Fenland Nostalgia

For those of us based in Yaxley, the windswept trek from the football ground to the Admiral Wells is a neccessary evil to get out of the village and into the hills for riding.

The A15 from the Crossroads to Normans Cross seems to have turned into the main straight at Silverstone as people race to get to the 4 lane motorway heaven of the A1. Not great when you are going 50mph slower than them with just a layer of lycra as your armour.

That has been the beauty of the Fenland lanes for me over the decades.

Without going all nostalgic, as a child that very ride to Holme and back via the woods took all afternoon, as floods of kids on BMX's armed with fizzy pop and sandwiches would ride out from the village.

But even the Holme Road is starting to show signs of being caught up in modern life as cars and 4x4's hack down it to get a head start on the A1 at Sawtry or across to the A14 via Ramsey into Huntingdon.

The problem is magnified by that fact that a number of them I see are chatting on hand held mobiles whilst bouncing over the uneven surface.

Those that dont want to take the bounce of the uneven edge, sinking into the peat simply drive full pelt down the middle of the road, moving not one inch to give the cyclist coming the other way any room.

What can we do? very little other than be aware and take extra care. I think its fair to say those mid 80s summer afternoons of not seeing a car whilst riding down the Holme Road are long, long gone.