician in residence, Victor, for outstanding spread sheeting in 2023.

Brian’s route started from the 14th century Royal Oak overlooking Barrington green, claiming to be the longest village green in Europe. The Royal Oak had been taken over by Cambscuisine in 2022 so great things were expected of the food and beer (not to mention the traditional Black Adder sound track playing in the toilets).

The morning had started off very pleasantly, with a number of riders opting for the ‘green’ option by cycling to the start of the ride. The first ‘obstacle’ on the ride was the climb up chapel hill (AKA Barrington hill), past the old cement works site. It wasn’t clear whether the little mechanical ‘niggles’ befalling some of the riders up the hill weren’t actually strategic rest stops.

Barrington cement works, operating until 2018, has several claims to fame: it has high grade Grey Chalk as well as Chalk Marl on site and its unique geology allowed it to operate as a free-draining quarry. It also held the distinction of operating the last standard gauge quarry railway in the UK.

Because it is now the only remaining complete section of the Lower Chalk in the area, parts of the quarry is a designated SSSI, whilst other parts form an extensive landfill as well as a substantial housing development.

All was going well with the ride through Haslingfield, Harlton, Eversden, Kingston up to Hardwick. Then the weather took a massive turn for the worse and the heavens opened. From there it was a race for the sanctuary of the cafe at Coton Orchard, with sections of the route through Madingly being bypassed in the interests of getting to shelter.

After coffee and cakes and the ritual of trying to refit wet gloves, the rain had temporarily eased as we headed for the outskirts of Cambridge but had resumed its full volume by the time we passed Grantchester, Byrons Pool and Trumpington Meadows. By the A10 the group had fragmented with some opting for the sensible option of the direct route back along the A10 cycle path whilst others (stupidly) opted to take the full route down past the Thriplow daffodils and the flooded Foxton road.

Back at the Royal Oak, we were ushered into the bar with a woodburner. Even that didn’t alleviate the chill (possibly not helped by the fact that it was now loaded with soaking wet cycling gloves). We were joined at lunch and beer by Geoff and Ken who had done the sensible thing and driven straight there.

For the record, thanks Brian for organising complete with new pub venue and to the fellow lads in green: Brian, Victor, Jeremy, Alan, Roger, Andrew, Graham, Rod, Howard. Relatively few photos this week due to lack of an underwater camera.

The prospective riders were anxiously scanning their ‘phones for the expected “Launch Cancelled” message. None came.

Outside it was -7C when the riders set off or loaded their bikes into cars or, more sensibly, opted to crawl back under their duvets (Special mention, though, to Deborah who’s reason for not riding was more disturbing: she had suffered a break in and her bikes had been stolen). Nevertheless nine riders felt able to brave the ride, lured in by the promise of a balmy +2C later in the day. The starting point was The Bell, Balsham where lunch was ordered (via a coffee at the Old Butchers cafe for Graham and Howard) .

Martin W had sensibly done a drive by reconaisance of his route earlier in the week and the worst sections of icy road were removed from the course. This meant that road conditions were, for the most part, dry and safe. The three remaining short but very icy sections were all negotiated safely and at an appropriate speed.

And so, despite relatively good road conditions and a calm blue sky, it was still very sub zero when the 9 set off in a northerly direction past our old favourite haunt of the Chestnut Tree on our way towards our new favourite haunt, Victor Victoria cafe in Newmarket. Unfortunately, Dawg (Andrew) couldn’t get the circulation going to his frozen hands despite vigorous arm ‘windmills’ and had to pull out leaving us as a single group of 8.

The café looked quite full when we arrived, which was slightly worrying as sitting outside wasn’t an option for any of us. Luckily the staff were sympathetic to our needs and quickly pulled together a number of tables and chairs to allow us to thaw out in the comfort of the café interior. Personally, I recommend the mocha and a warm cheese scones with butter. Once again, thumbs up to Victor Victoria (public service info: soon to be opening a branch in Martin’s old office premises in Sawston).

