2011-08-27 - Deepest, darkest Essex - part 1 - Bradwell-on-Sea & the Dengie Peninsula

Really nice route... thanks for organizing. Top moment... Pete nearly taking out the old fella in the wheelchair - another Cycling Appreciation Society member no doubt. Good pub stop for lunch (friendly bar staff!) coinciding with the only bad rain during the ride... lovely long country lanes. Good to meet you all...

Lovely ride, thanks to Pete for leading and organising with exceptional precision. Beautiful views around St Peter's Chapel. Other memorable moments included the mini-sprint by Hanningfield Reservoir, the world's biggest potato and the friendly train conductor. Nice to meet you all.

Why is sprinting at hanningfield de rigeur? I've done it myself on a southend ride.

Nice work pete. Glad you all missed out on the torrential downpours! The fete (worse than death) here in Walberswick got at least two serious drenchings.

what's the other ride Fox? I it heard mentioned at the pub on friday... another essex one...

Gah! How have I got that missed out feeling, even when I was there for half of it? I'm bringing the trusty Charge next time....although I can't actually make the next one, but you know what I mean ; )

This is a plug for a ride I will lead on Monday. You guys were all awesome so feel free to come along.

Hello all,

I have a friend who wants to get into cycling and so I am leading a ride tomorrow to give her an introduction to riding in London. It's going to be the route from Ride East so most of you will know it, but the plan is generally as follows:

Meet at LMNH at 1030am
Ride to Victoria Park
Ride the Greenway to Beckton to the Beckton Alp
Ride Woolwich Manor Way to City Airport
Take the Woolwich Ferry across the river
Ride the Thames Path to Greenwich
Have a late lunch and a beer in a pub in Greenwich or thereabouts.

You'll notice I've cut the end of the ride short - this is because there will be a few greenwich-dwellers there, and also I don't want to lead a ride down Jamaica Road for someone who has never ridden in London before.

Everyone should come! And please feel free to bring friends, the more the merrier. All welcome, bring smiles.

:-)

-Rich/Cupcakes

Lush! I'm there!

oh, found it. Foulness. Great name.

That was fun. I had a great time everyone. Thank you :)

Thanks for coming along, thanks for all the kind comments and thanks for being such a good group to ride with. I was really pleased that my 'schedule' worked out. You may have noticed!

Definite highlights in no particular order were the beer (Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, yum) chips and (hand made!) ketchup at The Windmill (I have never seen a potato that big, ever), the timing of the lunchtime rain, the welcome on the train at the end (the conductor was great), all those lanes and the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall (again), probably the simplest church I've ever been in, but also one of the most beautiful. So much history and the emptiness and flatness of that spot really make it special. It feels like the end of the world.

I still hate that nasty main road. It's not even a B road (the B road actually goes to Bradwell via Southminster, so is the one we did the peloton on heading back to the station), it's just a normal road. Which of course makes the driving down it we witnessed yesterday even less acceptable. It's worth it though I think to get to the end and there really is no alternative route unfortunately.

Poots - sorry you had to abandon, but I think a bike you weren't comfortable on would really not have been fun once we got onto the peninsula itself. And Ed sorry about losing you near Woodham Ferrers. I assumed everyone knew that Poots was turning back, and if I learnt one thing yesterday it was to make sure the rest of the group knows if someone else is taking a different route.

@Skully - glad you can make next week. That long straight road by the reservoir just seems made for an impromptu sprint. I remember looking at my speedo going uphill and still seeing 26, good stuff.

Poots - sorry you had to abandon, but I think a bike you weren't comfortable on would really not have been fun once we got onto the peninsula itself.

That was my thinking exactly!

^ They're tough roads, IMO. Windy and unforgiving. Give me hills any day!

For Rich (cupcakes):
Magnox

From what I remember, the real problem with Magnox reactors was that they had no secondary containment system, and any failure of the reactor to rapidly shut down in an emergency wasn't considered in the design, which means from a safety point of view they were a bit iffy.

