Cycling to Huntingdon and back
May. 2nd, 2022 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackTrying to expand my cycling as a source of serious exercise while I avoid running and maybe even long walks until I'm confident my knees are ok, yesterday I aimed for a 40 miles cycle, the longest ever for me.
I made a loop up to Huntingdon parallel to the A14, then back through St Ives and the busway.
I start off along King's Hedges Road, then along the heavily fenced cycle path between Histon Rd and Huntingdon Rd. Then dodge up to Girton, and slip out the bottom end onto the cycle path which runs parallel to the A14 all the way to Fenstanton. That path is the opposite of some -- well paved, lots of space, but not especially nice scenery. But because it's easy to just GO, it's quite a nice way to start. And I like seeing the random bits of untended scrubland around.
That passes Bar Hill and Cambridge Services if you need a stop, although I didn't.
Through Fenstanton, then onto a passable A-road (or narrow on-pavement path if you prefer) round to Hemingford Grey. Now we reach villages just off the Ouse, oozing picturesque. I stopped on a bench here for lunch. Then along to Hemingford Abbots which is equally picturesque but with much bigger houses.
Then down a long road paved with posh houses which eventually turns into a path through Godmanchester Meadows, and the entrance to Godmanchester Nature Reserve. The meadows are impressive, you could believe they go on forever with open grass and trees and occasional scrub. The Nature Reserve was another collection of water filled pits, I didn't walk far because of my knees, but it would be a nice place to visit. I saw a tiny muntjack, like twice as big as a rabbit!
Then down a long access road to the nature reserve, past some allotments on an A-road, and you're coming into Godmanchester. I wiggled through Godmanchester, following a mix of main road, side road, "national cycle route cutting through a little park" and a long on-pavement path crossing the river, starting to have a semi-regular sit-down here at every pretty bench. One bridge let you look down on a nesting swan!
That bridge takes you to the edge of Huntingdon. I didn't venture further in and didn't pass any pubs, so meandered along the river-edge meadow path, which starts in a little park, and then stops and starts most of the way to St Ives, with one annoying stretch where I couldn't find a route other than wheeling along the pavement of an A-road.
I found a pub here in the backstreets in one of the towns between Huntingdon and St Ives which was sufficiently clearly open I stopped for a beer, top up water, and bathroom. And lovely beer garden. And bonus live music.
Refreshed for a gratuitous rest but slightly behind original projected schedule, then I was unsure because the map shows a long route to the edge of St Ives but each end was roads and the middle was path, and I wasn't at all clear if it was a cycle path. But it seemed like my best bet even if I had to push my bike as the alternative was a fast A road. But it was actually through "The Thicket" lovely paved path through lovely woods alongside the lovely river.
And that emerged in the suburbs of St Ives, where the cycle route wiggles along almost but not quite the Ouse Valley Way, lots of picturesque bits through backstreets, through the main street, and then we're to the busway and the parts I already know. Except that the first time I did this St Ives felt like a long way, but now it's the home stretch. But I was getting tired, so along the busway I alternated pushing myself to get home, and treating myself to a rest when I felt like it, as there was enough light I wasn't worried about it getting dark.
Success!
Route:
100m of path between Girton and the cycle path: 5/10, passable, but surely there must be an actual cycle route here?
By-A14 cycle path: 10/10 good surface, quiet
Fenstanton main road: 5/10, annoying to cycle on either the road or pavement, but nice place apart from that
A-road between Fenstanton and Hemingford Grey: 9/10. On road but not busy and everyone overtook politely. Almost every hedge is hiding a different nature reserve.
Hemingfords: 10/10 pleasant village
Godmanchester, Huntingdon meadows: 8/10, nice places, some good infrastructure but a lot of mode switches
The Thicket: 13/10, perfect place.
St Ives: 9/10, nice place, easy to cycle, only occasional cars
Busway: 10/10, easy cycling, familiar, passes through nice places, WCs conveniently at Northstowe
Retrospective:
It was a nice day. I'd previously done 30+ miles and felt like I could do more if I just stayed out a little bit longer so I was fairly sure 40 miles would be ok, but I also felt like Huntingdon was a long way away and perhaps I was kidding myself. But it was about right: enough to push me a bit, but not enough to end up with a long painful slog home in the dusk. Hopefully I will keep it up.
I'm used enough to following the routes I didn't have much worry whether I'd find my way through. National Cycle Route 51 which I've followed E of Cambridge also comes this way, up the busway, and then at St Ives cutting across a bridge to join the route I took through Hemingfords and the signs were often helpful.
I feel achy today but in a mostly good way, my knees aren't sure but don't seem to have got worse.
I stopped at a lot of nice places for a bit of a read, if anything I want to make sure to keep that up, maybe even fit in more of it. I found a lot of nice places on the way.
I'm still not going very actually fast, but faster than I used to. I guess I hadn't dived into proper cycling gear, and I still have panniers for lunch and jumper etc, so I'm not as efficient as I could be, although at least my new bike is better for this than my old bike.
I made a loop up to Huntingdon parallel to the A14, then back through St Ives and the busway.