A quick visit to the Bill Tutte memorial with photo opportunity followed (Bill Tutte was instrumental, alongside more famous contemporaries, in the allied efforts to decode WW2 Axis communications; more details in earlier blogs).

Then it was back on the bikes for the journey back to the Bell on the beautiful quiet Suffolk roads. The sun was still shining and the temperature had crept up past 0C. In the circumstances, it felt positively balmy to the riders; water bottles had thawed, beard icicles melted and smiles had replaced shivering grimaces.

Back at the Bell, Brian was buying birthday beers. True to form, Maurice, Deborah, Charles joined the riders for lunch and free beer. Happy birthday Brian. Thanks for organising Martin W.

Riders were Martin W, Graham, Howard, Martin B (on new steed), Roger, Brian, Alan, Tom and Andrew.

Indeed. The notoriously wet Violets lane. Welcome to the Windmill rides, John.

Thursday’s ride started in Brent Pelham, possibly the most central venue possible for the Windmill club.

The Brent Pelham parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates from the 14th century. It contains a black marble tomb slab from 13th century, upon which the name of legendary local dragon-slayer Piers Shonks and a date of 1086 has been added. Near St Mary’s church are ancient stocks which could accommodate up to three people. A derelict windmill also survives in the village. More on derelict windmillers later. Of more immediate interest was the village pub, the Black Horse, from which our ride started.

It had rained overnight; tractors and lorries loaded with sugar beet had added a layer of mud to the already wet leaf covered lanes. Thankfully the rain had stopped, leaving just grey skies and a surprisingly brisk south easterly wind.

..And so Martin’s route set us off towards the notoriously wet Violets lane. Mercifully, the route avoided the submerged sections and instead headed up the concrete farm track to Whitebarns Lane (a muddy farm track) to Furneux Pelham. From here more conventional (muddy) roads took us through the bypassed Little Hadham, the delightfully leafy Wellpond green and Standon.

Across the far side of Ermine street we finally pitched up at Westhill Golf Club for coffee (noting the wind swept golfers as we dived for the shelter of the club house).

After a leisurely coffee and tea cakes (‘leisurely’ on account of the maximum delivery rate of a single coffee machine), Alan cracked the proverbial whip and we were back on the (muddy) roads towards Brent Pelham via Buntingford, Alpacas, Red Kites aplenty and Anstey. Just outside Brent Pelham, we passed the Royal Observer Corps observer post, now in a state of disrepair.

Back at the Black Horse, a respectable Christmas Lunch party was already under way. Sensibly, we were accommodated by a fire at completely the other end of the pub, for a lovely lunch and beer. Another great ride, muddy, breezy but mercifully rainless, not too cold and incident free – thankyou Martin

Riders were: John, Debs, Martin W, Alan, Graham, Rod, Simon, Paul, Nigel, Martin B (looking slightly unacclimatised since having just arrived back from South Africa)

Any follower of cricket, especially in the UK, will know that the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) is designed to calculate the target score for a team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. The method was devised by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, and was formerly known as the Duckworth–Lewis method (D/L). It was introduced in 1997, and adopted officially by the ICC in 1999. After the retirements of Duckworth and Lewis, Steven Stern became the custodian of the method and it was renamed to its current title in November 2014.

All of this preamble is pertinent to Thursday’s ride for two reasons:
– The ride started and finished at the Cricketers Arms overlooking the Rickling Green cricket pitch.
– The ‘match’ was, indeed, “interrupted by weather or other circumstances”

An overnight freezing fog forecast had proved correct and a number of Windmillers decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decided to sit the day out at home with a mug of warm cocoa. Nevertheless eight hardy souls made it to the start, all with tales of icy roads and poor visibility. Over a coffee, a consensus emerged: Yes we would ride (see Rule 9, below) but a slightly delayed start would allow the fog to lift and Simon’s route would be shortened to 31km to avoid the most minor roads.

