Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
As promised, another Auntie Helen ride from Manningtree - entitled 'Essex is (Mostly) Flat'.
Plan is to start from Manningtree Railway Station at 10am. Manningtree is on the line to Norwich/Ipswich from London Liverpool Street. It has a rather fine café which does a Half Breakfast, just the thing to set you up for a nice ride around Essex.
The route can be found here: (Revised Route 3 May) Bike Route Toaster
The first section, once you've got up the hill from Manningtree, is pretty darned flat. It's a nice route taking the NCN51 route towards Harwich for some of the way, before leaving to head to Beaumont and then turning back on ourselves a little to reach Weeley.
Cake stop at 15 miles is at the Homestead Cabin Café which is part of a Caravan & Outdoor Leisure site so you can eat your cake and drink your tea whilst watching people looking at caravans. Watch out for random motorists who are in practice for scary caravan driving.
You can print off a 10% discount voucher here to get a reduced price on your cakes (which were pretty good value anyway) here: Homestead Cabin Cafe and bring it with you. Toasted Teacake and a cup of tea was £1.80, Victoria Sandwich cake was £1.45. There are loos in the caravan bits shop which is in the next building; it's a challenge to find the loos as they are disguised amongst a load of tents but both Wowbagger and I know how to locate 'em.
The next section is even flatter than the first as we pootle our way from Weeley to Great Bentley, Frating, Great Bromley (passing my house even!) and then up to Ardleigh. The distance is 16.34 miles and it's mostly very quiet roads apart from a short stretch on a slightly busier road (but still not bad at all).
Lunch is at the Shepherd & Dog, Langham, which has a wide selection of food. Lasagne with chips and salad was £8.95, they also do jacket potatoes and baguettes and stuff. The food is pretty good. Shepherd & Dog, Langham
At this point, if anyone is particularly tired they can return directly to Manningtree, which is reasonably easy to find from this point (about 6 miles). Alternatively you can cycle straight down the hill from the Shepherd & Dog to Colchester railway station (about 4 miles).
The third section of the route is less flat so has some rather attractive views across the Dedham Vale (Stour valley). Distance for this section is 17 miles and the total climb is 533 feet (previous sections have been 300 feet of climb in total each) so it's still not bad at all but that does include a couple of pretty sharp hills, one right at the end. All eminently manageable but a little harder work than what's gone before.
However your effort brings rewards as we cycle through Langham, Great Horkesley and swing round to the North East looking over the beautiful Stour valley across to Nayland and Stratford St Mary. It was beautiful today, we saw lots of wildlife including Kestrels and a Muntjac deer.
We cycle through the beautiful village of Dedham (where John Constable did lots of his painting) and then take a quiet side road to the east of Dedham where we climb a short-ish hill, go down again under the railway and then up again the other side, before making our way towards Manningtree for the train home.
It may be a flat ride but it still has lots of charms and the roads are mostly very quiet. Road surfaces are generally good although there are some potholey sections. I am sure you will all enjoy it very much!
Current list of possibles/confirmed is:
Auntie Helen
Gary from Colchester
Andy from Great Bromley
Gundi from Colchester
Uncle James
Redjedi
Ianrauk
User1314
Notsototalnewbie
Notsototalnewbie's chum
TimO
Andrij
Orienteer
Tomsk
Redflightuk
Nutkin
Woofage
CrinklyLion
WobblyJohn
Mow
Wowbagger
Mrs Wow
Jane/Saoirse50
Marco Stefano
Cycleman
Dasmoth
Emily
mrs_o
rb58
Ben Lovejoy
Speshact
Plan is to start from Manningtree Railway Station at 10am. Manningtree is on the line to Norwich/Ipswich from London Liverpool Street. It has a rather fine café which does a Half Breakfast, just the thing to set you up for a nice ride around Essex.
The route can be found here: (Revised Route 3 May) Bike Route Toaster
The first section, once you've got up the hill from Manningtree, is pretty darned flat. It's a nice route taking the NCN51 route towards Harwich for some of the way, before leaving to head to Beaumont and then turning back on ourselves a little to reach Weeley.
Cake stop at 15 miles is at the Homestead Cabin Café which is part of a Caravan & Outdoor Leisure site so you can eat your cake and drink your tea whilst watching people looking at caravans. Watch out for random motorists who are in practice for scary caravan driving.
You can print off a 10% discount voucher here to get a reduced price on your cakes (which were pretty good value anyway) here: Homestead Cabin Cafe and bring it with you. Toasted Teacake and a cup of tea was £1.80, Victoria Sandwich cake was £1.45. There are loos in the caravan bits shop which is in the next building; it's a challenge to find the loos as they are disguised amongst a load of tents but both Wowbagger and I know how to locate 'em.
The next section is even flatter than the first as we pootle our way from Weeley to Great Bentley, Frating, Great Bromley (passing my house even!) and then up to Ardleigh. The distance is 16.34 miles and it's mostly very quiet roads apart from a short stretch on a slightly busier road (but still not bad at all).
Lunch is at the Shepherd & Dog, Langham, which has a wide selection of food. Lasagne with chips and salad was £8.95, they also do jacket potatoes and baguettes and stuff. The food is pretty good. Shepherd & Dog, Langham
At this point, if anyone is particularly tired they can return directly to Manningtree, which is reasonably easy to find from this point (about 6 miles). Alternatively you can cycle straight down the hill from the Shepherd & Dog to Colchester railway station (about 4 miles).
The third section of the route is less flat so has some rather attractive views across the Dedham Vale (Stour valley). Distance for this section is 17 miles and the total climb is 533 feet (previous sections have been 300 feet of climb in total each) so it's still not bad at all but that does include a couple of pretty sharp hills, one right at the end. All eminently manageable but a little harder work than what's gone before.
However your effort brings rewards as we cycle through Langham, Great Horkesley and swing round to the North East looking over the beautiful Stour valley across to Nayland and Stratford St Mary. It was beautiful today, we saw lots of wildlife including Kestrels and a Muntjac deer.
We cycle through the beautiful village of Dedham (where John Constable did lots of his painting) and then take a quiet side road to the east of Dedham where we climb a short-ish hill, go down again under the railway and then up again the other side, before making our way towards Manningtree for the train home.
It may be a flat ride but it still has lots of charms and the roads are mostly very quiet. Road surfaces are generally good although there are some potholey sections. I am sure you will all enjoy it very much!
Current list of possibles/confirmed is:
Auntie Helen
Gary from Colchester
Andy from Great Bromley
Gundi from Colchester
Uncle James
Redjedi
Ianrauk
User1314
Notsototalnewbie
Notsototalnewbie's chum
TimO
Andrij
Orienteer
Tomsk
Redflightuk
Nutkin
Woofage
CrinklyLion
WobblyJohn
Mow
Wowbagger
Mrs Wow
Jane/Saoirse50
Marco Stefano
Cycleman
Dasmoth
Emily
mrs_o
rb58
Ben Lovejoy
Speshact
