Special thread for non Cambridge residents

How are you guys enjoying this site?

wu....wai.....you....ca.......canny........do........ explodes

I've only been to Cambridge four times since last March.

Soon it will be over a year since I last posted to WAN while in Cambridge.

*waves at bigmal from a safe distance. Yorkshire, in fact*

I am still in Cambridge. I have only left it four times since March.

Yorkshire? Wow, that's almost as far north as Ely.

i've been to Ely a couple of times last year, on my bikes. hoping next time to sub the A10 bit (as that was scary) for an alternate route from is it Stretham or Wilburton. do you have any recommendations?

I've done it a few times using routes a bit like these: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1DBwYoyLkatNh8HEVX1d0FJJXsJT-la...

The "missing" bit near Upware is officially a footpath, I think, which is why Google wouldn't let me mark it as a cycle route, but it's perfectly doable on an off road capable bike.

There are more options through Kingfisher's Bridge nature reserve, too, if you don't mind picking up your bike and lifting it over stiles.

Don't rely on Google Maps. Ordnance Survey maps are way better.

the one time i tried cycling it using that googlemaps route i got lost around upware/wicken something and doubled back, a lot of bike pushing until i got nearer Waterbeach. my bicycle not really suited to off road.

when lockdown was actually quieter on the roads in the summer i cycled the road out to Cottenham and then along is it thirtypenceroad upto Wilburton, then followed the road to Stretham, but the next little bit on the A10 oh boy that annoyed the range rovers and other wankers. on the way home i tried staying on the path as much as possible, so it was only a mile or so on the A10

At that point you could have gone through Witchford. There's a path next to the A142 from Lancaster Way roundabout to Ely, so there are no nasty off-road bits and no nasty on-road bits either.

The few times I have cycled Ely to Cambridge I have gone through Witchford then Wilburton and down Twenty Pence Road to Cottenham. Be warned though, Twenty Pence Road is incredibly long and boring, plus cars still drive very fast past you. It is safer than the A10 but not perfect.

Agreed that Twenty Pence Road is a bit crap.

It is possible to bypass the southern half of it by following Long Drove, which I've just added to my map because there are far too many Long Droves around here. In fact I had another one on that map already.

I've sometimes wondered if it's possible to get from Long Drove to the A10 by cutting through the landfill site, but I've never been bold enough to try it.

Just checked OS Mastermap, looks to me that there is a farm track access from Twenty Pence Road all the way to the back of Cambridge Research Park, then onto the A10.

However it is on private farm tracks, then you will have to navigate this barrier at the back of the research park. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.2939753,0.1728732,3a,15y,323.62h,91....

Suggest a Cyclocross Bike to enable very fast escapes from irate landowners and security bods manning the barrier.

yo....yolu.... canny....... non-re..... sto.........naw........