SQUAREWHEELS.org.uk
Changes
to the route-notes of Richard’s Cambridge & Oxford cycle route

Alteration made on 24 December 2021:

I have stumbled upon the fact that the former T-junction where the road from Ashendon meets the A41 near Westcott was converted into a roundabout during 2020 or 2021; the notes for both directions now reflect this change to the road layout.

Alteration made on 16 October 2021:

Somewhat belatedly, I have modified the instructions in both directions to reflect a change to the road layout on the outskirts of Oxford: the junctions in Cherwell Drive, between Marsh Lane and Marston Road, got changed from a pair of mini-roundabouts to a festival of traffic-lights.

Alteration made on 19 October 2020:

Following a visit in person to the Shell Flitwick garage at the south end of Ampthill, I have confirmed that the door is now locked at 10pm (it used to be 11pm)—so the toilets cease to be available at that point. The notes have been modified to reflect this.

Alterations made on 1 October 2018:

When I rode the route Oxford-bound on 26 September 2018, I noticed that:

• R into Silver Street (junction on curve) is mis-leading as the road isn’t on a curve at the point you reach the junction; instead better just to say R at T into Silver Street.

• L at new mini-rdbt as for SANDY station could be mis-leading, as you don’t go into Sandy station but past it; so as for has been replaced with past.

• over A5 on bridge, R at rdbt, into LITTLE BRICKHILL has potential for confusion because there is a (? recent) sign proclaiming that you are entering Little Brickhill just after you cross the bridge but before you get to the roundabout; therefore I’ve re-arranged the order of those elements.

In addition, I have noticed and fixed the following which apply in both directions:

• The new rdbt near Steppingley Hospital is no longer all that new (2013) but two other roundabouts (minis) have more recently been installed nearby on the Froghall Road, so the “new” for the former has been dropped.

• Between Soulbury and the old A4146 the word bridges was superfluous, as when you’re there you follow the road and it is perfectly evident that you cross the railway and the bypass on bridges.

• The cyclepath beside the Barton Road is not OK these days, being quite badly cracked and rutted; while it is still mentioned, it is no longer described as OK.

• The instructions to ignore cyclepaths in St Clements and Marston Road have been removed, as it would be a personal decision for each rider as to whether such a facility would be suitable for them.

• I identified several instances where I had used “right” or “left” instead of RHS or LHS.

Alterations made on 24 April 2017:

In the course of riding the route Cambridge-bound on 19 April 2017, I noted various things that would need changing in the notes as follows.

• Correct opening hours for The George & Dragon pub’s coffee-shop in Quainton: their website didn’t show the actual opening-times clearly, but having been there and seen it for myself & asked, I can now be sure that the times are Tue-Sat 08-17h, Sun 09-15h, Mon closed, B/H Mon 10-14h.

• Between Steppingley and Ampthill, specifically in Froghall Lane between Steppingley Hospital and the Midland Main Line railway bridge, a housing-estate (“Steppingley Gardens”) is being built on the south side of the road; now there are two new mini-roundabouts in Froghall Lane which have been added to the notes.

• The same work has also involved installing for the first time a proper pavement on the roadway beneath the railway bridge that carries the Midland Main Line, and as a result it is now too narrow for vehicles to pass: so they’ve installed traffic-lights to regulate traffic one way at a time.

• At the foot of Ampthill I visited the One-o-one petrol station, Shell Flitwick. I interviewed the chap there who confirmed that the door is locked at 23hrs and that they are obliged to be ‘strict’ about not then letting people in to use the loo; he said everything else could be done via the night window, including refilling water-bottles. I confirmed that the cash machine is on the outside of the building. (Incidentally the roundabout is called One-o-one because the adjacent Shell garage is at number 101 Ampthill Road; perhaps a previous garage on that site was called the ‘101 garage’ and the name became a bit of a local landmark?)

• Further web-research leads me to suspect that Ampthill Fish Bar being under new management since late 2016 is now open until 22hrs, and 23hrs Fri-Sat.

• The notice on the outside of the public toilets at the foot of Ampthill Waitrose car-park incorporates an update to their opening-hours, as far as the notes are concerned: they are now open until 17h every day. The toilets are operated by Ampthill Town Council.