As the sun started to break through, we set off very cautiously and headed via Henham to join the Thaxted road just outside Elsenham. As we’d hoped this road had been well gritted and, as a bonus, was much quieter than we had feared and so was a real pleasure to ride on, with the sun now fully out and providing some warmth. In fact so effective was the sun that two of our number opted to sit outside Parishes cafe in Thaxted for their coffee and cake !

The second part of the ride followed pretty much Simon’s original route via Debden, picking up Martin on the way after a late start.

And so to lunch. The Woofchester’s Bark Burgers on sale at the bar were, apparently, for dogs only and so it was the more usual pub fodder for us !

Velominati rule 9: “If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.” https://www.velominati.com/

The riders were Debs, Alan, Graham, Simon, Roger, Jeremy, Brian and Rod with Martin W joining us for part of the way.

Rain. As a cycling group we’d almost forgotten what its like to ride in wet conditions ! So; after the unfeasibly warm and dry weather we’ve had this month, the rain finally arrived. I’m sure the keen gardeners out there were offering up a silent prayer of thanks this morning as a steady downpour sprang from a heavy, grey sky. Meanwhile, sometimes keen Windmill cyclists were shaking their fists and crying into their early morning porridge. Autumn was here. At one point, there was even talk of cancelling the ride but finally rule 5 * prevailed and the ride was on.

Nine riders congregated in the Crown, Little Warden for a 9.30 start. However the ongoing steady drizzle and the offer of coffee meant that the start, by consensus, was delayed until 10.00. It was still raining as two groups started up the hill towards Hadstock common, but it wasn’t long before Simon and Chris thought “sod this for a game of soldiers” and sensibly turned back.

Ostensibly to make up lost time, various short cuts and diversions were adopted (including a sampling of the new cycle path from Linton to Abington and missing out long stretches of off road riding), en route to Graystones Cafe, Duxford where Ken was waiting for us. Inside, warming drinks and cakes were being enjoyed when in strode an extremely irate Charles, dressed head to foot it seemed as a lollipop man. Somehow he had missed us on the ride, no doubt during one of our short cuts and had only just found us. Not so stressed was Brian, who also joined us here directly.

With the rain finally abating, but time for lunch rapidly approaching, the executive decision was taken to head fairly directly to Little Walden via Coploe Hill and Chestnut Avenue and then via Audley End House (once bigger than Buckingham Palace, apparently, according to a man in the pub).

About 38km all told, which felt like an achievement in the conditions.

Back at the pub and slowly drying out, Chris rejoined and kindly stood his round for a ‘significant’ birthday celebration – many thanks and much appreciated.

* Velominati rule 5: “Harden the f%*$ up.” https://www.velominati.com/

For all or some of the ride and or lunch: Andrew, Brian, Charles, Chris, Gareth, Graham, Howard, Jeremy, Ken, Rod, Sandra, Simon, Victor.

Wimpole has been continuously occupied for at least 2,000 years, with evidence from Roman, Anglo Saxon and medieval times. The earliest maps show a four-gabled manor house surrounded by a moat. Nowadays the extensive estate comes under the auspices of the National Trust.

These gentile surroundings form such an unlikely setting for the unseemly scrum for available deckchairs that occurred last Thursday. And the perpetrators of this unseemliness ? It turns out it was the vanguard of the Windmill cyclists laying claim to all of the available sunbeds and, without any remorse, leaving their later arriving club mates to look around in vain for seating.

On any normal October day the competition for sunbeds would be somewhat more muted, but for this ride the weather played ball and the National Trust cafe had arrayed a number of deckchairs out on their lovely lawn in the sunshine. Unfortunately, that number of chairs was fewer than the 18 Windmill riders that had set off from cafe 19, Duxford that morning !

I would like to report that the three groups on the road progressed from Duxford to Wimpole via the short but sharp Chapel Hill over to Barrington and around the multi-use path around the estate without incident.

