I had intended on cracking the 25 mile / 40 km barrier today, but in the end, it was the traffic and my dodgy maths that put pay to the attempt, not the wind, and so I ended up 3 miles / 5 klicks short.
Ah well, there's always another day and another ride...
Headed out via Black Bank to Littleport, and then up the A10 and over the River Ouse to Sandhill into a stinker of a headwind. Was already thinking that I was totally nuts, but I overtook another cyclist down Black Bank who was having a much harder time than me... The road to Queen Adelaide was open (the roadworks have finished, yippee!) so I swung right on the roundabout and cycled along Branch Bank.
Now with a tail-ish wind behind me, the ride changed from a grind to fun on a little rollercoaster of a road.
Loads of daffs growing on the river levees, and they looked truly fabby in the sunshine. There are a couple of tough little climbs en route to Queen Adelaide, but it's surprising how much visualizing a slice of chocolate cake really helps there...
A right turn at the end of Padnal Bank takes me through Queen Adelaide and onto Kings Avenue heading towards Ely. Riding uphill through the new estate, I took the shared pedestrian & cycle path as it's smoother than the road. At the end of Kings Avenue where it meets the Lynn Road, I have two choices. I can turn left, go down Cam Drive and pick up the B1411 heading towards Downham, or I can turn right to go through Chettisham and back towards Littleport. It was commuter-o-clock when I hit the junction and the traffic was backed up past the roundabout for Cam Drive. So I swung right instead.
That brought me back into the stiff headwind, and it was a real hard slog all the way to Littleport, especially the last mile, which is all uphill.
Stopped outside the post office for a well-earned drink and a much-needed banana.
Continued along Main Street and Victoria Street and re-crossed the river at what used to be the Black Horse pub back in the day, but is now the Swan. Left turn there to retrace the early part of the ride along Branch Bank, up Sandhill, then the A10, Black Bank and home.
Two hours ten minutes saddle time, with an average speed of under 10 mph. But with the wind and the climbs, I'm really happy with that. It's one of the more challenging rides in the area and am chuffed I managed it. It wasn't that long ago that I'd never even have contemplated it...
Saw seven other cyclists, three splatted foxes, two splatted pheasants, loads of daffodils and an absolutely fabulous sunset.
Funny, you see neither hide nor hair of them during shooting season. Once the 1st of February, they all come out of the woodwork and thumb their noses at us Humans and our crock pots 
but yesterday I did and even spoke to the chap who makes them. It's a little workshop outside a small place called Pott Shrigley, there's something magical about the thought of your job being to tinker away in a workshop making things, probably because I know I'd be crap at it. Anyway here are the photos