Alterations made on 27 March 2017:

• Added opening hours for all amenities, and corrected where necessary those already shown (e.g. T*sco Sandy has reduced its opening hours since it opened in 2013). Also re-cast the wording and/or description of some amenities.

• For the Cottage Bakery in Ampthill, reverted to directing riders to the Dunstable Street branch which has longer opening hours.

• Added The George & Dragon pub and coffee-shop in Quainton as an amenity.

• Corrected the Oxford-bound mention of “interference fringes”, the visual effects which always catch my eye when cycling from Dunton to Whitchurch; as John Mears quite correctly points out, these are in fact moiré fringes!

• As I was re-releasing the PDF version of the route notes, I introduced a feature which I already trialled myself: I’ve added a small “SQUAREWHEELS.org.uk logo” in the centre of each page, which causes the text to wrap away from it: this prevents a line of text from being on the fold if the printed A4 sheet is folded (e.g. to go in a bar-bag pocket).

Alterations made on 8 May 2015:

• In Sandy, two new mini-roundabouts (one replacing the T-junction by the railway station) have been added to the route.

• Also in Sandy, references to Budgens have been replaced by those to another supermarket nearly opposite the station; it opened on 2013-08-01.

• The keyword (care!) has been added to the Cambridge-bound notes for the second crossroads at Brill.

Alterations made on 30 August 2013:

• In both directions, the crossroads between Steppingley and Ampthill has been replaced by a roundabout.

Alterations made on 18 September 2012:

• In the Cambridge-bound notes, Alan Iwi spotted two instances where the command Follow preceded a directional descriptor L or R. This was incorrect, as I already defined L and R as commands. In the case of Continue 650 metres and Follow L, trees on right and Follow R in LONGSTOWE, the directional commands have been replaced by the words which they abbreviate.

Alterations made on 17 April 2010:

• In both directions: references to the Water tap {temp. not working!} at ankle-height on white wall facing road have now been removed as this tap has not (as at 2009-11-28) been fixed. C’mon guys, that was nearly 18 months ago (at least!)—and when I asked in the shop they had no knowledge that there had ever been a working tap on the wall outside anyway. They did offer to fill my bottle though. I have replaced the above in the notes with {Water, toilets and cash-machine possibly available}. Sorry, that’s as good as we can manage at present.

• By the same token, the entry for Toilets in the Ampthill Waitrose car-park now refers to Toilets and Water, as they have been demonstrated to have drinking-water accessibile from the small hand-basins within.

• Also in both directions: below Soulbury, the new dual-carriageway now takes the road-number A4146; the route used to cross the major road carrying that number at a staggered cross-roads near the Grand Union Canal. The physical layout hasn’t changed, but the road in question has been downgraded: L/R across C-road (old A4146).

• Oxford-bound: paragraph 3 now concludes Follow downhill and left to, because the downhill definitely starts before the left!

• Oxford-bound: the non-keyword pass, as in pass through OLD WARDEN, has been replaced in paragraph 4, which now ends R at triangular T SP OLD WARDEN, Follow thro OLD WARDEN, SO (SP Shefford).

Alterations made on 1 October 2008:

• The version-date of the three route-notes documents (Cam-Ox, Ox-Cam, notation) is now incorporated in the header in every instance (i.e. including the plain text and webpage-inline instances).

• In both directions, reference to the water-tap on the outside of the Shell garage at Flitwick (Ampthill) has been altered thus: Water tap {temp. not working!} at ankle-height on white wall facing road., to reflect the fact that this tap is still not working and that this is subject to change. (I have been in touch with the manager who says it is faulty and a job has been raised to fix the fault.)

• Also in both directions, reference to some newly-discovered toilets in Ampthill town centre has been added: [ Toilets (Mon-Sat 08-17h, Sun 10-16h): R imm before zebra crossing, just ahead up one-way road ] (that was for Oxford-bound; for Cambridge-bound it is L imm after zebra…). These toilets are operated by Ampthill Town Council. If anyone knows of any other toilets on/near the route (especially any which are open 24 hours a day), please let me know.

