waterbeach – The Windmill Cycle Club

Some Cambridge culture

Arriving by train, visitors to Cambridge are confronted with Ariadne Wrapped, an artwork commissioned to grace the new station forecourt. According to sculptor Gavin Turk, the mythical Ariadne is,

‘. . . presented as a packaged shape forever in transportation, informed by the sound of the train the parcel lies in limbo. The criss-cross of ropes and string act like compositional or navigation lines, pointers to new perspectives.‘

The general consensus among Windmillers was that it was a monstrosity, best replaced by a statue honoring a Cambridge worthy, say Stephen Hawking or suchlike.

Following last week’s hilly ride in North Herts, Brian – this week’s leader – had opted for a flatter ride around South Cambs and, having set off earlier from Little Shelford our first port of call was Cambridge Station.

From there we wound our way along quiet backstreets to the riverside and thence some five miles along the towpath to Waterbeach. This idyllic stretch of the River Cam is particularly peaceful just now as the section between Cambridge and Milton has been shut to boat traffic for the past year. Inspection of the locks at each end has shown the lock islands to be unstable and vulnerable to collapse. Both carry public footpaths over the river and they too have been closed.

Jesus Green lock in Cambridge – closed until further notice

We witnessed some of the short term stabilisation currently underway – see Simon’s pictures below – but the locks are likely to remain closed until the lock islands are rebuilt at a cost of £25M and, as yet, no-one seems prepared to stump up the money. Meanwhile, visitors are unable to reach Cambridge by boat, indeed many boats are stranded on the river and some owners have taken to craning their vessels out in order to leave. The situation seems to be stalemate.

Simon snapped these divers engaged in remedial work on the Baits Bite Lock

Arriving in Waterbeach Brian had arranged for us to visit the Military Heritage Museum on the site of the wartime RAF airfield and subsequently barracks for the Royal Engineers. The base was decommissioned in 2013 and is now a development site for the planned Waterbeach Newtown and it’s 11,000 new homes.

Simon loves museums and, as you can see below, he got very hands-on with the exhibits. We won’t be taking him to glassware museums or maternity wards anytime soon.

Leaving the museum we headed half a mile further down the road and pulled in for refreshments at the Evolve Coffee Shop & Bar. Refreshed and back on the bikes, we headed for Landbeach where we picked up the Mere Way, a new and very wide cycleway, taking us back to Cambridge. Come the new year this will be extended all the way to Waterbeach where the new cycle bridge spanning the A10 has recently been lifted into position. We must plan a ride in the spring to try it out.

The A10 cyclebridge at Waterbridge being lifted into position on 21 September

Returning to Little Shelford, we piled back into the Side Quest for a well deserved lunch.

For the record, 14 riders completed a 26 mile circuit: Alan, Andrew, Brian, Chris, Deborah, Geoff, Jenni, Keith, MartinB, Nigel, Rach, Ric, Rod, Simon.

26 miles anticlockwise from Little Shelford

A Space Odyssey

The club website says we’re all about exploring the quieter lanes of East Anglia – to which we can now add . . . and the solar system.

A blue planet on a very brown Midsummer Common

Curiosity about Thursday’s ride had been piqued by Brian’s invitation saying we would be . . . visiting every planet in the solar system before stopping for refreshments at a pharmacy beyond Pluto. We thought he’d just had too much sun.

Come Thursday and there was indeed lots of sun – not only the usual one overhead but another one in the middle of Midsummer Common, Cambridge; as if we weren’t hot enough already, having cycled into town from Stapleford in the middle of a heatwave.

We were at the start of the Our Place in Space trail featuring scale models of the sun and planets recreated as contemporary art sculptures strung out along the River Cam and extending some five miles to Waterbeach (aka Pluto). Confused? Have a look at the pictures and you’ll get the general idea.

As for the pharmacy beyond Pluto, that turned out to be a café in Waterbeach called, well, Pharmacie.

Some Windmillers got quite carried away with their adventures in space. Rod and Victor experienced weightlessness, albeit fleetingly, as each was seen to fly from the saddle only to crash land somewhat painfully on planet earth.

Victor experiences weightlessness in the confined space of the Carter Bridge, Cambridge

Despite the immense distances covered, we got back to the Three Horseshoes in time for lunch and a few beers – and we were delighted to find Maurice waiting for us at the bar.

And for the record the space travellers were Alan, Brian, Charles, Chris, Deborah, Graham, Ken, Martin, Rod, Roger, Sandra, Simon, Tom and Victor. Back on planet earth we clocked up 28 miles.

28 miles: Stapleford – Hauxton – Trumpington Meadow – Grantchester Meadow – Newnham – The Backs – Midsummer Common – all the planets – Waterbeach – Landbeach – Milton – Cambridge North – Chisholm Bridge – Stourbridge Common – Cambridge Station – Shelford – Stapleford

Rest assured, next Thursday’s ride will be restricted to East Anglia.

Brian