Unfortunately, this would not be true. Group three had barely travelled 100 metres from the cafe before Paul reported a back wheel puncture. This shouldn’t have been a particular issue – fingers were warm, spare inner tubes abounded and we had ace technician Tom in the group. We hadn’t bargained on a faulty replacement tube, however, which promptly blew out its valve once having been laboriously pumped up by Paul (all the while asking for more volunteers to man the pump). Luckily the next tube proved more robust, and a CO2 inflator saved Paul from more sweat and effort *. Nevertheless group 3 were now half an hour behind schedule.

The return ride did pass without incident via Shepreth and Fowlmere. Following breeze and no hills. Thanks to Jeremy for organising this ride and the weather gods for the fine conditions.

Apologies if I’ve missed name checking anyone here: Jeremy, Andrew, Charles, Alan, Keith, Deborah, Graham, Paul, Tom, Roger, Graham, Sandra, Ken, Simon, Victor, Gareth, Ric, Rod.

* CO2 cannisters are great for quick roadside tyre inflation but there are a few things to look out for:

• Best get an inflator with a proper tap on it rather than a marginally lighter ‘one shot’ push on type.
• The tyre pressure gets high very quickly. If in your haste you had the inner tube trapped under the outer rim, it WILL blow out. With a bang.
• The CO2 cannister will get very cold. Do not handle with bare hands !
• Tyres are more porous to CO2 than normal air, so when you get home, let the CO2 out and re-inflate with a normal pump.

A day of opposites for the windmill club today.

Iain is still interred in a hospital in Brittany after being very expertly and sympathetically treated by the French health system for a pulmonary embolism sustained during his, Alan and Martin’s cycle holiday. He is being treated considerably less sympathetically by his insurance company. As a consequence, Martin W has very kindly mounted a rescue mission involving a return trip to France to pick up both Iain and bike. He is probably somewhere Sous La Manche as we speak. We all hope the treatment went well, Iain, and chapeau to Martin.

Meanwhile, les stay-at-home rost beefs were enjoying a great little weather window of blue skies and light winds, which came sandwiched between last nights floods and this afternoon’s thunder storms. 14 riders took to the roads from outside the Red Lion, Great Sampford and, unusually, managed to split into two equal groups of riders.

Our first port of call was possibly a first visit to the beautifully restored Bragg’s Mill, overlooking Ashdon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bragg%27s_Mill,_Ashdon

Bragg’s Mill is a post mill with a single storey roundhouse. It has four patent sails carried on a wooden windshaft with a cast iron poll end. Two sails are double shuttered and two are single shuttered. Two pairs of millstones are driven, arranged Head and Tail. The mill is winded by tailpole. The mill is 10.36 m high to the roof.

Bragg’s Mill was built in 1757 and was renovated in the late 1950s. In July 2004, a grant of £46,900 was received from the Heritage Lottery Fund and new sails were fitted on 5 July 2006. “Viewing by donation”, apparently, so a possible for future windmill rides.

After the photo shoot and once again in two groups, we headed for coffee and cake at a very efficient Tarka’s cafe. Continued sunshine allowed coffee to be taken at the outside tables without any danger of a soaking, being blown away or hypothermia (or upsetting the rest of the more conventionally attired clientele).

Back on the bikes and back to the Red Lion via another possible Windmill first: the delightfully narrow and twisty eggshell lane.

No incidents ensured a prompt lunch. Two riders, Victor and Alan, were replaced at the table by two guest diners, Julia and Maurice. The pub’s excellent Italian themed cuisine once again came up to the high standard we’ve come to expect of this venue.

The lucky dry and slightly sun kissed riders were: Alan, Victor, Brian, Jeremy, Martin B, Paul, Simon, Graham, Roger, Ken, Gareth, Rodd, Andrew and Keith.