The older versions also let out way too much radiation under normal operation - people living near Dungeness got way over the recommended dose from 'shine' (radiation passing through the reactor vessel and out into the local community..).

The bit I forgot about Bradwell was that apart from the fire in January it leaked radiation for 14 years. Oops. Probably for the best we didn't hang around too long ;)

Puncture is no fun, especially if you had two, but we didn't mind, riding together was part of the deal;

A typical feature of rural England, people selling/giving away their home-grown food;

Forever Aloning in the rain;

Note to self - take old camera, rather than new one that I hasn't got used to yet, and get a bloody camera strap so I can take it out while riding without fear of dropping the damn thing.

Ergosum, the 'nova have a longer reach, check the FSA Velo Compact though, they're cheaper.

Good riding with you too (and all).

fsa omega too

Ed, your shot out of the pub window is great!

Here's some of mine

More here

Thanks again for planning and leading a great ride Fox. A pleasure to meet you all and ride with you. Love seeing the photos, keep them coming!

Other memorable moments included the mini-sprint by Hanningfield Reservoir

Why is sprinting at hanningfield de rigeur? I've done it myself on a southend ride.

@Skully - glad you can make next week. That long straight road by the reservoir just seems made for an impromptu sprint. I remember looking at my speedo going uphill and still seeing 26, good stuff.

I got it up to 31mph for a couple of seconds--aided by a slight downhill, a fairly strong tailwind, and gears.

Amygdala's spinning effort to briefly overtake me was very impressive. :)

I still hate that nasty main road. It's not even a B road (the B road actually goes to Bradwell via Southminster, so is the one we did the peloton on heading back to the station), it's just a normal road. Which of course makes the driving down it we witnessed yesterday even less acceptable. It's worth it though I think to get to the end and there really is no alternative route unfortunately.

I'm not quite sure which road you mean, but I didn't find anything very surprising about the driving. Obviously, different country roads have different characteristics, and there are some which unfortunately form very popular links, but as ever, there was plenty of considerate driving, people who stayed behind until it was comfortable to overtake, and others who overtook injudiciously. It's like this on pretty much every country ride you do. I remember one incident when I thought a driver's judgement was particularly off, on a narrow lane, where they came speeding around a gradual bend, and that encounter would have been difficult even if we had been singled up at that time.

^ They're tough roads, IMO. Windy and unforgiving. Give me hills any day!

Heh, for me it's the other way around. While I can't say that I particularly like headwinds, I have considerably less difficulty in riding into a headwind for hours than riding up and down hills. :)

The bit I forgot about Bradwell was that apart from the fire in January it leaked radiation for 14 years. Oops. Probably for the best we didn't hang around too long ;)

Whatever radiation leaks occurred, they would have been cancelled out easily by the vibe from Ed and Michael's forum jerseys.

I got it up to 31mph for a couple of seconds--aided by a slight downhill, a fairly strong tailwind, and gears.

35.3mph (48x19) ;)

I'm not quite sure which road you mean, but I didn't find anything very surprising about the driving...

I was thinking of Steeple Road between Latchingdon and Bradwell. Particularly the bit where 5 or 6 cars overtook us in a row, going round a bend. I'm used to idiotic driving but that many in a row did shock me slightly. I suppose herd mentality is to blame...

Oh yeah I remembered that, I didn't think much of it, after all it's a fast road and as you said, herd mentality.

It didn't seemed so bad to me, but then I was near the front sticking nearer to the centre of the lane.

I think I want to do this ride on Sunday. Roughly what was the time taken 6-7 hours?

We left between 9:30-10:00 and arrived at the station before 18:00, that includes an hour worth of lunch and probably two hours cocking about at the power station and the Church.

Any plans for a re-run of this jaunt in 2013?

Yes :)

I didn't re-run it last year in the end, so will be re-running this and Foulness this year. Just need to confirm dates.

I'm in if you do organise love that ride particularly the Saxon Church

IN!

I never did it in the end.

How was Norfolk?

looks good to me,