Interim CC ride - Bikes & Boats Tendring (NE Essex)
- Thread starter Auntie Helen
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Sig SilverPrinter
Senior Member
- Location
- In the dark
well done with the diyChrisKH said:I'm a definite.
10am start is fine with me
OP
OP
Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Not quite, I changed it after I read your post.ChrisKH said:
Basically I have you down as a Shorts Adjustment Expert, anything else is a bonus.
I'm riding the route today with Wowbagger to check out the various victualling stops and whether the route across the golf course between Frinton and Clacton is OK for skinny tyres. I believe Wowbagger will have a swim today as well as Saturday.
Chris, as you are a short expert, surely you are bringing your swimming shorts too
Those of us who have seen Wow in the altogether will relish the opportunity....could you post me the route? The Babe and I are planning a Suffolk Spree for late August, and I'd have thought that this ride would cover some of the route, so it may be that I can persuade her.Auntie Helen said:Just had a conversation with Wowbagger and it seems that this ride may also turn into the WARTY for July (although that's not yet confirmed). Wowbagger commented that his plan for the July WARTY (on that date) was to visit the nudist beach on Jaywick (near Clacton)... so perhaps we could do that too
.
Auntie Helen said:Not quite, I changed it after I read your post.
Chris, as you are a short expert, surely you are bringing your swimming shorts too
Which pair would you like? Pink M & S ones or Yellow Ralph Lauren Polo ones?
I'm not sure I can be as brazen as Wowbagger on that front.
OP
OP
Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Well we've just waved goodbye to Wow & Mrs Wow, having ridden the route in wonderful sunshine. James came too and had to borrow Mrs Wow's suncream which has girlie twinkly light-reflecting particles so he's not feeling so manly now!
We found a few places where our route wasn't optimal (got told off twice for cycling in a no-cycling section!) so I will amend the route and post it here later this evening (need some food first).
We also checked out some food places. There will be more info later but we're having a cake stop at the Naze Tower in Walton (which is very nice, although the cake portions are small - although they're baking some flapjacks especially for us) and lunch will be at a seaside café of the rather traditional kind, selling jacket spuds, sandwiches etc. In other words, the food isn't brill, but isn't too pricey either - and besides, if you have the Manningtree Station Half Breakfast, what else do you need?
The distinction between Frinton and Clacton was startling... there were some rather dodgy looking characters in Clacton who kept asking how much my bike cost (when I got separated from the others for a few moments), and a drunken chappie who had clearly lost a fight recently was also talking about the bike. They were polite as anything but my lily-livered middle-classness found them a little perturbing.
Anyway, I will write a proper write-up in due course too, but some of this route is on slightly bumpy and sandy cycle paths so don't bring your best bicycles that can't cope with dust/sand. It's a mixture of lovely country roads and seaside shared pedestrian/cycle paths of a varied level of asphalt/concrete/cinders.
We found a few places where our route wasn't optimal (got told off twice for cycling in a no-cycling section!) so I will amend the route and post it here later this evening (need some food first).
We also checked out some food places. There will be more info later but we're having a cake stop at the Naze Tower in Walton (which is very nice, although the cake portions are small - although they're baking some flapjacks especially for us) and lunch will be at a seaside café of the rather traditional kind, selling jacket spuds, sandwiches etc. In other words, the food isn't brill, but isn't too pricey either - and besides, if you have the Manningtree Station Half Breakfast, what else do you need?
The distinction between Frinton and Clacton was startling... there were some rather dodgy looking characters in Clacton who kept asking how much my bike cost (when I got separated from the others for a few moments), and a drunken chappie who had clearly lost a fight recently was also talking about the bike. They were polite as anything but my lily-livered middle-classness found them a little perturbing.
Anyway, I will write a proper write-up in due course too, but some of this route is on slightly bumpy and sandy cycle paths so don't bring your best bicycles that can't cope with dust/sand. It's a mixture of lovely country roads and seaside shared pedestrian/cycle paths of a varied level of asphalt/concrete/cinders.
Sig SilverPrinter
Senior Member
- Location
- In the dark
I love Clacton have holidayed there for the past 4 yrs as its cheap and we have a very low income so its about all we can afford, the beach is very good the kids love it, also can walk for miles along the coast path.
If you thought clacton was a bit dodgy don't go to jaywick a photographer i work for has been photographing coastal resorts i told her to go to clacton,which she loved, but as soon as she got to jaywick her assistant had a bad feeling about the place and they left pretty quickly.
Is it still 10am start?
If you thought clacton was a bit dodgy don't go to jaywick a photographer i work for has been photographing coastal resorts i told her to go to clacton,which she loved, but as soon as she got to jaywick her assistant had a bad feeling about the place and they left pretty quickly.
Is it still 10am start?
OP
OP
Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Hi Sig. We did go to Jaywick and we will all go past it on the ride. You have been warned!
Route is here: www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=12099
I will now write some blurb about it and post it here.
Route is here: www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=12099
I will now write some blurb about it and post it here.
OP
OP
Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
July WARTY/CycleChat Ride.
