4 miles on the a14 - not worth it?

[kedab]

hey CC'ers

i know there's a thread somewhere on here regarding this notorious stretch of road but hey...

i'm now getting to the point where i'm feeling strong enough and confidant enough to remove the train ride from my commute on the odd day. this however poses a couple of questions:

do i chuck myself at the mercy of the cycling gods and do 4 miles down the a14 to shorten my route and effectively make the rest of the journey safer or...

do i not risk the cycling god's wrath and take the other option which is a straight trek down the a10

basically the route is Cambridge-Soham - there aren't all that many viable alternatives to be honest and the reason i ask about the a14, nightmare that it can be in a car let alone on a bike, is that the a10 is a pretty frisky road as well and it's single track nearly all the way...

any pearls of wisdom are welcome

 

[GrasB]

From Soham I'd go down the A142 onto the B1102, then cross the A14 on the A1303 (Newmarket Rd) junction & continue along that road into Cambridge.

 

[Glow worm]

I'd go up to Fen Ditton, then right at the Blue Lion and out along High Ditch Road, left on the bridge over the A14 and along the track and then right at that red house with the dogs, along the old railway line to Lode. Then join the largely car free Lodes Way cycle route all the way to Wicken. Several alternatives from there including the bridleway into Soham or short stretch of A road. Could be wrong but I'm sure the A14 would be longer from Camb. And a lot less pleasant!

 

[kedab]

i knew i'd find the answer here...brilliant stuff, thank you

that's the route my missus takes to work and i'd not even considered it

 

[kedab]

ooh! more options!

 

[Becs]

I'd go up to Fen Ditton, then right at the Blue Lion and out along High Ditch Road, left on the bridge over the A14 and along the track and then right at that red house with the dogs, along the old railway line to Lode. Then join the largely car free Lodes Way cycle route all the way to Wicken. Several alternatives from there including the bridleway into Soham or short stretch of A road. Could be wrong but I'm sure the A14 would be longer from Camb. And a lot less pleasant!

I cycled this route the other weekend on an old steel road bike with 25s and it was fine, might be a long way round though.

Roads wise from Soham I'd come through Burwell, Swaffams, Quy then pick up the cycle path into town at the Quy Mill hotel, not sure of the road numbers though.

 

[kedab]

I cycled this route the other weekend on an old steel road bike with 25s and it was fine, might be a long way round though.

Roads wise from Soham I'd come through Burwell, Swaffams, Quy then pick up the cycle path into town at the Quy Mill hotel, not sure of the road numbers though.

that's the way i was thinking and there are deffo shorter options as shared here but thank you all very very much for your input

 

[Glow worm]

I cycled this route the other weekend on an old steel road bike with 25s and it was fine, might be a long way round though.

That's a long old haul from Belsize Park! Agree the Burwell route is a good one and would be all weather too as on roads of course. The railway route can get pretty boggy especially in winter.
My only problem with the B1102 is that traffic really does hare along at often crazy speeds. At least much of this route between Burwell and Lode has a shared path adjacent (even on that Mr Toad and his pals often take my breath away with their speeds closeby). Also, you can avoid one particularly nasty section of fast road between Lode and Quy by going through Bottisham from Bulbeck, then up to Quy on route 51 (largely shared path- far too narrow but off road at least).

Someone recently posted this blog on here Cambs Cycle Blog and it's a brilliant source of info on local routes. The guy posts some great photos too as well as a lot of interesting and thought provoking posts.

 

[Jonathing]

From Soham I go to Fordham, then take the Burwell road all the way to Quy. Along the cycle track under the A14 then parallel to the Newmarket road until you get the park & ride and Bob is very much your mother's brother.

Not the quietest of routes but I don't care for the 'cross country' routes and the surfaces can be unreliable.

 

[pshore]

if going Cambridge to Soham, you might well be going against the main traffic flow so the b1102 north of burwell might be viable as Grasb said.

If looking at the bridleway option from Wicken to Soham, the one from Drury Lane Wicken to Mill Drove Soham is worth checking out one weekend. It is all grass IIRC, see OpenStreetMap for the route.

 

[Riding in Circles]

... then right at that red house with the dogs....

Superb.

 

[GrasB]

if going Cambridge to Soham, you might well be going against the main traffic flow so the b1102 north of burwell might be viable as Grasb said.

I've ridden it in both directions, though not during the rush hour & never found that route a particular problem. That said, there's all kinds of factors that come into play such as the experience of the rider & prevailing conditions at the time.

 

[Red Light]

I've ridden it in both directions, though not during the rush hour & never found that route a particular problem. That said, there's all kinds of factors that come into play such as the experience of the rider & prevailing conditions at the time.

Whenever I've ridden it (going to the Mildenhall Cycle Rally) I've never found it a problem Reasonably quiet with good sight lines. Newmarket Road out of Cambridge is fine too and with a cycle path alongside for most of the way if you don't like the road. The only bit that needs some care is the A14 roundabout.

 

[kedab]

i knew i should have posed this question before now, many thanks all!

i've not explored the route and/or any of its options by bike yet so i'll get a recce done on my days off and see what's what.

i'm confidant and sure of myself on the roads - a massively different rider to the worried newbie i was just a few months ago! the advice i sought on here helped me massively and i love being on the bike

my usual commute takes me down the a142 which can often be busy with lorries, tractors, WVM and general motors but i barely bat an eyelid these days unless something totally out of the ordinary happens. so i think the roads i'll be using when i do my whole commute by bike shouldn't be too much of a shock for me.

i didn't realise there were so many options to be honest - i'm not sure about bridleways and such as i like a predictable (if that's possible) surface and i don't think my bike would like anything too much gravel/grassy bog type surfaces either

thanks again all and if you see a lad in his Giant team wear on a Giant CS looking lost and/or out of puff along that route, it's likely to be me

 

[Becs]

That's a long old haul from Belsize Park!

I grew up in Bottisham, the parents still live there . . . . . used to ride my pony along that railway line, he wasn't a fan of the house with the dogs!

The only time you should mess with the A14 is to go over or under it!