20 May: Afternoon ride to Ashdon

Peter writes: It was a cloudy afternoon but mild and pleasant, as we left Brookside and headed down Trumpington Road. I decided to take the group out along the DNA path, to Stapleford, Sawston and the bridge over the A505 into Abington, as a reasonably quick but quiet way out of town. We stopped to admire the giraffe in the garden on the way into Abington which looked very clean and neat, as if it had been groomed recently. Then we paused in Hildersham to look at the bronze girl on a swing.

Barely were we on our way again before John F had a mechanical problem – one of the jockey wheels in his rear derailleur had fallen out! Luckily he found not only the jockey wheel but also the bolt to hold it on, so a few minutes’ work with an allen key got him back on the road. While we worked on it, Mike Stapledon turned up and joined the group. This took enough time that I decided we had better go direct to tea in Ashdon, rather than take one of the loops I had semi-planned, in case the day ride finished all the cake.

When we arrived, there was a very large group there, but thankfully still cake available. It was so good that I had two pieces, and I was not the only one! I counted 23 bikes parked outside and I am not sure that I got them all. Here is a photo with John, who was also impressed how many there were:

Outside the Ashdon Museum
On the way back I joined Nigel and some others on a route back through Saffron Walden, see his report of the day ride for more about that. Peter Hutchison