• In the notation section, one keyword’s definition has been modified: (care!) = warning of a manoeuvre requiring extra care to complete safely and another has been formally added: (Look!) = flagging-up of a turning which is easily missed.

• Cambridge-bound, the name of a pub at the awkward-to-describe junction in Great Brickhill has been added: R SP LITTLE BRICKHILL (really SO on left bend at Old Red Lion pub) Ascend Pound Hill,.

• Some other small tweaks, such as clarifying the route taken through the double-mini-rdbt in Ampthill, and referring to The Cottage Bakery, Ampthill by name, have been made to the notes.

Alterations made on 1 July 2008:

• Andrew Norman and others rode the route most recently.

• The outside tap on the Flitwick petrol-station, mentioned in the notes and completely relied-upon by your author on many rides, is reported as not working any more (P.J.McNally on 7/8 June 2008). At present the notes have not been updated to reflect this.

Alteration made on 14 April 2008:

• Harry Bulstrode rode the route recently, and with a record time too: the page has been updated to reflect this.

Alteration made on 8 December 2007:

• A belated addition of Richard Bryce’s alternative section of route via Biggleswade.

Alteration made on 3 December 2007:

• The latest correspondent to ride the route was Linda Wheatley who, with eleven others, completed it over two days by way of fund-raising, for Sight Concern Bedfordshire and Diabetes UK.

• Added a date-stamp and generic back-link to the PDF versions of the notation and route-notes.

Alteration made on 27 August 2007:

• Added GPS Survey data for the benefit of other GPS users, and those wishing to view the route in Google Earth.

• Added details of my brother’s ride from Cambridge to Oxford on 25 August.

Alterations made on 24 August 2007:

• The layout of the junction in Soulbury has not been permanently altered, I must have mis-understood; instead the priorities are now as they were prior to the road-closure. The instructions have been reverted accordingly.

• Just west of the A1 is Beeston village, and its green; I added them to the notes 4 years ago. However, as there is nothing on the ground to show (any but the most observant riders) that they are in Beeston, this decision has been reversed, the name and its village green being removed from the notes. Additionally for the Cambridge-bound notes, R into The Green (no SP) has been adjusted to R (no SP) into The Green, as the road-sign that proclaims The Green is not near the junction.

• A short distance west of Toft, the railway-bridge-over-nothing has been removed and replaced with infill, though the road still rises and falls over the approach-embankments. The instruction crossing bridge over long-gone railway (ignore cyclepath option there) has been removed for both directions.

• Instead, a short subsection “Look out for…” has been appended to The route described chapter, to draw attention to this relic.

• This one’s a bit pedantic, but the final turning in Cambridge is actually into Trumpington Street, which only becomes King’s Parade further along!

• Added details of my brother’s ride from Oxford to Cambridge on 23 August.

Alterations made on 21 August 2007:

• In response to a suggestion from my brother, the (care!) keyword has been added to the Cambridge-bound notes in paragraph 10, for the Give Way and sharp right that you have to do suddenly at the T-junction onto the B1046 between Gamlingay and Longstowe.

• I have generated PDF versions of the route notes and their key, to improve the resource. Here they are:
  • Key to route notes
  • Cambridge to Oxford
  • Oxford to Cambridge
  Comments on the style & layout of these would be welcome.

• In the course of doing the above, the Notation got renamed Key to route notes, and a particularly long line had the word through replaced by the keyword thro.

Alterations made on 18 August 2007:

• The C20 Great Brickhill Road between Soulbury village and the A4146 at Three Locks / Stoke Hammond re-opened yesterday at 1500hrs following completion of the new bridge carrying it over the Stoke Hammond & Linslade western bypass which is in the final stages of construction.

  Thanks to a member of staff from The Boot in Soulbury (see also here) for cheerfully answering my somewhat cheeky phonecall to verify the bypass-contractor’s claim that the road had re-opened. I’ll pop in for a drink next time I’m there!

  The route notes have been reverted to their original state, with two exceptions:

  1. Priorities are being (have been) changed at The Green in Soulbury so that the B4032 is the major road;
  2. Presumably the long-term temporary traffic-lights adjacent to the site of the new bridge will have disappeared, as the works vehicles can now use the bypass they’ve built.

