(Friday 4th August 2023)
How can it be the last day already..? Cal’s bike has nursed up another over-night puncture (I’ve lost count but it’s something like Cal 6: Rest of us 1; the puncture pixie really wants to be his friend…). The pixie might be colluding with the weather imps, as my forecast predicts rainclouds to be exclusively ours. We thwart them both by cutting the route straight to the hotel, then using the car we left there, to pick up the van from Hitchin while the rain blows over.
Under tyre, the terrain is gravelly sand, with flint chips; many of the older houses have flint fronts, and still plenty of thatched rooves. The Garmins point us generally N-ish into Linton, round Balsham then nudge into Cheveley (just S of Newmarket racing, and home of the famous Park Stud). Here we cross into Suffolk (Dicks Mount, and Cock and Bell Lane) through Mouton, then S into the welcoming embrace of the, straw pheasant-topped, Guinness Arms at Icklingham.
Once the vehicle logistics have been sorted, we polish the day off with a dive into the King’s Forest, full of deer, weird sheep hares and other likable critters. Like speed traps, the sandy tracks suck the speed, but also nurse out tyres like slippers; we finish the day, and trip, unpunctured.
It would have been satisfying to complete the full OCW, but we are time poor, and need to high-tail it back home.
A few more photos:
