Ely to Soham via NCN Route 11

[Rob Archer]

I've got a couple of days working in Soham next week and will ride from Ely. I'm not a fan of the A142 (fast and lots of trucks). I would usually ride out along the Great Ouse riverbank to Barway then back roads but I've heard a rumour that this route is closed because of the works building the new Ely bypass. Anyone know whether it's open or not? Or what sort of condition it's in - I'll be riding a tourer with 35mm tyres.

[backnotes]

I haven't ridden up there in the last couple of weeks, but there has been an evolving set of works for the new bypass. The last two times I have led a ride down there (2 and 4 weeks ago), there is a brand new tarmac path that dips under the new bypass and joins up with the old river path on each side, so I think it has passed through the period of peak disruption now (though the river path has mostly / always remained open through this AFAIK). The new section is a better surface than the rest of the path. Both times our group had a wide range of bikes and it was fine with regular 25mm and up tyres. A tourer with 35mm tyres would have no problems. The worst bit is probably further along beyond the bypass works after the path drops down from the river bank before Barway, as it is currently very dry and a bit lumpy, but still fine on a road bike.

I may go up there to recce a ride before next week so if I do, I will update if anything has changed for the worse.

Enjoy your ride to Soham!

[Rob Archer]

The ride to Soham was fine thanks. Apart from the new bit under the new bypass the riverside path is awful! I rode it as part of the NCN '10 000 miles in 10 years a decade or so ago and Sustrans told us back then that it was being upgraded and surfaced all the way to Barway. None of it appears to have had any maintenance since then at all, with only a small gap between the weeds on either side. It's still rideable but it's hardly a good advert for the NCN.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly using hovercraft full of eels.

[sjs]

...It's still rideable but it's hardly a good advert for the NCN.

It's far from unique in that respect. At least NCN11 around Cambridge and Ely is pretty scenic. NCN12 on the other hand, between Stevenage and Baldock is ugly, dangerous in its discontinuities whenever there's a need for more important traffic (guess what) to cross, for instance to visit Sainsburys, and largely made of rocks.