Cycleway to Wandlebury is Open!

The speeches have been made, the ribbon cut and the ice cream eaten.  Which means, of course, that the shared use cycleway from the Babraham Park and Ride to Wandlebury Country Park is now officially open.  Hooray!

The rain held off against the forecast and about thirty people, including representatives from the councils, Cambridge PPF, Cambridge CTC and the Cambridge Cycling Campaign came along to celebrate.  This section may only be 2km long, but by connecting with pre-existing shared-use cycleways it completes a safe route from Wandlebury to the City Centre.

Jackson Civil Engineering were responsible for the construction of the shared-use cycleway, which has been built to a pleasingly high standard.   Some 400m along from the Park & Ride, the cycleway needs to cross Cherry Hinton Road at the Gog Magog roundabout.  The route here has been sensibly chosen so that Cherry Hinton Road is crossed in two stages by directing users to make use of a small triangular piece of land between the slip roads and the roundabout.  Tactile paving has been placed at each end of the uncontrolled crossing points on the Cherry Hinton slip roads and joins with the cycleway is a near seamless manner.  The tarmacked surface is very smooth, though I had expected it to be coloured rather than black.  Signage has been kept to a minimum and consist of shared use signs mounted on pleasing wooden bollards.

After trying out the route to Wandlebury, cyclists headed into the park and through the old stable-block to be met by a classic 1920s ice cream bike.  This was the excellent Icicle-Tricycle.  Their ice creams are sourced from Suffolk and I can personally vouch for the quality of their toffee variety.  With snack in hand the park was a lovely setting to meet other cycling enthusiasts in Cambridge.  Thanks to Carolin Gohler of Cambridge PPF and colleagues from partner organisations for holding this event.