  The section of the main page which contained details of the closure has been placed below for restrospective interest.

Alterations made on 2007 August 2:

• I have belatedly processed information supplied by Roger Bryan who rode the route in both directions in April 2007. He indicated that a much shorter diversion should now be possible, and I have supplied a little map and some speculative route-notes.

• I noticed that some inconsistency concerning the rdbt (roundabout) keyword had appeared, with rbt sometimes used. This has now been corrected.

• Following another discussion with David Splett, I have removed references to HATCH Cambridge-bound, and added a distance to the T-junction instead.

• The Alternative sections of route and Acknowledgements chapters have been moved onto their own pages. This is part of an idea I’m toying with, of putting every chapter on its own page; might improve the page, might make it rather worse! We shall see.

Alterations made on 2006 December 3:

• Gordon Bowen wrote in with a suggestion that the Soulbury diversion should begin further west, at Whitchurch. This has been described in the (archived) Soulbury Road closure section.

• The Waitrose in Ampthill opened on Friday 29 September 2006. The notes have been amended to reflect the re-introduction of this amenity. On Mondays to Fridays it opens at 0830 and closes at 2000 (1900 Sat), and is open 1000-1600 on Sundays.

• The Alternative sections of route portion of the text has grown somewhat in recent times, and now is a chapter in its own right.

Alteration made on 2006 September 16:

• I received an email from Moshe Kamensky, who rode the route to Cambridge on Thursday 7 September 2006 only to find Soulbury Road closed for 32 weeks. I have researched the nature of the closure, posted a banner and notices warning of the closure, and provided a speculative diversionary route.

  It will be noted that the closure is at the same point as is illustrated in the first photograph below. A new bridge or bridges will carry that road over both the railway and the new bypass which will run through the dip in the middle distance.

  Information on the bypass works may be found on the Buckinghamshire County Council website, or the dedicated bypass website.

Alterations made on 2006 August 23:

On 2006 August 5 & 6 I rode the route Ox-Cam and Cam-Ox, and noted the following points.

• Both directions

  • 

    The hill up into Soulbury, as seen Oxford-bound from the railway bridge over the West Coast Main Line on 6 August 2006.

    I have further information regarding the new traffic-light at the foot of the climb from the Ouzel Valley and A4146 up into SOULBURY, illustrated here. It is temporary, although clearly in a long-term sort of a way. As mentioned previously (see link) it is related to heavy plant at a worksite. According to a Development Control Committee document I found on the Buckinghamshire County Council website, this worksite relates to the building of a Stoke Hammond bypass; and the tipping of a large amount of spoil from that construction onto farmland at Rislip Farm, which seems to exist on both sides of the road. One assumes that the traffic-lights—which are only operational 5½ days per week and not (I think) in winter—will be removed when the works are wound up.

  • The corner outside Lammas Land in Cambridge, at the end of Barton Road, has traffic-lights on it which had been omitted from the notes.

  • 

    This is how far the new Waitrose shop’s construction had progressed at the time of my ride on 5 August 2006. The shop is now (at 23 August 2006) scheduled to open on 28 September 2006.

  • The Toilets at WOBURN (Duck Lane) were closed when I last rode the ride; as there was no notice of explanation, I checked with the Mid-Bedfordshire District Council (subsequently replaced by Central Bedfordshire Council): they told me that this toilet service is withdrawn until further notice. Accordingly I have had to remove this instruction from the notes, and I would welcome suggestions from anyone who knows of worthwhile public toilets in the middle third of this route.

• Oxford-bound

  • The instruction for turning left onto the A413 into WHITCHURCH has been re-cast slightly.

• Cambridge-bound

  • The word on has been replaced by onto in two places (one in each of paragraphs 2 and 3), where instructions state to turn right onto the B4011 and the A41. Also, an onto has been added to the A603 instruction in paragraph 11.

  • The L at T in SOULBURY had the indication (SP Stoke Hammond). However there is a more relevant place-name on the same sign, so I’ve altered it to SP GREAT BRICKHILL.

