Day 1, Thursday 1 September

Ely to Downham Market

Mike rode over from Earslwood and met me in Moseley first thing on Wednesday morning. We rode down to New Street Station and caught the train to Ely, heaving our loaded bikes into the designated cycle space. Much to my regret when we got to Ely we didn’t pause to look round the cathedral. Mike set off at a cracking pace and I puffed along in the rear.

We cycled alongside the Hundred Foot Dyke (the straight bit on the map), six miles of uninterrupted boredom, dead flat and not a car in sight. The weather was perfect and we found the campsite down the end of a boggy track and a nice lady in a hut at the entrance said we could pitch anywhere: so we did, next to a tree in the middle of the field to which we could lock our bikes. Later another chap came along and huffed and puffed that we should have been at the edge of the field. After a courteous discussion involving lots of “Oh dears” and “That’s a shame as we’ve already set up camp” etc., he said we could stay where we were as it was only for one night.

After showering and washing our kit (you can see it on the line) we cycled off to find an evening meal. We’d seen a good looking place on our way to the campsite but when we got there it wasn’t open, so we turned round and cycled into Denver where we had a really good meal, if I remember correctly, at The Bell Inn.