Cambridge to Brussels

My super long cycle to London and Eurostar to Brussels

  

So I said goodbye to Lorna and took off from Cambridge at about 9.30 thinking I would have loads of time to get London and would be there for about 4pm but I definitely got my timing all wrong.

 

I mapped my route using a really great website that maps cycle routes all over the UK and gives options for the fast route, the balanced route and the quite route;   http://cambridge.cyclestreets.net/journey/ , it's the same as www.bikehub.co.uk

 

 

I went around in a few little circles leaving Cambridge trying to find National Cycle Route 11 but that was ok, I'm used to getting a little lost. NCR 11 is great, where I joined it there is a mile long art installation that represents the 10,000th mile of cycle route in the UK and a breast cancer gene that was discovered in the local hospital.



 

 

The rest of the route was really nice, some of it is off road goes and through lovely countryside and even church grounds and then it moves onto minor roads that go through really pretty little villages, massive wheat and oat fields and some beautiful red and yellow fields - poppies and rapeseed, beautiful! It's really well signposted so I had a few hours of not getting lost. I had a few good viewing spots where I could look down on the motorway and all the cars and lorries that I didn't have to cycle beside!

A nice pub in Arkesden was my lunch destination. It worked out really well as there was two other cyclists there and they had maps so we figured out the best route to connect to the bike route for London. I done ok getting to the town where the next cycle route began, only 1 slight detour but I still had a lovely cycle to Ware. The cycle route to London runs along the river Lee and is called NCR 1. I knew it started in Ware, I seen  river and a cycle route, it said London on it and was called NCR 61 so I figured that must be it. This was about 2.30 and I had a date for 4pm in London and I contacted her to say I should be there in time but by 3.45 I was only 10km down the road so I definitely missed our date! I took NCR 61 which was beautiful, all along the river but I ended up in Hertford and I started asking people if it was the right direction for London to which I got a lot of blank stares. I ended up having to get my SatNav out, follow the main roads to the next town that I knew was on NCR1 and restart my trip to London.

Once I got on NCR1 the rest of the trip was great, just follow the river, easy! I seen so many barges with people living in them. The cycle route was great because it as all off road but the surface made for slow enough cycling and there were a few times that I'd to get off my bike to open gates or go over bumpy cobbles but it was all part of the adventure.

I finally arrived into London after 6. NCR1 goes straight to the Thames so I didn't have to deal with traffic for about 25km. It was a bit of a shock arriving into central London and trying to deal with busy roads again but thankfully, Peter from SDG came to meet me and explained the cycling culture in London, the different networks and how it has grown so much. In Camden alone cycling has increased 225%. There's signs up advertising the fact and encouraging more people to get involved in the change. Peter is the cycling market leader for SDG so he had lots of information and experience on how change is possible. We cycled around a bit and it turns out cycling in London isn't that scary after all, drivers are used to cyclists and there's plenty of bike lanes. We ended up in a really cool café called -Look Mum no hands. It's a cyclists café, they've got a pump and a little workshop for people to get their bike fixed while having some lunch! http://www.lookmumnohands.com/

 

I left Peter and took off on my own with little Miss SatNav and found my way to Ciaras house and had a great time catching up with her and taking  it easy before getting the Eurostar to Brussels on Thursday.

 

 

 I was excited about getting the Eurostar as I'd never been on it before but I fell asleep straight away so I can't report back anything about the journey except that it was very comfortable! 

And now, here I am in Brussels, drinking nice beers with Dave :)