  • The right turn off the short stretch of A6 was described as SP HAYNES CHURCH END; however this sign was missing or removed. I have replaced the SP with one that did exist last time I rode the route: (SP Scenic Route).

  • The notes for the section through OLD WARDEN seemed to me not to be in quite the right order when I rode the route, so a couple of lines have been slightly re-cast there.

• Non-notes sections

  • Removed a stray apostrophe from “St. Neots”.

  • The Shell Select Shop in AMPHILL is in fact designated as being in the next village, Flitwick; a couple of references have been altered accordingly.

  • Added a photo of the long straight road near Longstowe and the water-tower.

• Notation key

  • Nick wrote in with a couple of corrections: I’d mis-typed “involves”; and I’d referred to “E-roads” which not only do not exist by such a name, but which also aren’t used in the notes anyway.

Alterations made on 2006 June 16:

• Placed this Changes section in its own page, as a first attempt at reducing the size of the main page.

• Placed the GPS survey & Gradient Profile on a separate page, for the same reason.

• References to the windmill in QUAINTON have been removed from the notes; this following a valid comment from Maggie Whiteley, who spotted that riders could be led up the wrong road to go past the windmill. Mention of the windmill has instead been placed in The route described.

Alteration made on 2006 April 11:

• Following an email from Gareth Dawson, references to Budgens in AMPTHILL have been removed—because the shop was itself removed by demolition contractors during March 2006; a Waitrose is scheduled to open on the same site in October 2006.

Alteration made on 2006 January 23:

• Added a suggestion from David Splett to the Alternative sections of route chapter; his Kingswood diversion, which avoids Ashendon Hill and the A41, requires serious consideration.

Alterations made on 2006 January 18:

• Use of the keyword (care!) has been standardised within the document, and defined as an instruction for the rider to take extra care when carrying out the manoeuvre to which the keyword is attached.

• References to Budgens have been amended to show the name correctly, i.e. without an apostrophe.

Alterations made on 2005 September 1:

• Notation key

  • Clarification that the definition of Xrds applies to a crossroads whether or not you are on the minor road; i.e., whether or not you have to give way, it could still be shown as an Xrds in the notes.

  • Items under review, awaiting confirmation, or otherwise requiring “watching” by me and any of you helpful folks out there, are now shown {in curly brackets}.

• Oxford-bound

  • At HAYNES WEST END the 2nd has been dropped from …into HAYNES WEST END; 2nd R (on uphill). This is because Haynes West End doesn’t have a sign on entry to proclaim its presence, therefore you don’t know when to start counting turnings on the right. Instead we now have: Follows left past turning on right, to R (on uphill) SP MAULDEN….

  • At the other end of Limbersey Lane / The Brache, signpost info has been added to the R at T SP AMPTHILL in MAULDEN.

  • The distance from the crest west of WOBURN to the R SP LITTLE BRICKHILL altered from approx 400 metres to 550 metres.

  • The left turn for Great Brickhill in LITTLE BRICKHILL is well-hidden to say the least; additionally the houses either side of it are now painted in exactly the same colour, further camouflaging it. A (Look!) has been added.

  • Station Road added to the instruction in QUAINTON.

  • The distance from ASHENDON church to the R (SP Dorton) is now given as 210 metres.

  • And here’s one thing I discovered that’s not a question of pedantry or interpretation: this one’s plain wrong. The signpost info at the foot of Horton Hill in HORTON-CUM-STUDLEY should say OXFORD, not (Islip). How did this slip through for so long?

• Cambridge-bound

  • The description of the turning off the B4027 for Horton-cum-Studley has been altered from lone cottage on left before L SP HORTON-CUM-STUDLEY (which was inaccurate as it’s not readily identifiable as lone, nor is it a cottage), to L SP HORTON-CUM-STUDLEY at staggered Xrds.

  • At the second Xrds on Brill Hill, a (SP Wotton) has been added for confidence.

  • There seemed not to be an actual mention of passing through WESTCOTT between descending Ashendon Hill and arriving at the A41; this has been rectified.