Flint was formed in soft, limy mud on the floor of the chalk sea some 80 million years ago. It is made of quartz, which came from the skeletons of tiny sponges dissolved in the seawater. The bizarre shapes of flint nodules is due to flint replacing the chalk in the burrows of marine animals such as arthropods. Over millions of years the process continued and the white chalk mud, containing trillions of flint nodules, was slowly compacted to form a layer over 200 metres thick across the region. Early humans soon discovered that broken flints could be formed into extremely sharp cutting tools ………

In keeping with the rest of July, Thursday’s forecast was “mixed”. This prompted one or two ‘no shows’, including our ride organiser, Rod (some muttering about a BT man, but it sounds a bit like, “the dog ate my homework”). Nevertheless, 11 riders (assuming I’ve counted correctly) gathered at the Fox and Duck, Therfield under gloomy skies. Two groups set off southwards into the blustery breeze heading for coffee in Buntingford.

Would it rain or not ? the heavy clouds constantly threatened, but thankfully in the end only light showers materialised. Constant stops ensued to put on rain coats (too warm) or take them off again (another light shower).

Back to the pub via the oft photographed Cromer Windmill for the usual great food and beer after an enjoyable and mostly dry and mostly incident free ride.

……The fascinating geology of flint and utility to our ancestors was lost somewhat on Alan and Graham. Alan sustained not one but two flint induced punctures requiring road side fixing and Graham one slow puncture to be fixed at home. Geology, eh ?

With apologies if I lost track of starters, I think these are the final group of riders: Jeremy, Victor, Tom, Paul, Nigel, Maurice, Martin B, Graham, Charles, Alan and Andrew.

That was different for a Windmill Club ride ! 92 km (58 miles) from King’s Lynn to Cambridge, one way with no pub finale. The weather was set fair, dry and hot with a favourable wind. The course was almost perfectly flat – the main difficulties to progress being uneven or unpaved cycle tracks, steep bridges (especially for those on e bikes) and Cambridge traffic lights. Oh, and one busy road crossing, more of which later.

The first hurdle was to get the 9 starters to King’s Lynn station all at the same time from a mixture of starting points (variously Royston, Cambridge, Trumpington Park and Ride, and a hotel in Kings Lynn). Happily, thanks to the wonders of modern communications and a punctual train, all arrived safely for the grand depart.

King’s Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop’s Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in Norfolk. Lynn originated in the early 10th century on a constricted site south of where the River Great Ouse now discharges into the Wash (until the early 13th century, the Great Ouse emptied via the Wellstream at Wisbech). During the 14th century, Lynn ranked as England’s most important port when sea trade with Europe was dominated by the Hanseatic League of ports. Lynn retains the only surviving two former Hanseatic League warehouses: Hanse House and Marriott’s Warehouse, in use between the 15th and 17th centuries.

These days, the town is an interesting mix of old and new, with an extensive pedestrianised centre, a plethora of one way streets and some oddly positioned cycle ways. This made navigating the first part of our route particularly tricky – trying to avoid falling foul of traffic restrictions, busy main roads and industrial units.

Somehow, we negotiated the route through to the picturesque Tuesday Market square, Down Kings Street to Lynn Minster, then the the South Quay before finally picking up the excellent National route 1 cycle path south of the town. From here it was time for cameras away and to start covering some distance.

Away from the metropolitan bustle, the peloton maintained a healthy pace, initially on cycle paths and then on a series of quiet lanes heading for our first stop at Denver Sluice, where we were to meet Simon and “The Boss”, Maurice, who had been conducting “Business” in Downham Market that morning. So it was that 11 of us seeked out a shady table at Violet’s Tea room by the old windmill for an efficiently served refresher.

Despite being 25km up river from Lynn, such is the flatness of this part of Norfolk that Denver Sluice controls the water levels between the tidal and non-tidal stretches of the Great Ouse, The tidal mudbanks on one side of the sluice being clearly visible from the road. The original sluice was built in 1651 by the Dutch architect Cornelius Vermuyden as part of the ongoing project to drain the fens (at least Wiki says “built” – I doubt that he personally built it).

