The Aldreth Crossing

The Aldreth Causeway is one of not-that-many ways across the Ouse, between the busway and Ely.

About halfway between Oakington and Longstanton on the busway you can turn on to a byway, officially Reynold's Drove:

Nice and Easy

This is all very pleasant, not that bumpy and you can potter along to Rampton. I found it impossible to ignore the siren call of the shortly-encountered bridge on the left:

Hard to resist

This takes you over pleasant greeny tracks, in my case with an honour-guard of dragonflies, bumble bees and tortoiseshell butterflies. It's only a kilometre or so before you have to cross the Rampton-Willingham road, well, go along it towards Willingham for a few yards then scuttle around the back of some buildings:

The menace that is illegal horse-grazing

After some buggering about you get here

This is the start of the byway to Aldreth, though apparently not the "Causeway" proper. It's a broadly similar surface though, lots of deep shallow ruts which at a slow speed are quite fun but watch out for the odd narrow chasm. It'd be a nightmare if at all muddy.

There's the odd green bit too

As elsewhere, any sort of clearing seems to provide an opportunity for bonfires and lager detritus:

Unfortunately this was the shape of things to come

The causeway proper starts after reaching tarmac and doing a brief right-then-left:

It wasn't this dark

I'd been wondering why there were lots of warnings about CCTV etc, and it soon became apparent, there seems to be a fly-tipping problem hereabouts.

Milton Tip is around 8 miles from here

This can't help but mar the journey a bit. Apart from anything else, you have to keep an eye out for sharp puncture-making objects everywhere. This is a byway open to cars in the Summer, I suppose if not for that the lazy feckers would have to find somewhere else.

The section after Tibbit's Farm was OK though:

Post-Tibbit's

This bit is quite nice

It was around here that I started to hear gunshots from the left, just the farmer on his land I suppose, but a certain amount of panicky checking behind me did ensue. Happily the bridge over the Ouse was nice and peaceful.

Cows taking a well-earned rest. They didn't mind the gunfire

Ooze.

Onwards, through dappleage

Arrivee Aldreth

I was hoping for a marvellous unheard-of tea garden or suchlike at Aldreth, but it was resolutely unappealing. A grandma pushing a pram set the tone by responding to my friendly wave with a scowl. Not one of your idyllic one-road-in enclaves, more a one-road-out place. Haddenham is only a few miles up the road and has a very friendly indeed gallery/hippy centre:

Sculpture Garden. There's a tree wrapped in ribbons around here too. Special mention must be made of the salad dressing they serve with paninis.

In summay, then; were it not for the fly-tipping this might be a fun route, but it is for the fly-tipping. Possibly you can avoid that and still do the river-crossing by taking the road to Tibbit's farm from Willingham. Also, bear in mind that if you hate road you might have to retrace your steps to get back; the other route is via Wilburton then twenty-pence road through Cottenham.