In search of a Clanger - Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire, home to the Hatters has struck me since the start of this challenge as something of a forgotten county, rarely if ever have I been aware of a friend or acquaintance visiting Bedfordshire for anything other than a trip to Luton Airport, the airport made famous by Lorraine Chase in the late 1970’s with her cockney catchphrase “nah Luton Airport”. Her broad South London accent even inspired a pop song of the same name in 1979. To this day the town sign as you enter Luton declares “Luton – Home to Luton Airport” as if it is the only thing worthy of a mention in the town.
The journey down to Bedford brought in a new era, gone was the trusty Vivaro van which was such a handy tool for transporting bikes especially come winter when muddy cyclocross races are a weekly event. As ever the sales rep’s dream I had fallen for parting with my money for a Velosock to protect the interior of my new vehicle from becoming the recipient of a “4th Cat tat” on it’s very first trip. The lithe, athletic female cyclist on the facebook advert made getting the bike into the Velosock look as simple as pulling on your trousers, I made it look as simple as a man trying to force a bear into a duvet cover as I prepared the evening before for my ride in Bedfordshire.
My planned start point next to Bedford International Athletics centre was disrupted by the mornings’ Race for Life event for cancer research which had closed the car park, the nearby access road to a Vauxhall car dealership provided handy free parking even if it wasn’t the most picturesque starting point for the ride.
I headed straight into Bedford Town Centre hoping the 8:30am start would allow quiet investigation of the County town before I headed off along the River Great Ouse and out into the country lanes.
The cycle path along the river and across the bridge into St Paul’s Square and then on to the market square provided simple traffic free access, the local traders were setting up the market stalls and the first early punters were looking to be first in line for a bargain. There was little to be seen of Bedford castle and I almost missed it as I picked up the river by the busy rowing club and headed East out of Bedford through the pleasant Fenlake Meadows Nature reserve.
The weather forecast suggested staying warm and dry or getting a total soaking were equally possible so I plumped for my Solihull CC short sleeve jersey by Stolen Goat and matching arm warmers in their Orkaan material happy in the knowledge that if I was unlucky and fell prey to the predicted cloudbursts I at least wouldn’t be cold AND wet. This left me too warm early in the ride and the warmers were stowed away when I stopped early on at the splendid Danish Camp Riverside Visitor Centre. Danish Camp – The best kept secret in Bedfordshire! With just 12km completed I wasn’t intending to stop but the ambience of the centre with its’ riverside setting, outdoor bars and stilted café drew me in and insisted I grabbed a caffeine fix.
The Bedford to Sandy country way, part of NCN route 51 provided excellent traffic free paths all the way from Bedworth to Sandy, surfaces were generally paved and the short gravel sections were hard packed enough to be suitable for the Scott Foil fitted with a new set of Hutchison Fusion 5 tubeless tyres. I took a short road diversion away from the cycle path to pick up the 17 arches of the grade 1 listed Great Barford Bridge and the villages of Roxton and Blunham en-route to Sandy.
The town of Sandy left no lasting impression on me despite the Komoot route planner weaving through the town nothing of note encouraged me to stop pedalling and put a foot down so I pressed on with the next stop the RSPB Lodge nature reserve just a few kilometres southeast of Sandy. Already busy it was obviously a popular visitor attraction for committed bird watchers and local ramblers alike. I didn’t use the café but the toilets came in handy.
The towns of Potton and Biggleswade passed in much the same way as Sandy, pleasant enough but lacking a style or uniqueness to imprint a vision in the memory bank. The next 20km led to a darkening of my mood with a nagging headwind, gentle incline and nondescript country lanes punctuated by pleasant but ultimately forgettable villages I began to wonder what memories the day would offer in return for 40 thousand pedal strokes and 70 thousand beats of the heart. Had I fallen victim to the stereotype I had in my mind of Bedfordshire?
Ampthill town provided some inspiration partly due to the flowing descent down to its’ main street, blessed with a busy vibrancy, a good selection of independent shops and varied impressive red brick buildings and partly due to this being the point at which my figure of eight route crossed and signalled the completion of the bulk of the upper, more urban loop and the commencement of the larger hopefully more scenic lower loop.
Heading southwest turned me directly into the headwind and steadily uphill however even the first climb of the day to register on the Climbpro feature on my Garmin Edge 530 was a gentle affair.
The road through Woburn Park was a lovely peaceful stretch of road populated with herds of grazing deer unphased by a passing cyclist. Woburn Abbey and grounds itself was closed for refurbishment so any hope of a short diversion for a photo opportunity was thwarted.