The temperature continued to climb as we rolled along the relentless and traffic free Ten Mile Bank, mostly below river level and thankfully still with the wind. It seemed like an age before we rounded Littleport and headed down to Queen Adelaide, Ely and traffic. The trip plan continued to hold together well and we were able to get into Peacocks cafe without having been able to pre book. The relaxed service allowed us to appreciate some of the features of this little gem of a venue – even to the point of garden tours for some ! It was at Ely that Simon and “the Boss” left the ride.

Possibly due to the elevated temperatures, post lunch lassitude or just not having to negotiate traffic most of the day it came as a wake up call when an oncoming car asserted their right of way by not letting a Windmiller cross the road in front of them – fortunately the only damage being dented ear drums from their car horn. Luckily for us, the ride then continued on a quiet cycle path for a few kilometres, progress being slightly impeded by the rippled and distorted surface.

Despite pleas to the contrary, the ride continued past the cafe at Wickham Fen across the unpaved Lode way heading for Anglessy Abbey where we finally stopped for the last refreshment break. From here we were once more engaging with the busyness and traffic lights that is Cambridge City. Eventually we made it to the station where the party started to fragment, with Rod heading home via train, others via cars parked at the park and ride, or directly home by bike for Ric, Brian, Jeremy, Alan and Graham.

An excellent, long and slightly unusual adventure for the Windmill club. Special thanks to Brian and Jeremy for instigating. Fears for ebike battery life turning out to be unfounded !

Deborah, Roger, Rod, Brian, Jeremy, Charles, Graham, Ric and Alan with guest appearances from Simon and Maurice.

Octogenarians are like buses: none for ages then two in the space of a month ! Ken will celebrate his milestone birthday on Saturday, but in the meantime he’d organised this Thursday’s hilly ride and birthday beers from the Crown, Little Walden.

The last ride we took from the Crown, ice was thick on the roads and the mercury hovered near zero. This time, the riders were greeted by considerably warmer and brighter conditions so it wasn’t surprising to see 15 riders on parade. Since journalistic fact checking appears to be optional these days, I can claim (without checking) that its the first time this year that the entire peloton were wearing shorts.

Food orders placed, Ken, on his trusty non-e-bike, led the first of two groups away – only to return a minute later to lock his car then charge off again after his group.

It being the nature of the Crown’s location, the hill up to Hadstock common invariably features in any ride starting from there. As a wide open elevated plateau, its not surprising that Hadstock common was the home of RAF Little Walden / USAAF Station 165 during WW2.

After tackling a few of quiet lanes East of Saffron Walden we congregated at the Bonnefirebox cafe, Wimbish for coffee and cake. This is a new venue for the club and a welcome addition. From here, the route turned to the West of Saffron Walden – after negotiating a particularly congested Newport high street.

Passing the Axe and Compasses in Arkesden, it was good to see much progress being made to the fire damaged building and thatched roof. Unfortunately, it won’t be open in time for the Women’s pro peloton to drop in for a pint tomorrow on their ‘Ride London Classique’ UCI world tour event. In fact, Ken’s route traced a good section of their route – albeit in reverse.

We finally crested the aptly named ‘Windmill Hill’ before the run back into Saffron Walden. Here, mapping software was blamed for the variety of routes taken through the town until all eventually made it onto the Little Walden road and hence the pub.

Once at the pub, it was excellent beer directly from the cask and fine food plus the obligatory rendering “Happy Birthday to yoooooo”. Many thanks to Ken for an incident free, albeit hilly, ride.

Ken, Howard, Ric, Geoff, Martin B, Andrew, Rod, Alan. Brian, Iain, Jeremy, Paul, Maurice, Martin W, Graham.

This Thursday’s ride saw a recent record 18 Windmillers on parade. A warm welcome to Paul, on his first outing with the group and welcome back Howard. The high turn out was no doubt influenced by the extensive Thai menu at the Navigators, Little Shelford; the dry and warm(ish) forecast; the long sections of dedicated cycle paths and the nearly pan flat course profile. In fact so flat was the profile, Charles was tempted into eschewing his ebike for his old faithful, normally aspirated Giant bike (but more on that later).

