Double Dutch, Ship of the Fens 200

[GdS]

my first trip to Blackpool in 1971 (when we also just walked into a Div 1 Man U v Spurs match without tickets! and also parked in the closed (open now) Birmingham Snow Hill station) was in a Commer camper van, owned by my Dad's boss (Foyles Educational, different company but a brother of the bookshop founder)
Commers and Bedfords were the usual base; didn't see many Transits.

[freeflow]

It was another fine day battling headwinds and horizontal rain on the way out but enjoyable tail wind on the way home.  So so once again  many thanks to Martin and Co for the organisation[size=78%].[/size]
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I must admit I do prefer the return via Ely vs Spalding.


The fact that the tulips were thin on the ground got me wandering about tweaks to the route that could be more interesting/challenging.  A route I came up with, which may be too much change, goes through Wicken/White fen after Ely ( which I've probably mentioned to Martin previously) on much more Audax friendly bike paths/roads.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46331162

I ride the Wicken/White fen route from Ely to Lode at least twice a year.  You get down to sanded gravel for about half a km after the lumpy cycle path along the Ouse but it is a high use cycle path.  Its also a lovely ride.

[GdS]

Thanks ff;

The ride is in Spring to see bulbfields and the whole Dutch influence on the region and the route is either West for daffs or East for tulips, that's it. Having organised from the start I've had mostly very good feedback on both routes although not so good ones about the weather! There are only about 4 fields of tulips in the entire area grown by one company so we did well to see 2 even if they weren't both fully out.

[MsG]

That path by the river (south of the lumpy, broken tarmac), after a gravelly bit (no problem) is now a sandy substance. When dry it is sand. When wet, it turns to paste, generously coating feet, bottle and the clearance twixt mudguard and tyre. Been like that for about a year. There's an optimum time after rain, when it's dried out enough not but not too much - good luck finding it. Sadly I don't use it very often now, having previously used it for commuting.
And I've stopped taking the FNRttC kings Lynn along there for safety reasons b