StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Am also on a train. Won the 2138 sprint challenge, in vain though as the service was running eight or nine minutes late. Wearing three layers, that should do....
FNRttC London to Maldon, Friday May 18
- Thread starter Nick Saddlesore
- Start date
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robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
On a delayed train but will be at South Bank before midnight.
mmmmartin
Random geezer
Well that was a fantastic ride: Nick smothered himself in glory.
I'd say it comes close to the best we've done. Certainly it's up there with the best.
The exit from the South Bank over Blackfriars Bridge is excellent and traffic free because of the cycle lane. Then it's straight on for ages (apart from last night's shenanigans) and then quiet roads to a long safe cycle path, which was brilliant.
Soon we're out of London and on deserted roads where a car was a rarity, maybe one every 30 minutes.
The dawn was lovely, with trails of mist across the fields.
Halfway stop excellent.
This is a ride we'll do again.
We arrived at the halfway stop at 4.15, merely 15 minutes later than planned.
Others are no doubt stuffing down huge breakfasts, I was on the 07.33 out of Hatfield Peveral, made it by two minutes.
An excellent night with breathtaking views. No mechanicals. One minor waymarking upset that was nobody's fault; we were split by lights and the front rank mistook a random bloke with a bike by the road for a waymarkers indicating right. So 20 of us made an illegal right turn into Spitalfields. A phone call and the usual @StuAff dash sorted it.
Oh, and we picked up a hitch hiker: bloke, pub, beer. Fridays meet him at lights. What can possibly go wrong?
Conversation is had. He's in jeans and a jumper. It's bloody freezing, about three degrees.
He's probably having breakfast in Maldon sunshine now.
Good luck with explaining why it took so long to get home from the pub and why you're in Maldon.
But then again, he's from t'north. Was on his Mercian. Not the fixed, that's at home.
James: welcome. Remember the two quid to Stu.
Yup, that was an effing fantastic night a-wheel.
I'd say it comes close to the best we've done. Certainly it's up there with the best.
The exit from the South Bank over Blackfriars Bridge is excellent and traffic free because of the cycle lane. Then it's straight on for ages (apart from last night's shenanigans) and then quiet roads to a long safe cycle path, which was brilliant.
Soon we're out of London and on deserted roads where a car was a rarity, maybe one every 30 minutes.
The dawn was lovely, with trails of mist across the fields.
Halfway stop excellent.
This is a ride we'll do again.
We arrived at the halfway stop at 4.15, merely 15 minutes later than planned.
Others are no doubt stuffing down huge breakfasts, I was on the 07.33 out of Hatfield Peveral, made it by two minutes.
An excellent night with breathtaking views. No mechanicals. One minor waymarking upset that was nobody's fault; we were split by lights and the front rank mistook a random bloke with a bike by the road for a waymarkers indicating right. So 20 of us made an illegal right turn into Spitalfields. A phone call and the usual @StuAff dash sorted it.
Oh, and we picked up a hitch hiker: bloke, pub, beer. Fridays meet him at lights. What can possibly go wrong?
Conversation is had. He's in jeans and a jumper. It's bloody freezing, about three degrees.
He's probably having breakfast in Maldon sunshine now.
Good luck with explaining why it took so long to get home from the pub and why you're in Maldon.
But then again, he's from t'north. Was on his Mercian. Not the fixed, that's at home.
James: welcome. Remember the two quid to Stu.
Yup, that was an effing fantastic night a-wheel.
U
User10571
Guest
I've done the run to Maldon in the daytime a few times - as routes go, this one is truly a peach.
U
User10571
Guest
Adventurer
When I left college in 1992, I worked for David Crisp, at Crisp & Wilson, who designed the last produced Ever Ready Night Rider lights.
Then, someone invented LED's......
And then riding to Shenfield!
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
James brought to mind a legendary tale from 2008....
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
That was another very enjoyable Fridays ride, and a night when everything - the weather, the route, the timing, the catering, the company and the mood - all came together to make something nearly perfect. Slightly less chill at 3 am. would have been perfection, but then we were treated to a glorious, gradual dawn, with distant sheets of early morning mist that I shall long remember but signally failed to get a decent photograph of.
It was good to try a new way out of London, and unknown (to me) parts of North London at that. Despite dire warnings in the pep talk, we passed unscathed and largely unaware through the bad lands, and were soon rolling along wide new cyclepaths towards Enfield and a little later into the countryside. The lanes of Hertfordshire and Essex are green, quiet, pretty and only modestly hilly, and were a lovely route this morning. The café at Hatfield Heath was a gem, and breakfast in the sun by Maldon quayside was, well, as a Fridays breakfast should be.
Well done to @Nick Saddlesore for this sterling ride, which IMO merits becoming a regular fixture and thanks as always to the all-up and TEC crew, who this time were profitably underemployed.
It was good to try a new way out of London, and unknown (to me) parts of North London at that. Despite dire warnings in the pep talk, we passed unscathed and largely unaware through the bad lands, and were soon rolling along wide new cyclepaths towards Enfield and a little later into the countryside. The lanes of Hertfordshire and Essex are green, quiet, pretty and only modestly hilly, and were a lovely route this morning. The café at Hatfield Heath was a gem, and breakfast in the sun by Maldon quayside was, well, as a Fridays breakfast should be.
Well done to @Nick Saddlesore for this sterling ride, which IMO merits becoming a regular fixture and thanks as always to the all-up and TEC crew, who this time were profitably underemployed.
Salty seadog
Space Cadet...(3rd Class...)
Great ride.
It's all been said, fantastic country lanes. Great cafe stop with awesome flapjack. Splendid courtyard to have breakfast in the sun at the end. No mechanicals. We gained a member, hello James, who took a rather extended route home from the pub in Enfield by adding about another 80miles to it via Malden and Shenfield. His pub bike turned out to be a rather nice Mercian.
I did my first imperial centuryand have just woken up at 1am after 10hours sleep. Marvellous.
It's all been said, fantastic country lanes. Great cafe stop with awesome flapjack. Splendid courtyard to have breakfast in the sun at the end. No mechanicals. We gained a member, hello James, who took a rather extended route home from the pub in Enfield by adding about another 80miles to it via Malden and Shenfield. His pub bike turned out to be a rather nice Mercian.
I did my first imperial centuryand have just woken up at 1am after 10hours sleep. Marvellous.
rb58
Enigma
- Location
- Bexley, Kent
Chapeau!!
rb58
Enigma
- Location
- Bexley, Kent
Does that mean you're not going to bother stopping at traffic lights any more, and pass within six inches of all cars?
That all sounds fantastic ! Sadly Mrs hatler's away and I'm not quite ready to leave the kids to their own devices for as long as this, especially when I (nominally) have the con. Sounds like we have a worthy successor to our spontaneous joiner from 2008. One every ten years ? (Just as well there's such a thing as social media.)
