My cousin lives near Cambridge station so I took the opportunity to visit and stay with her on Saturday. Then on Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs cooked for me by her husband, I set off to meet the rest of the group arriving from London on the 10am train. A handful of other cyclists were already there when I arrived, as they had taken an earlier train. And amazing Dave was also there, having got up at 4.30 am to cycle to Cambridge that morning!

Once the rest of the group arrived, we were 17 in total, and we set off towards Cambridge town centre. We went past a few interesting old buildings and colleges (I'm not familiar enough with Cambridge to tell you which) and next thing I knew we were cycling by Addenbrookes Hospital and out into the countryside. It turned out that we were following NCN route 11. It was a lovely route and a beautiful day, and we encountered very few cars, only a couple of hills and just one puncture before stopping for lunch at the Fox & Hounds in Clavering.

There was plenty of room in the pub garden for us all to park our bikes and sit outside in the sunshine and the staff and local clientele of the pub were all very welcoming. Although I didn't feel especially hungry the menu was very appealing and I succumbed to the lure of a roast lamb dinner complete with yorkshire pudding. And despite it being a massive portion, filling a big plate, with a separate bowl of vegetables plus a decent sized jug of gravy, I polished off the lot!

I thought I might be a bit sluggish after my slap-up lunch, but quite the reverse, it gave me a tremendous burst of energy, which was rather useful as there were a few more challenging hills in the afternoon.

Then we transferred from NCN route 11 to NCN route 1, which took us on canal towpaths and cycle paths through the Lea Valley Park all the way back to East London, with a welcome tea stop en route where we sat in the sun enjoying ice creams.

I was astonished to reach home so easily, all credit to Alex for superb organisation and management of the day.

Report by Damaris and pictures from Vivian and Richard

Just for the stats - 17 riders