I passed the safari park disappointed not to catch sight of any exotic animals and upon reaching Woburn town I considered taking a break for lunch but decided to press on to tackle the forthcoming climbs before refuelling.
Leighton Buzzard surprised me, it had far more of a market town feel than I anticipated. As I left the town along pleasant country lanes the climb of Ivinghoe Beacon loomed ahead and was adorned with the sight of numerous Red Kites circling on the thermals looking for prey below. As I approached the base of the hill a glider was being towed skyward by a small Robin DR300/400 single engine propeller tug and was then released. The glider was silently airborne and circled above me for the duration of my climb up to the beacon. The climb was long at approximately 4.5km but was never steep with the gradient rarely reaching double figures. The car park at the top offered impressive views and an ice cream van which I failed to resist. The owner of the van was a curious character having spent a few minutes talking to him whilst he tried furtively to get his card machine to work he readily admitted he was a modern day Alf Garnett and couldn’t stand the Irish, the Italians or the Polish as they had in his opinion never done anything useful in the world and he was adamant that German cars were overrated and that German engineers had just stolen British ideas. So having taken a fairly instant dislike to the man I was surprised that he had no hesitation in offering me a free bottle of water and a 99 flake ice cream because he couldn’t get his card machine working and I had no cash. So as I left the car park with blobs of melting ice cream running down my forks I couldn’t help but wonder whether to despair at his hatred of foreigners or thank his generosity.
An excellent descent on well surfaced flowing roads brought me to Bison Hill a popular climb with cyclists in this area named because of the bison that can be seen grazing in the fields below, unfortunately I failed to catch sight of any such beasts.
A short distance along the ridge I stopped for lunch at the excellent National Trust Dunstable Downs View café. A really popular site with ramblers, kite flyers and cyclists all sharing the wonderful views and tasty fare. The blueberry muffin with cheesecake topping certainly hit the spot!
The Dunstable Downs a chalk escarpment amongst the Chiltern Hills are the highest point in the County with an elevation of 243m and a view of no less than eight counties from its summit.
With a tailwind and gravity in my favour the remaining 50km promised to be the easiest of the day and so it proved. Traffic free cycle paths through Luton bypassed heavy Saturday afternoon traffic and offered a positive view of Luton I wasn’t expecting from comments passed on to me during the lead up to the ride.
The tribute to Eric Morecambe on the Upper Lea Valley Way took the prize for sculpture of the day, the legendary funny man was one of my dad’s favourite comedians and it brought back memories of sitting watching Morecombe and Wise on a Saturday night or a Christmas special when there were only three television channels and when dad was at home from work he decided which one of the three the family should watch – fond memories although you’d need those rose tinted specs to suggest times were better then!
Eric was a massive “Hatters” fan and became a director in 1970, he was president of Luton Town Football club when he died in 1984.
The route back to Bedford through Ampthill was not the greatest with too much time spent on the busy A6 and little to stimulate the senses other than the cracking descent down through the unusually named Sharpenhoe Clappers but with an ever strengthening tailwind the kilometres passed effortlessly and I was soon back in Bedford, shamelessly purchasing a chicken select meal from the McDonalds just 10m from my parked car after wrestling the bike into the Velosock once more.
Bedfordshire remains something of an enigma to me, other than sections of the A6 there was nothing unpleasant about the route at all but equally other than the climbs of Ivinghoe Beacon and Dunstable Downs there is little I think will last long in the memory. I feel my route planning, prejudiced opinion and lack of research into the County may well have been significant so will one day return with a mission to discover the very best Bedfordshire has to offer.
In the meantime I have ordered a selection of the fabled Bedford Clangers from Gunn’s Bakery in Sandy and will wash them down with a Bedfordshire craft ale to compensate for my failed bid to eat one during the ride. This local delicacy was a meal solution for farmworkers with a traditional classic recipe comprising Gammon and veg (savoury end) and juicy Apple (sweet end) within a suet pastry crust outer. Two courses in one handy package!
The ride in numbers
174.38 km Distance
Elevation Gain 1549m
7hrs 48 min moving time (22.3 km/h)
3 SIS Tropical Fruit gels – 1 burst in my back pocket – horribly sticky mess!
2 Torq Rhubarb and Custard gels
1 Blueberry and cheesecake muffin
1 Sausage Roll
3 coffee stops
6 bottles of water
0 Bottles of Beer
No punctures
3 categorised climbs
Finally if you got a spare quid in your pocket my justgiving page to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance is now live Keith Jones is fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (justgiving.com)
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