The
Cambridge Market 200 is one of
four 200 km permanent rides starting in Girton (near Cambridge), organized by Nick Wilkinson (
wilkyboy OTP). This one is an out-and-back to Framlingham in east Suffolk, and I rode it on Saturday with fellow CTC Cambridge rider Daniel.
It's a simple and direct route with easy navigation, making use of quieter A roads to cover the distance efficiently. First, it takes the A1303 to Newmarket, and then climbs out of Newmarket via Warren Hill, past the "gallops" where we saw jockeys exercising their racehorses.
A couple of small climbs to Gazeley and Barrow follow, and then it's mostly downhill to Bury St Edmunds for the first control. On Saturday the market was bustling and there were many tempting food stalls. We bought crêpes and carried them down to the Abbey gardens for a picnic breakfast in the shade.
The route heads eastwards out of Bury on NCN51 using a high-quality cycle path as far as Thurston, then turning southeast past Stowmarket. On this section the southeasterly wind was blowing hot air in our faces and I was very glad to reach the turn at Needham Market, where Elton House News is clearly familiar with dazed audaxers wandering around the store—the assistant pointed me straight at the flapjacks.
The route leaves Needham Market across the River Gipping, where the grand Hawks Mill has been converted into flats:
After some pretty lanes, the route joins the A1120 for some miles. Nick says in the ride description that here in east Suffolk, “even the A roads are more like B roads and the traffic levels are low” which we found to be accurate. The farmers were busy taking advantage of the weather to get in the wheat—there were combine harvesters at work everywhere, and convoys of farm machinery on the roads.
Framlingham has a market and several cafés. We stopped at the bakery at the corner of Bridge Street and New Road, where we could sit outside and watch dozens of cyclists coming through, a mixture of speedy clubs and parents with children. We took a quick look at the castle, but didn't fancy paying the £7.20 to go inside, not with the audax clock ticking away.
The route back to Cambridge is almost the same as the way out, except that it avoids the diversion to Needham Market and goes direct to Bury instead. We were flagging a bit in the heat (30 degrees in the shade) and needed to stop at the garage in Newmarket to top up our water supplies (I drank six bottles of water), but there was a tailwind and we were back at the Co-op in Girton in just under 12 hours.
It's not my favourite of Nick's rides (that would be the
Pork Pie 200) but it was very satisfying to get so far east into Suffolk and to ride so many roads that were new to me. The thing that was most annoying was the sun: since the route heads east in the morning and west in the afternoon, we had it in our eyes all day, and even with sunglasses this got a bit trying. My advice is to ride it on an overcast day!
