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Perfect weather
apart from a bit of wind -
I really enjoyed it a lot. Who was the dude with the amazing beard, I didn't get your name? Thank you for towing me through that headwind that felt like it was coming directly from Satan's bowels.
wrongcog I believe.
What a lovely ride! Almost enough to cover up for 14 hours solid drinking on Saturday, lovely weather and route :) -
Great ride and great company as always. And nice to meet some new people. It was worth uglifying my bike for.
I didn't really take any good pictures today but:
FLICKR SETand here's a couple:
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I really enjoyed it a lot. Who was the dude with the amazing beard, I didn't get your name? Thank you for towing me through that headwind that felt like it was coming directly from Satan's bowels.
Nice to meet you Bothwell. Mrs Wrongcog suggests the Satan's Bowels thing might have had more to do with the left over curry I had for breakfast. Great ride y'all and double cheers to Fox for organising, especially that beautiful cut through which started with a dead end and ended with a tree tunnel of blissfulness. That final two miles into foulness will never be forgotten. Amazing place.
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gah!
Missed this...
Probably not done it anyway.
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Thanks everyone, I had a great time. Perfect weather as you've all said and we were a lot earlier than the ride in 2011. I think the lack of those things we shouldn't talk about and the slightly weird complete absence of wee stops definitely helped.
It was generally a great group to lead but I do feel I should single out a few special contributions... Theo gets the HTFU award for going on a big night out on Friday, riding to Brighton on Saturday fixed, then doing this today. Bothwell gets the 'most stalwart hangover riding' award and Jurek definitely clinches the 'most ridiculous nuclear elf 'n' safety' award for his tale of how you can't bring baby oil into Sellafield because it's too hazardous! I think Yossarian won the traditional reservoir sprint: he went past me like he wasn't even trying :/
The ladies of Foulness scoop 'best value tea and cake' and Mr and Mrs Morris Minor Traveller (MMT) definitely got 'best classic car owners'. That car has apparently done 300,000 miles :o
Mrs MMT told me about how Mr MMT has cycled London-Southend a few times, as has their 12 year old daughter. They like to drive slowly so they see stuff and they don't understand why everyone blasts around the countryside in their cars... why can't all car owners be like this??
I almost feel like the island was trying to trick you with it's balmy weather today. Last time we went to the Broomway it looked like this:
When the tide comes in it apparently comes in faster than you can run, so you can see the problem with the Broomway. This is it on the OS map:
There's a good article on it from the local paper here:
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/echofeatures/914472.Exploring_the_truth_behind_island_s_deadly_footpath/And this is the rather good write up of riding it on motocross bikes on Essex Bikers I was talking about:
http://www.essexbikers.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?23659-The-Mud-Monkeys-try-to-drown-themselvesComplete with video!
Essexbikers on the Broomway, Foulness - YouTube
But yeah, don't be fooled by the sunshine and the tea and cake, Foulness is all a bit dark really. Like the scientist killed building a dirty bomb or this extract from The History of Rochford Hundred by Philip Benton (1867):
Amongst those who have been drowned upon these occasions was Thomas Jackson, an apothecary, in the year 1711, who was buried at Rochford. Thomas Miller, surgeon, of Great Wakering, son of Morton Miller, of the same place, was likewise lost coming from Foulness, August 21st, 1805, aged 45. He was on horseback, and was discovered swimming in the haven by some men in a barge, who conducted him to Land Wick blackgrounds, and it is supposed his horse afterwards threw and kicked him, as a mark of the shoe appeared on his temple.
In 1857, William Harvey, a shepherd, was drowned, in consequence, it is thought, of having been led astray by the Horns light. Another of these victims was Gardner, of Havengore, Mr. Archer's son in law. He was extremely deaf, and being set down from a cart near his own head-way, wandered from the track. His cries were heard from the shore, but on account of his infirmity he did not hear his would-be deliverers. It would have been dangerous to leave the land in total darkness, and the shrieks of lost persons have been imitated.
One of the most recent casualties was that of an unfortunate Irish policeman, who, from a sense of duty, having a paper to deliver, remained too long in the island, and though warned, would attempt the passage, and was overtaken and lost his life, by the raging water at the first creek.
One of the most distressing events of this nature occured in 1836, when two poor girls named Chittocks and Bates were found dead, not drowned, but exhausted from cold, wet, and fright. Although entreated to stay at Wakering, they refused, as they expected to meet their sweethearts on the opposite side. The night was a frightful one, incessant rain, with frequent flashes of forked lightning. Nearly all Foulness attended their funeral.
They still say that on stormy nights when the rain is lashing down and the wind howls across the island you can hear Chittocks and Bates, calling and hoping you will hear, calling you from across the sands...
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Epic day - weather - company - route - scenery - destination - whoa what a creepy place - like entering a 50's movie set - or an episode of The Prisoner. But beautiful too. I'm having tea from my Foulness 2000 mug this morning and wondering how to top that ride! Meanwhile - many big thanks to Fox - lovely to meet you all. Weird to be at a desk in the city right now. Cheers. Mel.
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What a lovely day - very glad I dragged my tired self out. Also really glad we went down to Wickering Steps - the coast is absolutely fascinating and now really want to try and squeeze in your Dengie peninsula ride before too long. I don't think it was Sealand we saw, though. That seems to be a bit further north.
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The whole wikipedia article is amazing, too!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivering_Sands_Army_Fort
"In 1964 Screaming Lord Sutch set up Radio Sutch (a Pirate radio station) on one of the old towers. However, he soon became bored and handed the project to his manager Reginald Calvert, who then expanded into all five towers that were still connected and called it Radio City. [1] After Reg Calvert was killed by Oliver Smedley, his wife took over for a short time before the project was stopped and the towers again abandoned."
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You like this stuff?
This one will blow your socks off:
http://graintowerbattery.co.uk/Just off the east edge of the Isle of Grain (another weirdasf*ck place to visit)
Reachable at low tide by causeway.
It was up for sale not too long ago - with the address of No.1 The Thames.
There's still a huge length of chain around it's girth - during the war this was attached to a heavy duty steel net which stretched across the mouth of the Medway to Sheerness harbour - to prevent German subs from entering the Medway (naval ports etc were there).
Don't cycle out there on any day other than a bank holiday - the road out there is horrible, horrible, horrible on account of the container lorries heading out to Thamesport - bank hols the port is closed....
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Talking of Zone, it reminded me of Stalker by Andrei Tarkovski (its free online, link added), which is a great film. I also loved the sign by the gate saying '37 days since time-loss accident'
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Stalker is something I watch a lot. It has been a major influence on my work of late. There was something very Tarkovski about the whole experience from the minute we went through that check point to the minute we rode away from the beach with those lads firing bb guns at us.
Feeling watched or monitored by high level military but being so remote, the bizarrely quaint idyl maintained by the locals around that visitor centre, the complex hardware dotting the landscape. It felt so contradictory... home / homeland / official secrets / local ghosts / tea and cake...
Polka_Dot
bothwell
Jurek
branwen
shinkuu_kiss
Wrongcog
ChainBreaker
MetalMelly
KT_Bee
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About
2013-08-04 - Going Nuclear - Part 2 - Foulness
Posted by
@Fox
Thanks peeps for a top day out - with spesh gold star going to Fox for kicking the whole thing off.
I'm thinkin' I still don't know who half of you are (forum name-wise, I did ask a few poignant questions....)
But I'm also thinkin' - I'm not so sure I really care. I spent a day doing a fine ride in very fine company :)