  • Between Quainton and the Xrds for Pitchcott Hill, a distance (1.2 miles) has been inserted as there is a nearer Xrds within Quainton that was identified as potentially misleading.

  • The mention of (interference fringes!) on the barn near Dunton has been removed (Cambridge-bound only), as they aren’t noteworthy in this direction (unless you look behind you a considerable distance after passing the barn!).

  • The B4032 road-number, and the 2.1 miles that we travel along it, have been added to the notes between Stewkley and Soulbury.

  • When crossing the A4012 in WOBURN, the route enters Park Street and this has been added for reassurance.

  • The left turn for HAYNES WEST END in MAULDEN has caught out several people, including Richard who has ridden almost-past it thinking ‘That couldn’t be it, surely?’. We now have a measured distance from the top of the little hill before Maulden, we now know it’s the 2nd on the left, and we also have a road-name The Brache as well as augmented signpost-info (SP Haynes, Scenic Route). Additionally I have added (Look!) to warn users of the instruction requiring particular attention. As a result of the layout being altered here, the hills and reverse curves has been removed and 1.8 miles to inserted on the next line.

  • The R at T after climbing out of STANDALONE WARREN has had its signpost info altered from (SP Ireland) to SP OLD WARDEN (Scenic Route). See the photo above!

  • Between EVERTON and GAMLINGAY I used to point out a gloriously nondescript bungalow called Dunno which always raised a grin; however it seems inappropriate for the route-notes, especially now that the name-plate has deteriorated so much that it is illegible [and has since disappeared altogether]. Instead I’ve added a reference to GAMLINGAY THE HEATH which appears on a (new?) signpost just west of the Xrds on right bend.

  • The Hardwick turn in COMBERTON has become a mini-roundabout junction. Whilst not specifically mentioning the roundabout, I’ve included a reiteration of B1046 to remove any doubt at this point.

  • A distance of 800 metres has been inserted for the distance between the end of OLD WARDEN and the L (tightens, care) SP ICKWELL.

• Both directions

  • The references to covered reservoirs on top of Ashendon hill were deemed to be unwarranted irrelevant information providing no assistance or interest to the user, and have therefore been removed. References to the summit of the hill have been substituted.

  • The hamlet of LITTLECOTE is between Dunton and Stewkley; since it’s on the main road and is signposted in both directions, it seemed silly not to mention it for confidence.

  • A traffic-light of solid (i.e. non-temporary) construction was noted just west of the railway bridge over the West Coast Main Line, between the A4146 or Ouzel Valley and Soulbury. It was situated at some roadworks and appeared to be to allow plant vehicles to cross the road safely (given that the hump-back bridge would cause unacceptable shortening of sighting-times). The lights weren’t in use when we passed (Bank Holiday weekend time), and we couldn’t decide whether they will become a permanent fixture or not. I’ve put {tfl?} for now; this is one to watch… and it would spoil the “no traffic lights for 80 miles” concept if it’s permanent!

  • (half-way point) added (in Woburn Park; it’s just to the west of the slope from the 141m summit, to be precise).

  • A4012 written in place of WOBURN main street.

  • I checked with the person serving in the Shell Select Shop at the foot of Ampthill, who said the door is now locked from 11pm. The Amenities sections have been amended to show 23hrs accordingly.

  • As per the request in the previous set of changes, we now have signpost info (for both directions as it turns out) for the junction within OLD WARDEN where we go SO along the main road. Therefore the references to Richard’s Crescent have been removed.

  • The village of LONGSTOWE is really entirely to the west of the A1198, rather than straddling it as the notes had implied. Indeed, there’s a National Speed Limit sign between the village and the main road, when heading east. The notes have been amended to reflect this.

  • Rising bollards have appeared in Silver Street, CAMBRIDGE and have been mentioned in the notes.

  • The 158m-elevation summit west of Whitchurch is not in PITCHCOTT itself, and the notes have been amended to reflect this.

  • Various elevation data have been amended or added in light of the GPS survey and Gradient Profile.

  • The distance from the double mini-roundabout in AMPTHILL to the Budgens is now given as 45 metres.

  • The distance from the turning for SANDY railway station and the Budgens has been inserted as 540 metres.

