London To Wheathampstead To Cambridge

Start/ Finish: Start point A, London to start point B, Wheathampstead finishing in Cambridge

Distance: 45, 67 miles

Highlights: Tiny country lanes, fine pub grub, cross country bike hiking

Riders: Flex, Jam

Flex’s Rating: 7/10

A few hilly rides under our belts we thought we deserved a little break from the lumpy south of England. Where’s flat? Cambridge!

Or so we thought…

My ride started in London, picking the Cpt up in Wheathampstead. A ride I’m pretty familiar with by now, straight up the A5. Not a particularly scenic ride for the first 15 miles or so, but soon turns into some nice countryside. There’s also a bit of a mountain called Brockley Hill. Short but steep.

Once at Jams, we realised our GPS route to Cambridge was backwards. We hopped onto the computer and used 400 websites to download, reverse and re upload to the Garmin the new route. Luckily during this time there was a huge storm, which passed by the time we had stopped messing around. It’s worth noting also, that Jam makes a fantastic bacon sarnie… 10/10 for the sarnie.

Some handy GPX websites:
http://maplorer.com/view_gpx.html
http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php

The following 45 miles would take place almost entirely on tiny, beautiful country lanes. This does make for a bit of a hairy ride when going downhill around blind bends only big enough for one car width. Always ready to jump into a bush at any moment.

It wasn’t as flat as we had first hoped though…

Although nothing in comparison to the hills of Surry in terms of overall elevation, there were a lot of small up and down hills. Very lumpy, which was surprisingly tiring.

After about 50 miles for me I was ready for a little pub stop. Jam was cracking the whip, making sure the miles after the pub would be minimal, as always! This turned into the biggest pub hunt of all time. So many lovely little villages, surely there should be an abundance of nice pubs?! But NO?! Until… in the distance we saw a cricket green. We’ve learnt, with cricket greens come pubs on cricket grounds. Oh my was this a great looking pub. Tables out front. Classic looking tudor front. It had everything to be a fantastic ride pub. The only hitch, it was closed?! Saturday opening times: 12-2pm. It was 3pm. I’ve never been so sad. (Pub name to be updated)

Fortunately with every cloud, the pub we did stop at was very nice and only a stones throw from the station.

It’s worth noting that the route didn’t all go to plan. I guess when covering 45 miles of countryside there is a chance that not all the roads will be in the same condition as they were when the original route was ridden. Jam and I found ourselves in spitting distance of Cambridge only to find the very rural road we were supposed to be riding down next, was actually now a construction site, with no road at all…

As they say, the only way is up… or in this case, through a massive field, carrying bikes. Road bikes + mud is not a good combination. Fact.

Overall a very nice ride. Good countryside lanes and a good pub at the end.