Brian had devised a devious 53km route up through the East side of Cambridge and back through the West side, maximising the use of cycle paths and cycle routes and minimising the use of of the city roads. A pleasure to ride but a real challenge to follow the twists and turns thereof ! Thankfully most Windmillers come equipped with electronic navigation these days and any wrong turning were quickly corrected. The stiff breeze on the day was from the East and didn’t hamper our progress on the largely North-South route.

Although mostly on paths, it was still deemed prudent to split into three equal groups. In time honoured fashion, the first ‘equal’ group set off with 7 riders, the second with 6 and the third with 5. Hmmmm.

Cambridge’s guided busway is (or was) the longest guided busway in the world and has two main branches. The Northern busway uses the course of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon railway and the Southern section uses part of the former Oxford Varsity Line. Although the utility and cost of the busway divided local opinion at the time, a total of 2,500,000 trips were made in the first year of operation which was 40% higher than the predicted figure. What is not in dispute is the utility of the busway to cyclists and pedestrians alike, who can enjoy munching kilometre after kilometre on a great surface almost risk free (not withstanding there has been the very occasional fatality involving cyclists and buses). Brian’s route made extensive use of both branches of the busway to ensure that brisk progress was made on the first leg of our route and we were soon clear of the city and heading for fen country.

A brief detour via Rampton and we were on course for the Auction House cafe in Willingham. Willingham Auctions was established in 1959, and ran as a popular Auctioneers and Estate Agents for 25 years. It was reopened in 1994. The café is now a justifiably popular part of the site. Somewhat delayed for coffee, however, was the second group on the road due to an unfortunate puncture to Charles’ bike. Not having his usual e-bike meant that his full bag of bike spare paraphernalia and electronic gadgetry wasn’t there when it was needed and the puncture took a long time to fix ! By the time we were finally all assembled for coffee, the sun was out and we could all relax in the courtyard enjoying the warmth – just as well as the sudden influx of 19 riders had put the café into temporary overload and drinks and cakes were a while in arriving !

The enforced extended break allowed us to review our clothing choice in the sunshine and multiple windproof hi-vis layers and thermal baselayers were duly stowed away.

The return leg took us in the vicinity of the popular Byron’s pool near Grantchester. Lord Byron himself (‘Don Juan’ dude and father of Ada Lovelace) is reputed to have used the pool for swimming. These days it is a popular nature reserve. The Rivers Bourne, Rhee, Cam and Granta all converge just upstream of the pool.

The Navigator has long had a reputation for fine Thai food and good beer but it hasn’t been a Windmill regular haunt (maybe until now) – it didn’t disappoint. Despite the large number of us, food and drink was efficiently delivered and efficiently consumed. Another great ride.

And the blog title ? Thai for: “turned out nice again”. The ‘crew’: Alan, Andrew, Brian, Charles, Chris, Deborah, Geoff, Graham, Howard, Ken, Martin B, Martin W, Maurice, Paul, Ric, Rod, Roger, Simon.

Braughing is internationally famous in Hertfordshire and Essex for its Sausages. In 1954 Douglas White and his wife Anna made their first Braughing Sausages which proved to be instantly popular. The claim is that the recipe has remained the same since then and that the sausages are still made using traditional methods – albeit not now in Braughing, but Newmarket two counties away. On average 30,000 Braughing branded sausages are sold each week.

Its not sausages all the way down, though. Braughing’s history dates back to the Iron age – it was the site of the largest ‘Celtic’ mint discovered in Europe. There were also significant Roman and Anglo Saxon settlements here.

There used to be a station on the Great Eastern Railway Buntingford branch, which closed in 1964. In 1953, the station featured in the comedy film ‘Happy Ever After’ with the late David Niven and George Cole. The site of the station was just visible from our ride and appears now to be part of a full size hobby train set. Also sadly lost to the village, only a couple of years ago, is the delightful H & N Jones Grocers and Post Office.

