Fenland Rides

After the Second World War, the US Government created twelve military cemeteries in Europe, to form the final resting place for US citizens who had died during the conflicts. The American Cemetery at Madingley is the only one of these in the British Isles. It occupies over thirty acres of land, donated by the University, overlooking quiet Cambridgeshire countryside.

Beautifully landscaped, it’s somewhere I would thoroughly recommend visiting. It’s all too easy not to visit significant sites such as this when you’re a local, but my Coton, Hardwick and Comberton cycle route passes by the back of the continue reading…

Hidden amongst the undergrowth, just a mile northwest of the village of Prickwillow, lies this derelict World War II pillbox. 28,000 of these were built across the British countryside in 1940-41, when Germany was making plans to invade the United Kingdom. Today, fewer than 6,000 remain, silent relics of a continue reading…

The village of Pymoor (or “Pymore” as it is sometimes spelt) is located just to the northwest of Ely, very near the New Bedford River. At approximately 3 metres above sea level, Pymoor is on a clay ‘hill’, surrounded by peaty fenland.

The name Pymoor is said to mean “flies over marshland”, and this is depicted in the village sign, installed in 1980. The sign also shows the sails of a wind-pump, of the type formerly used to continually drain the Fens.

Further information about the village of Pymoor is contained in the excellent (but now sadly archived) village website, created by former resident Greg Chapman.