Maggie and I have been talking about going to Ely for years. Charming medieval city, beautiful cathedral, good restaurants; but somehow we have never managed to fit it in. Over the last couple of days we seized what may be the last days of summer for a little tour in the Fens, and we had a great time.
We took a mid-morning train from East Croydon to Cambridge. It takes about an hour and forty minutes, basically slow to London and fast after. Perhaps surprisingly, we took our Bromptons, which may not be the most obvious touring choice, but they worked very well. The luggage system is simple and robust, they are fuss-free on any train and the hotels just treated them as luggage, so no problems parking them overnight.
For our ride we mainly stuck to NCN 11, which is a good route. We diverted slightly a couple of times, mainly for views, and the Bromptons coped well enough with the few short gravel sections. The surface was mostly good (better than Surrey), and the traffic light or non-existent.
Ely was exactly as our friends had said it was. We visited the Cathedral, lodged comfortably and ate well. One of the highlights of this part of the journey was the swarms of dragonflies as we crossed Wicken Fen. I have never seen so many.
Next morning we set off for King's Lynn. There was a steady North wind across the fens, so it was a much harder day. The Brompton's gearing system gives a good range, and it can climb anything, but it's six speeds, so the gaps between the gears are large. That's not ideal for a headwind, where you really want to vary the gearing up and down slightly as the wind changes. We settled for a medium gear; I used 72" pretty much all the way.
Lunch at Downham Market ... Maggie had never tried Greggs before ... but we were soon fuelled and on our way again, coming in to King's Lynn mid afternoon. We had wondered about arranging to meet Irene, but our timetable was a bit uncertain, so we'll sort something out on our next visit.
We know King's Lynn quite well; the Medieval and Hanseatic parts are quite charming, the modern town rather less so, but we had an enjoyable evening and an easy trip home this morning - three hours door to door.
We're already talking about our next trip ...
Mark
2 comments:
Fentastic!
Sounds like a great ride Mark. Very interesting because the scenery and the towns and villages are very different from what we are used to.
You should also try the Double Dutch 200k Audax, run every Easter over a very similar route, out to King's Lynn and back. The wind always blows from the south-west or the north-east, usually at around 25mph. If you are lucky it isn't raining, but that probably means the temperature is sub zero.
The attraction at thet time of year is the bulb fields, which can be spectacular though one year it was so cold I saw only one daffodil in 200k.
You are right about the folders. I use my Airnimal; smaller wheels make less wind resistance.
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