Another Sunday, another Cycle UK ride out with the Sunny Colch crowd. Except it wasn’t so sunny up as I made my way to the Leisure World rendezvous at 9:30 am.
This was a dull but dry day. In my mind there is always the sense that I need to be cycling when there is no sign of the pesky rain up above.
We started off as a group of four and ended up as a group of a dozen. It’s quite a new thing with the Cycle UK meet-up; the defined starting point now has become elongated as we pick up passengers along the way.
I got cut up at a roundabout by some idiotic driver before I was even out of Stanway.
The suburban houses were still full of all the Halloween tat from the night before. Landfill, here we come.
The first pickup point for our ride saw a couple rolling out on a most splendid recumbent tandem. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these out in the wild.
As ever I had little understanding or detail as to where we were heading. We always seem to take a turn off along Turkey Cock Lane. This never fails to raise a smile.
One of our riders was a bit of an ornithologist. He had a keen eye and was able to spot a tremendous buzzard preparing for takeoff in one of the country fields.
A toilet stop was required before the coffee break. I pulled over to syphon the python with one of the other male riders. We picked an exact same spot where there was a trough in place of a farmer’s gate blocking people out.
Needs must.
The tea stop was reached. It was functional although everyone in our group was served in a dirty teacup. I did ponder bartering at the till, but then it wasn’t really the occasion to kick up a fuss.
We left the tea rooms of Coggeshall and cycled off, I think, in the rough direction of Maldon. At this stage I couldn’t stop yawning. The autumn colours from the trees and kept me awake.
We passed a large sign for Cobb’s Farm Pumpkins. I pondered stopping off and popping in to see the country cousins.
The luncheon stop just outside of Maldon was taken. It was at a caravan park. Blimey. I wasn’t expecting that.
It was actually a seafront restaurant that involved lifting a 27 kg electric bike up a short flight of stairs.
It was worth the effort. We had the Captain’s Room at the top all to ourselves. One of the tables actually had a boat underneath with a glass panel cut out in the shape of the boat.
I was energised with a very late late all-day breakfast and all set for the return ride back to base. The light was starting to fade. I took a turn off and deviated from the rest of the group when I caught my bearings and a quicker way back home.
92 km in total.
Chapeau!
