Bike Ride through Cambridgeshire, August 2006

On the weekend between the GLIMS Workshop and the IGS Conference in Cambridge, UK, I decided to rent a bike and explore the English countryside. Equipped with a free brochure from the Cambridge Information Center describing the route of the National Cycle Network trail #51, plus a guide bought in a local bookstore describing walks in “Cambridgeshire and the Fens” I set out late Sunday morning.

The reason for my late start was because I had spent a while coding the waypoints of places I wanted to see into my GPS, plus figuring out how to carry food and extra clothes on the bike. I stopped at the Cambridge open air market looking for a cheap daybag. I didn't find one, and so set off with a small lunch bag on the rack and a plastic bag hung from the handlebars.

I headed to the River Cam and then east. Canal boats line the River throughout Cambridge, but as you get further away from the center of the city, some of them start looking pretty messy, like this one. Looked like people had been living in this spot for years.

To the northeast of the city is a large park&ride. This is the entry to the bike path. The plaques above the tires read: “The Cambridge Jubilee Cycleway, Opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh KG KT on 1^st July 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”

The National Cycle Network was well signed. I took this picture just outside of Cambridge.

Church yard outside Stow-cum Quy.

It's hard, as an American, not to be impressed by the antiquity of these old churches.

I left the bikeway at Stow-cum Quy, following the walking route shown in my book. My destination was Anglesey Abbey, an Augustinian priory founded sometime in the 13^th century but dissolved in 1536 by Henry VIII. At the turn of the 17th Century it was transformed it into a country house. I did not tour the house, as it didn't open until 1 pm and I wanted to keep biking. I did tour the gardens, which were extensive (96 acres).

Paths lead the visitor through many beautiful gardens, some formal, some informal.

This is the herb garden. There were many statues throughout the grounds.

I especially liked the fact that there were printed guides one could carry around to help in identifying the plants.

Here's a statue of Bacchus.

The dahlia garden was stunningly beautiful.

This is the Temple Lawn, situated in a part of the grounds few seemed to visit.

From the Abbey I reconnected with the bike path and rode towards Reach. Each town, even very small villages, has a colorful carved sign like this somewhere near the center.

Riding on towards Burwell I came across a field filled with tractors and various animal-drawn plows. Despite what the sign says, it was a competition to see who could plow the straightest row of uniform depth.

I asked this fellow to tell me the story of the competition. He did, and then went on to tell me about his restored tractor, and about how he had led a good life.

This is the church in Burwell. The thing that amazed me about these old churches is that they're all still in use, and the doors were open to just walk in and look around. You can see the place for kids to play during services in the foreground.

Old Stones.

I waited around for a while hoping to catch a glimpse of a humped zebra, but never saw one. Maybe it was the wrong season.

Just outside Burwell the designated bike trail ceased following thoroughfare and instead went along this farming road for a good ways.

Now the trail became just a dirt path, which was a little jarring on the city bike I had rented. The trail is leading into Edmund's Fen, a natural wetland.

The bike trail ran through the Fen, ending at the visitor center for Wicken Fen Nature Reserve. There were lots of interesting things to see here, but with the afternoon getting on, I needed to think about getting back to Cambridge to turn in the bike by the 5 pm deadline. I was now at the end of the cycle network map I had. The map had an arrow showing a trail (#11) continuing north to Ely, which I new to be a larger city that might have a train I could take back to Cambridge.

The lady in the Wicken Fen visitor center brought out a map of the bike trail (pages from a website taped together) for me to look at. She also called the train station to check what was the latest train that would get me to Cambridge by 5 pm. It would be tight, but I decided to go for it. I tried to commit the bike map to memory and then took off pedaling hard to get to Ely. It was a beautiful ride, following back roads and a long bike path along the River Ouse. You can see the great Ely Cathedral in the distance.

Well, I arrived at the train station minutes before the train was to leave. I got on with the bike (there were plenty of others) and was back in Cambridge in time to return the bike to the Cambridge Station Cycles.

Cambridge is a biking town. Here's the front of the train station.