What’s not to like about this easy loop – Gravel and tarmac – almost flat – barely touches any traffic – water, disused railway, steam locomotives – traffic free cycle paths.
See the GPX file and route HERE: https://www.komoot.com/tour/2240439654
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Welcome to THE TANDEM CHANNEL (aka T4 – TakesTwoToTandem); we are a couple of pensioners based in the South East of the UK that love to travel and take day-trips on our tandem. The channel is a means of sharing those routes and experiences with others – you don’t need to ride a tandem to do the rides….. but it is much more fun if you do
Our tandems:
Dawes Horizon from early 1980s
Orbit Velocity Sport Disk provided by JD Tandems of Gargrave in Yorkshire
Links:
Our Website: [under construction]
JD Tandems: https://www.tandems.co.uk/
The Tandem Club: https://www.tandem-club.org.uk/
Follow us on Komoot:
https://www.komoot.com/user/2178756993263?ref=wud
well good afternoon everyone We’ve got a wonderful ride here that’s around the city of Peterbrra So the Peterbrra has a a cycle track that goes around it to the through the center and then heads north called the green wheel and we’re going to follow that for the north of our ride and then we’re going to return via the south of Peterbr So we’re going to start over on the left in a small village called Chesterton and we’re going to head off join the Andle road Now there is a cycle path along there but we didn’t take it just because it’s it was a quiet time of the day Then we join the green wheel and we head up towards Ferry Meadows which you’ll see it’s a really peaceful place excellent resource for any town Then we follow the old uh railway that’s also a steam railway into the center of Peterbr where we stop off and we visit the cathedral for a little bit and then we follow the river Nee but most of the way you’ve been following along either river or railway We then uh turn around head south and take the king’s dyke follow the river along and then cut back around And then we’ve just got that last little bit which has got a nasty crossing on it because we were returning to where we started But you could see on the starting point you could push that to the west or to the east and find a satisfactory crossing for the road And the key point of this whole journey is that almost every bit of it is either on cycle path or it is off-road There’s quite a bit of gravel involved but generally we are off road so it’s quite safe for young families and other things apart from that dangerous crossing at the end We would highly recommend it And the scenery along is very peaceful throughout much of it even when you’re going alongside a housing estate So here’s just a summary of the sorts of things that you’re going to find in those locations So we’re starting over in Chesterton down there in the west And so we’re just leaving the farm on we were staying on heading down past the crop through the automatic gate and then we join the road and we follow this along Now there is a cycle path just the other side of that barrier but we decided that we were actually just going to stick in the road because it was a quiet time of day We work our way along We followed our way around the bit of cycle path there and then we head off starting up the green wheel cycle path So now we’re heading up towards Ferry Meadows There were quite a few people who were beginning to head off to their lunch from the local businesses walking along this road You can see we make these videos so you can see the quality of the road surface and any obstacles you might meet But it’s extremely well laid out The road surfaces are impeccable almost throughout And so we work our way up to Ferry Meadows And Ferry Meadows has got lakes It’s got uh all sorts of visitor attractions and centers that you can stop at So we were going to work our way around the lake You could actually just cross along the the railway but we felt it was much more interesting to go around the outside [Music] So we’re heading around Ferry Meadows keeping the lakes to our right There is a visitor center there with toilets and other things So you can buy coffee or whatever And then we start to head off up to follow alongside the railway that there is there Now it’s a bit tricky getting through these gates which is a bit of a nuisance really But uh we’re now going to follow along And the railway is just over to one side Very long straight roads And here we are at the station again We have to cross over Follow along We’ll criss-cross the railway several times Here we are crossing it again Not so easy with a tandem but straightforward on your ordinary solo bikes And now we run alongside the railway along this path A little bit overgrown at the moment but that’s probably not an issue It looks like it’s generally wellmaintained So we’re following along Now we’re heading with slight spiral now as we head our way towards the middle of Peterbr And we just stop on this bridge which is just on the outside just underneath And that bridge we saw going across the river back there We are going to be crossing in a second So this is on the cycle path You can see there’s other people using it We got up onto the bridge and we just had a little look around and you can see how tranquil it is These are new flats that they’ve put up But a very peaceful thing with a flatilla of swans heading its way out of town So now we head back into the town and we’re actually still on cycle path As you can see we did cut across there and now we’re in the park that’s right in the center of town there You can just see a green area and we saw the cathedral in the distance So we made the choice to actually go off and visit the cathedral So we cut across past this formal gardens and we’re