travel – The Windmill Cycle Club

Waking the dead

A quick glance at the Ride Log confirmed it was ages since our last Suffolk-based outing and high time we paid a return visit to Castle Hedingham and its splendid old coaching inn, The Bell.

Whether it was the distance getting there, the forecast of wind and rain, or just the prospect of Brian leading the outing, turnout was low with just six Windmillers gathering at The Bell. And with Brian setting us off clockwise on a route he himself had labelled anticlockwise, it wasn’t the most auspicious of starts.

So it was that Simon, Maurice, Roger, Paul and Jeremy followed Brian, still heading clockwise, off towards Clare, some 15 miles distant. The outbound leg was delightful with quiet lanes and fine views across the Colne and Stour valleys.

Arriving in Clare, we took the scenic route via the Priory into the Country Park. A community and retreat centre run by Augustinian Friars, the Priory is, according to its website, “a tranquil place of prayer, natural beauty, and silence.” Or it was until Jeremy shattered the monastic silence with a yell of “Stopping!!!” as we pulled up alongside the graves of recently departed clergy. Talk about waking the dead.

Pulling up at Clare Country Park, we enjoyed some good coffee and cake at Platform One Café before setting off on the return leg to Castle Hedingham. Mid-way back, the wind and rain finally caught up and from here on it was heads down, every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost, all the way back to The Bell.

32 miles – and we eventually agreed to do it clockwise

Drying out over a good lunch, our conversation was wide-ranging, everything from Simon’s eye-wateringly expensive taste in white goods through to Maurice’s plans for stable clearance; we only hope he’s told Lyn.

Brian

15 February 2024. A tale of two cafés. 31 miles.

What have Café 19 in Duxford and Wimpole Hall have in common? Cafés of course but what a contrast there is between them. Café 19 is so efficient in all respects from the moment of arrival to the time of departure, but the National Trust team at Wimpole of a similar size seems to always struggle with probably a similar number of customers. There’s a job here for a time and motion expert but retired management consultant Jeremy, leader of this ride and also birthday boy, seemed unwilling to take up the challenge when asked. But despite another long queue for coffee and cake at Wimpole, the ride there is always a pleasure and the views from the ridge behind Wimpole Hall take some beating.

So 14 Windmillers gathered at Café 19 on a very mild day to cycle in two groups to Wimpole and back. The first group initially comprised Chris, Paul, Rod, Gareth and Ken but was quickly joined by navigator Brian when half of them were seen heading immediately in the wrong direction.

‘Oi! Come back, you’re heading in the wrong direction’, was the shout to some of Group A as they left the car park, hotly pursued by Brian who reined them in. Group B comprising Jeremy, Andrew, Roger, Martin W, Martin B, Deborah, Nigel and Alan left soon afterwards.

Riding anti-clockwise via Whittlesford, Newton, Harston, Haslingfield, Barrington and Orwell, it was an event free ride to Wimpole followed by a steep climb up to the ridge on a combined pedestrian and cycle path, which requires understanding from both sets of users. The views from the top towards Royston in the West and Elmdon in the East are spectacular on a clear day.

Deborah riding her daughter’s snazzy reconditioned bike, following the theft of hers

The return leg took us back through Orwell and then Shepreth and Fowlmere before crossing the A505 and heading back to Duxford. Despite the huge amount of rain in recent days and flooded fields the roads were remarkably free of large puddles.

Group A heads for home, Andrew having jumped ship from B as he had to get back in a hurry

Back at Café 19, some had to skip lunch but it was good to be joined by Geoff who had been suffering from sciatica, which hopefully has cleared up. Jeremy very kindly bought a round of drinks in his capacity of birthday boy and received a hearty rendering of ‘happy birthday’ in return.

Thanks go to Jeremy for organising the ride and to photographers including Brian and Gareth.

This is where we went:

Martin W