Wowbagger, Mrs Wow, Uncle James and I have ridden and refined the route today.
We would like a 10:00am start at Manningtree Station.
Trains go from London Liverpool Street to Manningtree approximately every 15 minutes with a journey time of 1 hour or a bit more.
The Station Café is highly recommended for breakfast before we set off. The menu includes the Half Breakfast which is an excellent source of fuel before we set off:
I will be at the station from at least 9:00am, earlier if anyone else thinks they will arrive earlier!
So... off we go...
The ride begins as did my Tiptree one in May - into Manningtree (the smallest town in the UK), along the river Stour past all the swans to Mistley, then up the hill from Mistley towards Bradfield Heath. There are very few hills on this ride, this is probably the worst.
From Bradfield Heath we head down towards Wix, at which point we depart from the route taken on my Tiptree ride and instead venture forth towards Stones Green and then Beaumont-cum-Moze. There's a nice downhill from Beaumont (although the road is rather badly surfaced, I'm afraid) and if you look to your left as you whizz down the hill you can see an unusual thin tower... that's our tea & cake destination, the Naze Tower, visible over Hamford Water.
We then cycle through the village of Kirby-le-Soken before arriving at Walton-on-the-Naze, making our way through this rather pleasant English seaside village towards the Naze Tower.
The Naze Tower does light food although we're planning this for a tea and cake stop. The ladies serving were warned that a bunch of cyclists are coming and are planning to make some extra flapjacks.
From the Naze Tower you can see Sealand, that rather unusual republic in the North Sea, also known as the Roughs Tower. Here we can see Uncle James and Wowbagger contemplating the North Sea.
Onward after the cakes...
So now we are heading off along the beach cycle paths all the way from Walton to Clacton, via Frinton. The cycle tracks vary in quality, with rather good at Walton to rather bad at Clacton. Please note, this ride includes some cindery track, some rutted concrete paths, many sandy corners, but is mostly reasonable asphalt. But not always. Do not bring your skinniest tyres as you will find it bumpy at times!
Walton joins relatively seamlessly with Frinton which has wonderful sandy beaches. However we won't be stopping here for our swim, we'll leave that to a bit later in Clacton to make the most of the lunch stop.
Bikes aren't allowed all the way along the Frinton sea path (as we discovered today!) so we have to go on the road for a bit of it, but we're back on the path beside the sea defences soon enough.
We will pass through Holland on Sea and then arrive at Clacton. Clacton is rather more rough-and-ready than Frinton and that becomes evident fairly quickly.
We have planned to stop for our swim and lunch at 'Beaches Café' which is a fairly traditional seaside café full of buckets and spades and dinghies. Food is of the sandwich/burger/jacket potato variety with some choices for vegetarians and with reasonable prices. This is where those of us brave enough will swim. This is about 25 miles into the overall journey of 44 miles.
After the swim
Now we head further into Clacton where the cycle path does stupid things (requiring us to ascend 30 steep steps unless we cycle up a steep hill on the road... which we will do). The path continues in a rather concrety/sandy manner towards Jaywick which isn't the nicest part of the world, one might say.
We pass lots and lots of holiday mobile homes and then eventually make our way to the road that goes from Jaywick to St Osyth.
We cycle through St Osyth and pick up the quiet and smooth country roads towards Great Bentley, the village with the largest village green in the UK at 43 acres.
At Great Bentley we stop at the Plough Pub for a beer and our chance for a game of rounders. Please note that The Plough is having its kitchen refurbished so there is no food available (apart from crisps/pork scratchings) and they can't make tea or coffee either. The beer choice is a bit lightweight but will probably serve to refresh for the final 7 mile journey to Manningtree.
Final leg.
The final trip to Manningtree is via the village of Little Bentley, first crossing the rather busy A133. Although this road is single carriageway in each direction it's pretty busy so we may be stuck waiting to cross for a little while.
We approach Manningtree Station down the wonderful Cox's Hill which is a chance to test out your bravery on fast descents, but it's a lovely smooth and wide road so is good fun. As long as your brakes work for the roundabout at the bottom!
Manningtree Station Café is, of course, a good place to sample a beer whilst awaiting your train.
Total journey distance is 44 miles. The route can be found here:
www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=12099
The cycle path bits are done as well as we can do them using Google Satellite view but may not be 100% correct.
Riding this route took us four and a half hours cycling time today with an average speed of 10mph. Large portions of the journey are on shared use cycle paths so you can't go very fast, so don't expect to whizz round this course. It will be a leisurely ride in good company in (hopefully!) sunshine. Look forward to seeing you all there!
Wowbagger, Mrs Wow, Uncle James and I have ridden and refined the route today.
We would like a 10:00am start at Manningtree Station.
Trains go from London Liverpool Street to Manningtree approximately every 15 minutes with a journey time of 1 hour or a bit more.
The Station Café is highly recommended for breakfast before we set off. The menu includes the Half Breakfast which is an excellent source of fuel before we set off:
I will be at the station from at least 9:00am, earlier if anyone else thinks they will arrive earlier!