• Non-notes sections

  • At some stage, a new Puffin Crossing has been added in Barton Road, CAMBRIDGE, at the junction with Grantchester Road. Except for the possible {tfl?} below SOULBURY (see above), I can confirm that there still aren’t any other traffic-lights outside OXFORD and CAMBRIDGE other than the two Puffins in AMPTHILL.

Alterations made on 2005 August 18:

• References to SP HAYNES changed to SP Haynes as Haynes itself is a village of some size to the north of the route; we go through HAYNES CHURCH END and HAYNES WEST END, but it would be misleading to say we go through Haynes itself.

• In response to a message from Rob Church who allowed himself to be misled Cambridge-bound just before Boarstall by a signpost to Oakley:

  • The notation T has been defined as “T-junction” in the notation-key, and an explanation of what constitutes (and doesn’t) one has been given.
  • In paragraph 2 of the Cambridge-bound notes, the R at T on B4011 is now (SP Brill), not Oakley.

• Some standardization has taken place with regard to distances, both vertical and horizontal, in terms of what units are used and how these are shown. The Key and the notes have been amended accordingly. The opportunity has been taken to ensure accuracy both of local distances (measured between a landmark and a turning, for example), and of the cumulative mileages, by examining the GPS data.

• The 30-sign on the Cambrdge-bound approach to Beeston village green has been moved rearwards to a point well away from the un-signposted junction. Accordingly, a distance from the previous junction to that one has been added, together with the street name, The Green (no SP). Also, after crossing the A1 the road-name New Road has been added for confidence.

• The Oxford-bound reference to SP Haynes in paragraph 5, already altered above and on 2003 July 27, is now removed; I suspect the signpost pointing down our road to the left must say “Haynes Church End” and I’ve been inaccurate at some point.

  [Editor’s note: It shows Haynes, then in half-size font next to it is written Church End 2¼ on top of West End 4. So it wasn’t particularly inaccurate, it just left room for confusion. 2005 Sep 1]

  A photo I took at this junction shows that the signs pointing straight ahead are for Haynes Northwood End & Silver End, so any reference to Haynes for our route is going to be redundant at best. The road-name STANDALONE WARREN is much more reliable.

• The approach to Oxford City Centre should have the 4th exit from The Plain, not the 5th. How did this one slip through for so long?

• SANDY has now been put in capitals again (see alterations below, for 2004 June 19), following a reversal of the earlier decision. David Splett pointed out (among other useful suggestions) that in both directions we pass the signs that say we’re now entering Sandy, and that there is scope for confusion if we say that Sandy isn’t visited. Those that know the area may protest that we don’t really go through Sandy—and they would be right—but technically Sandy is visited, so the capital letters go in.

• The Coins phonebox in HATCH has been removed; accordingly so has reference to it in the notes. (When the notes were first written in 1995, nobody except yuppies had mobile phones, and the location of public phoneboxes was really useful information; now many cyclists have a mobile phone, and phoneboxes are being removed everywhere.)

• A vagueness in which some SP information was in brackets and some wasn’t has been noted. From now, every SP PLACENAME is without brackets, but each unvisited (SP Placename) is in brackets.

• The instructions for the area around Old Warden have been re-cast to remove unnecessary information. However, to improve this bit we really need signpost information for the Oxford-bound juncion within Old Warden (where we go SO) prior to ascending past Richard’s Crescent.

• A new traffic signal has sprouted up on the route; it’s a pedestrian crossing, and it’s just inside the city boundary of Oxford. Happily for the statistics, there’s still exactly 80 miles between traffic signals with the exception of the two crossings in Ampthill.

• This page has been re-cast in XHTML 1.0 Strict, incorporating a total move away from presentational markup in favour of Cascading Style Sheets. The opportunity has been taken to modify the layout of the page slightly.

• And not least, the GPS survey & Gradient Profile section has been written; Back in 2000, I’d made a start on generating a gradient profile by hand using Landranger maps, rulers and acres of free time—obviously a huge task and without the promise of accurate results. This time round it’s been a huge task involving Landranger maps, rulers and acres of free time—but has at least produced accurate results… it’s a pleasure finally to have produced a worthwhile and informative graph!

