It seemed a little chilly and windy and first, but the sun came out, and there was blossom and hawthorn and wildflowers blooming everywhere, so to speak.
Most of my ride took me along the route of the Garden City Greenway in Hertfordshire, starting on the outskirts of Hitchin, then cutting across country to the Letchworth Industrial Estate on the old route of the Icknield Way:
Once past the industrial estate, there's Stapleton's Field, site of a late 4th millennium BC henge, aligned to the equinox sunrise and the springs of the River Ivel.
If you like local history, here's a short clip about the dig that I shot in 2012 about the henge:
Onwards out towards Nortonbury, with the Greenway running along the same route as National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 12 for a bit:
Heading along the field margins towards the back of the Grange estate in Letchworth:
A glimpse of the distant fairytale-castle Victorian asylum architecture that is Fairfield Hall, Stotfold:
Crossing the Pix brook at Standalone Farm:
And heading back towards Letchworth again:
The Greenway carries on up to Wilbury Hill, a former Bronze Age settlement. But I prefer to cut through town on the way back, as the Route 12 cycle path through town is far nicer than the Greenway Route along a busy road, where it's not entirely clear if you're supposed to be riding on the pavement/sidewalk or sticking to the road. It's also on an exposed hillside and pretty windy. So I prefer to cut through the allotments to Norton Common and pick up Route 12, then a local cycle path back to the rest of the Greenway. The distance isn't very different, and there are fewer kissing gates, which are a bit of a pain when you have a monster of an ebike with a very long wheelbase.
Another section of NCN 12 in the centre of Letchworth, as it runs past St Francis School:
This street is familiar from the days of school run!
The Garden City Greenway route (with a slight modification on the last section):
