Wretched GPS never takes my routes seriously and has a strange love of the A14, so every ride seems to involve some miles on this nasty trunk road. Nevertheless, I had some nice riding to the church at Little Gidding, which inspired one of T S Eliot’s Four Quartets. The church itself was closed. Very low key down the end of a track.

I didn’t know that the Giddings are not that far away from Fotheringay, not just the name of a folk rock band but the place where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned and executed. Charles the first sought refuge at Little Gidding, so being a monarch was not easy in the 17th century.
On the way home I chose the A660 which is, I found out, a high accident rate road for motorcycles, with lots of warning signs and a police bike cop talking earnestly to two riders wearing one piece leathers. They all had their helmets off so it was obviously an in depth discussion.
I rode through Kimbolton, one of those old English market towns that clearly at one time had far more importance and wealth than they do now, though the Kimbolton School, housed in the impressive castle means that there is still some wealth there. St Neots, another of those pretty but strange towns near to nowhere (once an important staging place on the road north from London I imagine), was bustling, the warm weather obviously bringing people out, including the rider of the brand new water cooled BMW 1200gs just out.

This was the first weather this year suitable for enjoyable motorcycle riding.