Alterations made on 2004 June 19:

• My Father rode the route (Cam-Ox) for himself in late summer 2003; his proofreading skills and attention to detail resulted in various matters being flagged for attention. Several relate to both directions in the notes. Apologies for not implementing these changes sooner:
  • Corrected spelling of “necessarily” in the Notation section
  • Corrected spelling of Little Gransden (not Grandsden!)
  • Sandy area: as the route only touches the outskirts of Sandy but passes its railway station, reference to the town itself has been removed in favour of Sandy station (no capitals). The immediately instruction Oxford-bound has been clarified so as to refer to the Left turn immediately after the big rly bridge.
  • New notation [squared brackets] introduced for the “useful amenities” to de-clutter the notes in the Ampthill area; the lines of actual route instructions carefully re-worded so that the route notes make sense on their own if the amenity notes are ignored.
  • Oxford-bound: description of oblique T-junction on the downhill through Great Brickhill re-worded for clarity.
  • Distance travelled along B4011 between Brill and Boarstall increased from 300 to 350m.

• Sam Franklin wrote in to mention that I’d got the details wrong regarding the disused railway near Old Warden. The line runs from Bedford to Hitchin (not Sandy), and the disused station (near the “marvellous skew bridge”) was called Southill (another village, just off the route) and not Old Warden. As it happens I had discovered both of these for myself whilst looking at a map just a few hours prior to the email arriving!

Alterations made on 2003 July 27:

• Signpost in Maulden for Haynes reinstated.

• Shopping info for Ampthill updated, as follows:
  • Shell Select Shop locks its door at midnight but remains open, with payments and goods via window; the kind chap let me in anyway at 2403 to hand-pick my Iron Rations for the last 40 miles!
  • The greengrocer’s shop which had already moved once has apparently left the route altogether, so I’ve mentioned a baker’s shop instead.
  • Added a reference to a fish & chip shop which might prove useful!

• References to Eversholt removed; although the route only skims the edge of the village, there are “Welcome to Eversholt” signs on the route. But I thought it might cause confusion to mention Eversholt because it’s also signed as being up a side-road. I long-since did the same thing with Oving (between Pitchcott and Whitchurch) which has an exactly analogous problem.

• Roundabout at foot of Ampthill named as One-o-One.

• Instances of the word “Safari” in conjunction with “Woburn Park” removed throughout these documents. The Safari Park is a specific attraction behind tall fences and is not on the route. “Woburn Park” adequately describes the section bounded by cattle grids and within which deer are encountered.

• Oxford-bound, paragraph 5: in Haynes West End, the word “Next” removed from Next R (on uphill) SP MAULDEN, as my brother complained he got misled by this as he didn’t wait until he was in Haynes West End before doing “Next R”. Also added road-name (Limbersey Lane) to add confidence.

• Also in paragraph 5, Oxford-bound: added SP Ireland to help clarify the first instruction. Added (road-name STANDALONE WARREN) to the fourth line as that sign is more visible than the HAYNES one when you approach it.

• Between Thorncote Green and the A1, the map shows hamlets called Hatch and Brook End, and a village called Beeston. On the ground, [at the time I thought that] Hatch appears only on a signpost that says “Hatch ¼” or similar, and there’s only a Brook End House; you have to look at the parish notice-board to see that you’re in BEESTON, and it took me 8 years of passing through there to realise it! I’ve tried to make sense of these whilst not confusing the navigator… Additionally removed what appeared to be a mistaken reference to Hatch End, which in any case is a place near Harrow formerly served by Bakerloo-Line trains! I also added reference to the (road-signed) Orchard Road, which leads from Beeston village green to the A1, as one tends to think, “Am I really on the correct bit here?”!

• Ickwell Green changed to ICKWELL; although the “Green” bit appears on maps and is descriptively accurate, the signposts on the route refer to plain “Ickwell”.

Alterations made on 2002 September 8:

• Worked around the apparent removal of signpost in Maulden which used to point to Haynes.

• Removed references to public phone removed at Ampthill petrol station.