I start off along King's Hedges Road, then along the heavily fenced cycle path between Histon Rd and Huntingdon Rd. Then dodge up to Girton, and slip out the bottom end onto the cycle path which runs parallel to the A14 all the way to Fenstanton. That path is the opposite of some -- well paved, lots of space, but not especially nice scenery. But because it's easy to just GO, it's quite a nice way to start. And I like seeing the random bits of untended scrubland around.
That passes Bar Hill and Cambridge Services if you need a stop, although I didn't.
Through Fenstanton, then onto a passable A-road (or narrow on-pavement path if you prefer) round to Hemingford Grey. Now we reach villages just off the Ouse, oozing picturesque. I stopped on a bench here for lunch. Then along to Hemingford Abbots which is equally picturesque but with much bigger houses.
Then down a long road paved with posh houses which eventually turns into a path through Godmanchester Meadows, and the entrance to Godmanchester Nature Reserve. The meadows are impressive, you could believe they go on forever with open grass and trees and occasional scrub. The Nature Reserve was another collection of water filled pits, I didn't walk far because of my knees, but it would be a nice place to visit. I saw a tiny muntjack, like twice as big as a rabbit!
Then down a long access road to the nature reserve, past some allotments on an A-road, and you're coming into Godmanchester. I wiggled through Godmanchester, following a mix of main road, side road, "national cycle route cutting through a little park" and a long on-pavement path crossing the river, starting to have a semi-regular sit-down here at every pretty bench. One bridge let you look down on a nesting swan!
That bridge takes you to the edge of Huntingdon. I didn't venture further in and didn't pass any pubs, so meandered along the river-edge meadow path, which starts in a little park, and then stops and starts most of the way to St Ives, with one annoying stretch where I couldn't find a route other than wheeling along the pavement of an A-road.
I found a pub here in the backstreets in one of the towns between Huntingdon and St Ives which was sufficiently clearly open I stopped for a beer, top up water, and bathroom. And lovely beer garden. And bonus live music.
Refreshed for a gratuitous rest but slightly behind original projected schedule, then I was unsure because the map shows a long route to the edge of St Ives but each end was roads and the middle was path, and I wasn't at all clear if it was a cycle path. But it seemed like my best bet even if I had to push my bike as the alternative was a fast A road. But it was actually through "The Thicket" lovely paved path through lovely woods alongside the lovely river.
And that emerged in the suburbs of St Ives, where the cycle route wiggles along almost but not quite the Ouse Valley Way, lots of picturesque bits through backstreets, through the main street, and then we're to the busway and the parts I already know. Except that the first time I did this St Ives felt like a long way, but now it's the home stretch. But I was getting tired, so along the busway I alternated pushing myself to get home, and treating myself to a rest when I felt like it, as there was enough light I wasn't worried about it getting dark.
Success!
Route:
100m of path between Girton and the cycle path: 5/10, passable, but surely there must be an actual cycle route here?
By-A14 cycle path: 10/10 good surface, quiet
Fenstanton main road: 5/10, annoying to cycle on either the road or pavement, but nice place apart from that
A-road between Fenstanton and Hemingford Grey: 9/10. On road but not busy and everyone overtook politely. Almost every hedge is hiding a different nature reserve.
Hemingfords: 10/10 pleasant village
Godmanchester, Huntingdon meadows: 8/10, nice places, some good infrastructure but a lot of mode switches
The Thicket: 13/10, perfect place.
St Ives: 9/10, nice place, easy to cycle, only occasional cars
Busway: 10/10, easy cycling, familiar, passes through nice places, WCs conveniently at Northstowe
Retrospective:
It was a nice day. I'd previously done 30+ miles and felt like I could do more if I just stayed out a little bit longer so I was fairly sure 40 miles would be ok, but I also felt like Huntingdon was a long way away and perhaps I was kidding myself. But it was about right: enough to push me a bit, but not enough to end up with a long painful slog home in the dusk. Hopefully I will keep it up.
I'm used enough to following the routes I didn't have much worry whether I'd find my way through. National Cycle Route 51 which I've followed E of Cambridge also comes this way, up the busway, and then at St Ives cutting across a bridge to join the route I took through Hemingfords and the signs were often helpful.
I feel achy today but in a mostly good way, my knees aren't sure but don't seem to have got worse.
I stopped at a lot of nice places for a bit of a read, if anything I want to make sure to keep that up, maybe even fit in more of it. I found a lot of nice places on the way.
I'm still not going very actually fast, but faster than I used to. I guess I hadn't dived into proper cycling gear, and I still have panniers for lunch and jumper etc, so I'm not as efficient as I could be, although at least my new bike is better for this than my old bike.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-02 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-02 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-02 05:11 pm (UTC)I always end up taking a pannier out on rides.
I usually access that road by the A14 via Washpit Lane in Girton, I agree it doesn't join up desperately well at the South end.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-02 06:32 pm (UTC)Yeah, Washpit Lane probably would have been fine, but I'd assumed it joined up until I actually got there and then wasn't sure.