Well that was an adventure. I was working late so I missed my last train up to London and was very tempted to not bother with the ride. But I knew that there was home made food awaiting in Stock Village hall and a commitment had been made. So instead of the train ride up to London I had a relaxing cup of coffee and a snack and got ready to leave home just after Midnight, for a lonesome ride up to Essex.
I had heard reports that the rain was starting to ease, which I think was wishful thinking on the part of some weather forecasters and shortly after starting I was riding in a deluge which continued all the way to the Dartford Crossing. I was very lucky as the bike transport van turned up within minutes of me calling the control room. The driver was interested to know what on earth I was doing out on a bike in such foul weather at 1.30am in the morning. I briefly explained about the FNRTTC. Apparently if we were doing this for charity it would be alright, but otherwise we were obviously mad! I then travelled up the B186 the road that I always vow never to use again because it is so dangerous, as @
rb58 and @
ianrauk. Even at 2am it is still a nightmare with the worst of Essex drivers travelling between Towie Town (Brentwood) and Lakeside. I arrived in Brentwood ahead of schedule and hoped that I had arrived before the Peloton. I found a shop with a canopy to shelter under and proceeded to wring out my gloves and put on some of my spare clothing to try and keep warm. I spent an interesting 15 minutes watching various drunk and inappropriately dressed people leaving a night club. With some relief I spotted some very bright lights approaching and I knew I would finally have some company on the road.
As always, the welcome at Stock was fantastic, with great food and a relatively warm hall. My feet were soaking wet and cold, so I wrung my socks out and walked around in bare feet until they had recovered a bit. I only wish I had packed some spare socks to change into.
The ride into Southend seemed to go quite quickly and it was nice to catch up with several of you. The smaller number of riders meant that there were fewer delays than normal and because the rain had finally stopped I stayed quite warm. My Aldi rainlegsalike (as commented on elsewhere) helped of course!
Very impressed with the speed of the breakfast at the Rose, although I would happily pay a bit more for some better sausages. Rather than riding home, I had decided to take the easy option by catching the train with my friend Marcus C. We went to Tilbury, then used the passenger Ferry over to Gravesend. We followed the Whitstable FNRTTC route via the Canal, which is a lot easier in daylight. A great finish to an adventurous ride.
Some pictures
here
(I bet you have a penguin suit for special occasions too...
)
