Huntingdon to Ely: Saturday Fenland Adventure

This is a train- assisted full day ride, with an early start and a late return. It is a longer ride (68 km/ 42 miles). The terrain is almost totally flat, but it could feel harder work if we are unlucky with the wind direction or strength. You need the stamina to be outdoors all day and to manage getting your bike on & off trains.

Please read the ride description carefully.

Travel Arrangements:-

We will be taking the 09.11 ThamesLink service from Farringdon to Huntingdon, arriving at 10.20am.

For those travelling from the Ealing area, meet on the eastbound platform at Ealing Broadway in time for the 08.22 Elizabeth Line service to Farringdon. Please buy your ThamesLink ticket in advance, so that you don’t need to exit and re-enter the barriers at Farringdon.

You could also join the ThamesLink service at 09.16 at St Pancras.

An off peak single fare is £24; concessions might be available.

We should reach Ely by approx. 6pm-6.30pm for our return journey. Direct trains to Kings Cross run at 18 and 52 mins past the hour, journey time approx. 1 hour 15 mins; single fare £25.60. There are other services changing at Cambridge, going into St Pancras.

The Ride:-

This is a wonderful ride across the expansive landscape of the fens- long horizons, big skies, almost deserted open spaces. The road and track surfaces are generally good, but the unsealed tracks on the fens have some rougher stretches for which road bikes will be unsuitable. Hybrid and gravel bikes with good tyres are the most suitable for this ride.

From Huntingdon, we have a short ride through quaint villages to St Ives, where we will have a brief pause to admire the views of the River Great Ouse and the attractive buildings of the village. Then we join the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway cycle track, which provides 20km/12 miles of smooth traffic-free riding through the fenland landscape. We will stop at the Histon Station House Café https://www.histonstationhouse.com/ for refreshments, before riding on to cross the Cam River and skirt around the edge of Cambridge.

After a short stretch on main road, quiet country lanes bring us onto Burwell Fen, where we enjoy the glorious fenland landscape. As we reach Wicken Fen, we will hope to see the pretty Konik ponies used for conservation grazing on this National Trust nature reserve
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cambridgeshire/wicken-fen-national-nature-reserve. We will have a late afternoon café stop at the Wicken Fen Visitors’ Centre, before the last section of our ride brings us back along the Great Ouse into Ely.

Train-assisted whole day ride across the Fens from Huntingdon to Ely.

Quiet country lanes. Traffic free shared tracks and paths. Some short stretches on busier roads. Unsealed tracks across the Fens.

Lunchtime cafe stop in Histon. Afternoon cafe stop on Wicken Fen.

Plenty of water and snacks. Sunscreen. Waterproofs. Lock for your bike. Money/card for cafes. Buy train tickets in advance.

First-timers welcome!