The village of Upton is located east of Peterborough. I went cycling to this village with Ted one hot cloudy sunny day last August 2021. I went through mixed terrain - tarmac road, grass/dried mud and gravel. I started from my neighbourhood in Ravensthorpe then onto Stamford Road running past the village of Marholm where the road is made of tarmac. I do not consider myself as a road cyclist so I chose a route that also included grass/dried mud and gravel.
Just before I climbed up towards the village of Ufford I turned left to a public bridleway that goes to Southey Wood, the largest wooded area of the village that is run by the Forestry Commission. This bridleway is a favourite among cyclists; in fact, some of my cyclist friends have been there before me riding with their mountain bikes.
I exited the bridleway and entered Southey Wood which has a gravel road. It was an enjoyable downhill ride through the woods that ended in the car park on Langley Bush Road. Instead of going to the tarmac road of Langley Bush I continued the gravel ride in another public bridleway (Old Barn Road) opposite to the car park that led to the village of Upton. It is on this road that I stop to rest and took some photos.
Old Barn Road joined with Manor Farm Road which is more tarmac and is where most of the beautiful village houses are located. I again stop to rest and took some more photos you will see here on this post. One interesting photo I took was that of a banner that read 'Don't let the highwaymen take our road with a drawing of a highwayman (robber of travellers in 19th century England). I wondered what it was so I did a research and I came across a news article in the local newspaper about Upton villagers protesting about the plan of Highways Agency to close one of the two roads in the village.
It is all tarmac from Manor Road to Langley Bush Road and back to Ravensthorpe. I do not enjoy road cycling much compared to gravel and dirt road cycling so it was a less exciting return journey. The whole journey took me about 2 hours including rest and covered around 26.5 kilometres of relatively flat areas. I included an embedded copy of my route that I recorded on Komoot, a navigation and route planning app on my mobile that I used when I am out cycling.
All photos were taken with my Google Pixel 3a (https://amzn.to/2Yx3eDf)
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