Article Published in the St Mary's Pirton Magazine
Included with the kind permission of the
Editor, Derek Jarrett
Edward Picken writes in appreciation of the
HAMBRIDGE WAY TRACK
Sunday October 1st 2000 marked the inauguration of the new Hambridge Way Cycle Path, and a good crowd in breezy sunshine enjoyed the ride from Pirton towards Oughtonhead.
An old drove way, Hambridge Way was used for hundreds of years when wool and textiles dominated our economy, by shepherds moving their vast flocks to and from East Anglia. In more recent times walkers and horseriders have enjoyed the tranquility, but the deeply rutted surface - often a quagmire after winter rains - defeated most cyclists except the hardiest of mountain bikers.
But now, a transformation. Thanks to a combination of great persistence from individuals and a large dose of outside funds, the engineers have moved in with diggers and graders to create a firm, all-weather surface for bikes and feet, with a softer strip alongside for horses. We now have a safe route to Hitchin; avoiding the dangers of the Hitchin Road and the B655, and this is just the start. Ultimately this will link with similar routes to the east, providing safe passage towards Cambridge and beyond. For those not seeking distant lands, benches and even sculptures are planned for rest and reflection.
The social significance of this path should not be underestimated. When you travel the route, busy - yet busy in a relaxed state with riders and walkers - you realise how lucky we are to have a relatively simple amenity such as this that so many communities across the land are still denied. True, we need our cars, and many of us love our cars. But equally we need places where the car is forbidden. Hambridge Way is there to be used, respected, and enjoyed, and we who benefit from it, and the generations that follow, owe a debt of gratitude to Helen Hofton and her colleagues for turning the idea into reality.
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