just going to head up to have a little look around the cathedral I’m bit of a sucker for wonderful old architecture and old buildings So you have to sort of get in round through the old um with the old buildings that are all the way around there And now here we are at the cathedral [Music] classic cathedral for these areas with these octagonal towers Very much similar to you find at the top of Ele Cathedral which is out a bit further on about 20 mi away So now we’re retracing our steps back to the park down by the river Nin and then we’re going to follow the river along So we head down and you can see the rivers on our right and we just get closer and closer Now there is a path that runs parallel with the river or you can drop down towards actually on the river’s edge And that’s what we decided to do And we had a chat with a few of the boat owners Some people seem to live on their boats And we’re heading our way up river We have to cross the bridge And now we follow this long section which on the map there you can see says riverine We’re along the northern part of that and we followed along We did stop and have our lunch at one point but it was very blowy on this day because you can see it’s really exposed but then you come to expect that of the sort of the borders of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshshire and Norolk So we’re working our way through and we can see a bridge slowly appearing in the distance and we’re going to have to cross that but very blowy but not uninteresting and lots of wildlife So we’re now getting out We cross over this bridge and then descend on the other side And now we just cut across the meadow and then we’re going to turn right and start heading back along the edge of the riverine But this time there is a bit of a hill and a field between us and the river Work our way along Now this section is not quite so well maintained but it’s still a good path and it’s fine There were one or two other cyclists on there when we met them So we work our way down until eventually we leave that turn a sharp corner and we’ll be joining the King’s Drive So here we are We’ve reached the bottom We take a turn and we head over We’re crossing the one of the tributary rivers and now heading off and we start to work our way around through a bit more countryside and we’re following the edge of this housing estate that you can see here So this is a path that’s been built to the outside So the housing estate is on our right and it’s all grass and green on our left and we follow that for quite some time It’s very peaceful get Sometimes we get close to the houses Sometimes we move further away regularly following the river crossing the river heading our way towards the village of Farcet [Music] surface here is gravel but that will be improving soon Uh so as we get near to the village here we do we have to go through a little bit of the town but it’s almost completely deserted There are cars here but very few of them were moving and out again slightly larger road here as we work our way around and then we disappear around a little chicane and we’re back on the cycle path So working our way back towards the the park that we were on earlier on that actually almost seems to skirt southern Peterbr There’s a new housing estate going up here on our left We cross the main road and now we’re following And now we’re following around more housing development and back onto the old path again It’s just where they’re building new areas They’re redirecting the path back through the [Music] woods And now you can see we’re entering entering the uh part of the town called Hampton Gardens And we just skirt through a lot of that but we’re on the green section You don’t really notice it too much [Music] through the open farmland There’s areas of water there’s areas of of field there’s hidden areas of woodland all sorts of things going on all the way around us Gravel surface is a bit rougher here because it’s more agricultural and it’s been used by some larger machinery involved in the building have to cut round a gate here which is really the story of everything that we’re doing Now this road is actually almost completely deserted and uh it seems to have been cut off at each end So although it’s got a double white line through the middle of it doesn’t seem that there’s any traffic ever on it Maybe some local stuff And now we’re heading out towards the farms in the distance [Music] And then we turn just off this go through the gate here And now we’re just literally we’re in the village of Haden We’re now going to start heading across And we start heading north very slightly west And quite interesting Up by this beacon that seems to be glowing there there’s a little chapel that somebody’s built Little box of Bibles and prayer books And we just felt that was an interesting contrast to the cathedral that we’d been visiting earlier We carry on up this hill and then the path seems to disappear into this hedge and you follow it through and it descends rapidly and then you’re faced by this major road the A605 And we had to wait for a gap in the traffic We pushed across worked our way up got a puncture in this little section and cut across the long straight road across the farm towards that mast that you can see just past that get to the farm houses through there and round to this last farmhouse And that was us back at our campsite So here’s a summary of the route It’s a wonderful little route particularly the northern part but none of it is particularly bad except for that road crossing So you can find the GPX for this on our Nin and Peterbrra almost without traffic route and pick up other routes that we’ve got there So we thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you on our next ride Bye for now