August 08, 2012Joy Rides

THE MIRACULOUS JULY JOY RIDE

Bradley Wigins and TeamGB eat your heart out… here’s how champion ride organiser, Esther, got on with her road ride around Cambs for our regular monthly ride with a pelaton of somewhat less than speedy but eminently eager Joy Riders. Allez Esther!

After weeks, nay months, of monsoon-like weather, it was nothing short of a miracle to wake up to blue skies and warm sunshine for the Joy Ride on Sunday 15 July.

We tootled over to Anglesey Abbey to meet the other Joy Riders. It was perfect cycling weather – warm, a slight breeze and dry! Hurrah!

From Anglesey Abbey, we cycled through Bottisham to the villages of Swaffham Bulbeck and Swaffham Prior. These picture postcard villages are well worth a visit, and were wonderful to cycle through on a tranquil Sunday morning. Quintessentially English, they feature characterful churches, lovely cottages (complete with roses around the cottage door) and Tudor timbererd houses, bedecked with jolly union flag bunting! I was able to live out all my Miss Marple fantasies as we pootled along these lovely village roads.

From there we cycled on to Reach, passing open expansive fields dotted with cornflowers and poppies. When it stops raining, it is possible to notice how truly glorious the countryside is at this time of year!

Passing horses basking in the sunshine, we cycled over a bridge crossing the Lode and onto the village of Lode before heading back to Anglesey Abbey for tea and cake. We then enjoyed a stroll around the gardens, including the stunning winter garden and the breath-taking herbacous borders, before wending our way home. A wonderful respite from the recent British ‘summer’, the chance to pootle through picturesque villages in the warm sunshine with lovely company was a heart-warming experience which will keep us all that little bit happier if the grey skies move into place again next week!