So... off we go...
The ride begins as did my Tiptree one in May - into Manningtree (the smallest town in the UK), along the river Stour past all the swans to Mistley, then up the hill from Mistley towards Bradfield Heath. There are very few hills on this ride, this is probably the worst.
From Bradfield Heath we head down towards Wix, at which point we depart from the route taken on my Tiptree ride and instead venture forth towards Stones Green and then Beaumont-cum-Moze. There's a nice downhill from Beaumont (although the road is rather badly surfaced, I'm afraid) and if you look to your left as you whizz down the hill you can see an unusual thin tower... that's our tea & cake destination, the Naze Tower, visible over Hamford Water.
We then cycle through the village of Kirby-le-Soken before arriving at Walton-on-the-Naze, making our way through this rather pleasant English seaside village towards the Naze Tower.
The Naze Tower does light food although we're planning this for a tea and cake stop. The ladies serving were warned that a bunch of cyclists are coming and are planning to make some extra flapjacks.
From the Naze Tower you can see Sealand, that rather unusual republic in the North Sea, also known as the Roughs Tower. Here we can see Uncle James and Wowbagger contemplating the North Sea.
Onward after the cakes...
So now we are heading off along the beach cycle paths all the way from Walton to Clacton, via Frinton. The cycle tracks vary in quality, with rather good at Walton to rather bad at Clacton. Please note, this ride includes some cindery track, some rutted concrete paths, many sandy corners, but is mostly reasonable asphalt. But not always. Do not bring your skinniest tyres as you will find it bumpy at times!
Walton joins relatively seamlessly with Frinton which has wonderful sandy beaches. However we won't be stopping here for our swim, we'll leave that to a bit later in Clacton to make the most of the lunch stop.
Bikes aren't allowed all the way along the Frinton sea path (as we discovered today!) so we have to go on the road for a bit of it, but we're back on the path beside the sea defences soon enough.
We will pass through Holland on Sea and then arrive at Clacton. Clacton is rather more rough-and-ready than Frinton and that becomes evident fairly quickly.
We have planned to stop for our swim and lunch at 'Beaches Café' which is a fairly traditional seaside café full of buckets and spades and dinghies. Food is of the sandwich/burger/jacket potato variety with some choices for vegetarians and with reasonable prices. This is where those of us brave enough will swim. This is about 25 miles into the overall journey of 44 miles.
After the swim
Now we head further into Clacton where the cycle path does stupid things (requiring us to ascend 30 steep steps unless we cycle up a steep hill on the road... which we will do). The path continues in a rather concrety/sandy manner towards Jaywick which isn't the nicest part of the world, one might say.
We pass lots and lots of holiday mobile homes and then eventually make our way to the road that goes from Jaywick to St Osyth.
We cycle through St Osyth and pick up the quiet and smooth country roads towards Great Bentley, the village with the largest village green in the UK at 43 acres.
At Great Bentley we stop at the Plough Pub for a beer and our chance for a game of rounders. Please note that The Plough is having its kitchen refurbished so there is no food available (apart from crisps/pork scratchings) and they can't make tea or coffee either. The beer choice is a bit lightweight but will probably serve to refresh for the final 7 mile journey to Manningtree.
Final leg.
The final trip to Manningtree is via the village of Little Bentley, first crossing the rather busy A133. Although this road is single carriageway in each direction it's pretty busy so we may be stuck waiting to cross for a little while.
We approach Manningtree Station down the wonderful Cox's Hill which is a chance to test out your bravery on fast descents, but it's a lovely smooth and wide road so is good fun. As long as your brakes work for the roundabout at the bottom!
Manningtree Station Café is, of course, a good place to sample a beer whilst awaiting your train.
Total journey distance is 44 miles. The route can be found here:
www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=12099
The cycle path bits are done as well as we can do them using Google Satellite view but may not be 100% correct.
Riding this route took us four and a half hours cycling time today with an average speed of 10mph. Large portions of the journey are on shared use cycle paths so you can't go very fast, so don't expect to whizz round this course. It will be a leisurely ride in good company in (hopefully!) sunshine. Look forward to seeing you all there!
Sittingduck
Legendary Member
- Location
- Somewhere flat
Looks like you had fun doing your Recon for this one AH!
Quick update: I am currently 50/50 but shall know by Friday and will confirm then. Have some stuff to sort out and not back down South until v late Thursday so it depends on Friday, for me.
Cheers,
SD
Quick update: I am currently 50/50 but shall know by Friday and will confirm then. Have some stuff to sort out and not back down South until v late Thursday so it depends on Friday, for me.
Cheers,
SD
OP
OP
Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Hope you can make it, if only to enjoy the delights of the Naze Tower. How they ever persuaded health & safety to allow the waitresses to carry trays up a tiny spiral staircase is beyond me!dellzeqq said:
Sig SilverPrinter
Senior Member
- Location
- In the dark
Think it was last year in the Naze Tower they had work by a local photographer , some quite nice shots of lightning across the Naze
