From: South Ely.

Distance: 11 miles.

Summary: Horse racing and tractor washing.

Click here to fly over this route in Google Earth (find out more…)

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It’s often hard to find decent byways along which to cycle. However knowledge of their locations can interconnect roads that otherwise require vast detours, so opening up a number of interesting possible routes. One example can be found near the village of Prickwillow, where a byway runs alongside the pretty River Lark to join the riverside road leading to Littleport.

In detail:

• This ride starts in Lisle Lane (position A on the map) — known to Ely residents as the road housing the Royal Mail delivery office, and found by cycling down the High Street to the bottom of the hill, and then turning left.
• At the end of Lisle Lane, the road rises steeply towards a mini-roundabout: at this roundabout, turn right towards Queen Adelaide. Shout if you think I’m wrong, but I presume the hamlet gets its name from Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife found for the eventual King William IV by his brother, the Duke of Cambridge. Her rather larger namesake is of course the city of Adelaide, in southern Australia.



• Passing through Queen Adelaide, you will cross three level crossings in quick succession (position B): over the line heading towards Peterborough, over the main Kings Lynn to London track, and then finally over the line towards Norwich.
• Shortly before the final level crossing, the road climbs over the River Ouse, and at this point the road changes name from the Ely Road to the Prickwillow Road. Continue straight on…
• The road to Prickwillow runs alongside the railway line to Norwich, with fields on your right and houses on the left. Look out for the horses in paddocks beside the houses: when I cycled this route today, one gave me a race along the side of the field and then I’m sure that it gave me a smug grin when it won…



• Prickwillow itself is a pretty little village, with the wonderfully named River Lark running through the middle. If you have time, it’s worth stopping off at the drainage museum by the river — it’s extremely well presented, and traces the history of the Fens, showing the steam driven machinery that was used to transform it from marshland to the fertile countryside through which you’re cycling. Today the museum has a dual-purpose: staffed by volunteers, it is also home to the only shop in the village.
• When you have finished exploring the museum, travel over the river bridge, and then take a sharp left along Branch Bank (position C), alongside the river. On most maps, this road is shown as a dead end, but in fact it becomes a “byway open to all traffic”, allowing us to continue down to the road that runs alongside the River Ouse, confusingly also called Branch Bank.



• You’ll find that this road is only really used by tractors: there are deep ruts from farm machinery, but it is fine — if bumpy — to travel down on a bike. Push on, continuing straight ahead along the vaguely tarmacced path. At one point you’ll pass a derelict house with an amusingly frank name…



…as well as a sign that seems to undervalue Fenland schooling…



• Shortly after passing a World War II pillbox, the road becomes increasingly uneven and rather sandy in places, with grass showing down the middle of the track. These sorts of byways are known as green lanes — and although it’s legal to travel down this road in a car, you’d regret it pretty swiftly if you met a tractor travelling in the other direction!



• After approximately two miles, the high bank of the River Ouse looms in the distance ahead. At this point, the road takes a sharp turn to the right … and plonks you into the middle of a farmyard. There is no track whatsoever in this section, so you just have to trust that you really are allowed to cycle down here. In my case, whilst cycling between the farm buildings, I passed a chap hosing down a tractor — I got the impression that he really wasn’t expecting someone to come past on a bike!



• Immediately after the farm buildings, the byway abuts the main Branch Bank. A right turn would take you northwards toward Littleport, but at this point I turned left, in order to head back to Ely, as there were ominous looking rainclouds above…
• If you have a moment, it’s worth walking up the river bank on the right-hand side. Despite living in Ely for 2.5 years now, I still find it unnerving the way that the rivers are often higher than the roads in this part of the country. This is also the stretch of river where The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race was held in 1944, as London was considered too unsafe a venue during the Second World War. Known as the Adelaide Stretch, the river bank has a number of marble markers embedded into the path, showing the start, finish and mileposts of the race.



• Branch Bank leads back into Queen Adelaide; at the end of the road, take a right over the river toward the three level crossings once more, and onwards back to Ely.

Discovering this byway was a bit of a revelation to me: before, it looked impossible to cycle to and from Prickwillow without retracing your tracks, or else taking a 7 mile detour via Shippea Hill. If you know of other useful byways in decent condition in the Cambridge/Ely area, do let me know via a comment on this post!