Today (May 6th) was the day of our 6th Annual Awareness Ride. Every year we hold this ride to raise awareness of what is now available for non motorised users and to highlight how poor other sections still are.

Once again we had no ride from Royston. The situation for cycling and walking has only worsened over the last few years. The A10 has seen no improvements for decades in this section, despite traffic increases. The section between Royston and Melbourn is so poor that once again, no one felt a ride was a safe or sensible option. With the ever changing political climate, such as LEP restructuring, and the cross county nature of the section, this remains a very tough area to get any improvements made to. We shall persevere with this as our main focus in the future.

The section between Melbourn and the M11 has seen improvements. Every year we have generally seen a small section improved. About 40 riders of all ages gathered at Trumpington park and Ride.

Riders gathering at the start

We cycled (with one roller blader) through Trumpington Meadows on a gloriously sunny spring day.

Exit of Trumpington Meadows

We continued along the old path through Hauxton and continued to Harston. This is the section that has been greatly improved this year. It was noted how easy it was to pass pedestrians now. Also it was a joy to see parents can now cycle besides small children. We had riders as young as 5 with their parents out with us today. The youngest were only just learning to ride bikes independently.

New Harston section

The section is not perfect with some poor sight lines over driveways etc. But the Cambs CC officers have done the best they can and the improvements are greatly appreciated.

After Harston we continued onto Foxton and the only small road section to the back of Foxton level crossing.

Small road section at Barrington Road, Foxton

We continued on to cross the A10 at Shepreth, with the small island in the middle of the road providing some refuge, allowing you to at least deal with one carriageway of traffic at a time.

Crossing the A10

We then continued onto Phillimore Garden Centre (thank you once again for allowing us to use your field ) for the finish of the ride where cake and bananas etc. were served. Many thanks to all who attended and to everyone who has supported us over the last year.