ACF ride in Essex - by Nick
Posted on Monday 1 January 2007 by Nick Bloom
My fantastic map reading ability saved us again. What would have been an easy but rather dull ride out was suitably adjusted en route. First, at Stratford, rather than go as intended along the Romford Rd, I followed the road which was signed to Romford. Which meant ending up on the very cycle-unfriendly A12, rather than the A118. But rather than taking the sensible option of getting back on track, we just pushed on regardless. I , of course, knew that we would soon meet up with Ken and follow his route. Planned it all along. I was also merely testing my phone when it flew out my back pocket on a downhill. leaving me to scrabble amongst the verge for the bits - surprisingly, it survived.
As we were now running late, and as Ken’s route was a bit more ’scenic’ than mine, I was getting quite a good workout - I had brought my fixed expecting a gentle spin.
In the end, we got to Shenfield half an hour late. Probably only 15 mins after the rest had finished eating, but time enough to require more navigation. Simple, follow the road past the station, wiggle at the end of town, and we can cut across via Ingatestone to met them at tea.
I’m not sure where or why Billericay came into the equation. But it did. Another map check and off again, this time I simply had to follow the road and we would reach Ingatestone.
Which is why we ended up once more at Billericay. After a quick consult, on again. Luckily Camille, who was studiously ignoring all the map discussions, spotted a turning on the left marked ‘Ingatestone Road’. How cunning.
Eventually to Blackmore. We had only just missed the others, who had been busy replacing lost carbs for some time. Nice cup of tea (reminded me what a useful tea stop this is in summer), and then set out for the lunch stop. Which took us 5 minutes from the tea stop.
Finally met up with the group. A large group. In all ways. No wonder they have so many cake stops, there was a lot of carb to maintain. But we pootered on through a very pleasant route, grinding to a halt when we realised that the whole ride had managed to lose the leader. Time for a cake stop by the road, whilst he rejoined (he’d been at a cake stop). And soon back to Shenfield, with a last quick bite of cake before the train home.