Happily the village still supports the grade 1 listed church of St Mary and no fewer than three pubs. One of these pubs is a popular club haunt, The Golden Fleece, and it was from here that 11 riders gathered for today’s ride. Maurice’s route was an old favourite taking in quiet Hertfordshire lanes (filthy and muddy after heavy overnight rain) and the multi use tow path alongside the River Lea Navigation canal between Hertford and Ware. Or at least that was the plan. Maurice’s group decided to miss a section of the path to avoid the puddles, which left Deborah (dallying to watch the abundant bird life at Amwell Nature reserve) temporarily stranded without a group. No crisis in the end, though, and all were reunited at Ware Cafe for mid ride refreshments, taken in a brief bout of warm sunshine.

We have another puncture prize contender ! Actually, given the state of the roads, only one puncture was not bad going but that was no consolation to Rach, who’s puncture it was. Why is it that apparently premium inner tubes aren’t supplied with the valve cores firmly locked in place ? Even if they deign to stay in place when the bike pump is disconnected (they often don’t), they can work slightly loose on the road causing a slow loss of pressure. Such was Rach’s experience for most of the ride. Luckily Tom managed to flag down someone with some pliers to enable a working fix to be made which lasted nearly, but not quite, back to the pub. TOP TIP: If you have spare inner tubes featuring removable valve cores, tighten the cores up with some long nosed pliers before you need to use them.

All back at the pub having miraculously dodged the heavy showers, it was sausage baguettes (Braughing sausages, naturally) for many of the riders.

And, for the record, the riders were: Deborah, Rach, Jennie, Maurice, Simon, Roger, Geoff, Graham, Martin II, Tom and Nigel.

Therfield Heath (not Royston Heath as I’d once thought it was called) is an SSSI of 170 hectares (420 acres) of chalk heathland to the West of Royston. The chalk was formed in the Cretaceous period (65 – 95 million years ago) and uplifted during the Alpine Orogeny then subsequently eroded by melt water from ice sheets from the Anglian ice age. The highest point of the Heath is Therfield Hill which reaches 168 m, the highest point for nearly 20km in every direction.

During World War II, the Heath was used as a prisoner of war camp. Originally the camp held 300 Italian prisoners later replaced by many more German POWs. Prisoners were put to work on the farms and – more pertenant to we cyclists – road building and maintenance. If only someone would do some road maintainance now !

One such road gains nearly 100m of elevation up the edge of the Heath to the village of Therfield itself. Rod, in his benelonence, started this ride from the Heath Cafe and took us straight up this hill – the first of five categorised climbs on the route according to Garmin.

At this point, we should welcome back to the UK the Professor, Simon, fresh home from his two month cycle free sabbatical in Costa Rica and Guatamala. The road condition here might seem similar to Guatamala but the fresh NE breeze and the toughest route we’ve done for a while came as a shock to the system. One person for whom the conditions shouldn’t have been a surprise was Victor, but he still bravely (or stupidly) turned out in shorts again ! Hope you’ve both recovered from tired legs and frozen kneecaps respectively.

Half way into the ride, Poppys Barn tea room was busy on arrival. Luckily Rod had had the foresight to reserve a table in advance so it was warming coffees all round before setting off on the still hilly return leg. On the way back we stopped briefly at THE windmill at Great Chishill – the windmill from which the club derives its name (One of 7 surviving open trestle mills, built in 1819). A short series of ups and downs led back to Royston, then through the town and back to the Heath Cafe. The excellent pre-ordered lunches arrived in short order and were enjoyed by all on parade along with some much needed restorative beers. Many thanks to the organiser, Rod.

Finally, for the record (manual pedal power acknowledged first on this occasion, due to the hilly effort involved): Andrew, Roger, Victor, Simon, Brian, Jeremy, Graham, Alan, eGeoff, eRod and (collected en route from Barkway) eMaurice.