Upminster and some of south east Essex
Posted on Tuesday 11 September 2007 by Ken Peters
Sunday 9th September – a good day starting in south Essex
Autumn sunshine for this one but unless I am mistaken several of the “usual suspects” were probably taking the sun at Crystal Palace where the Prologue of The Tour of Britain was taking place.
Eventually there were ten, some of whom rode out, but mainly they were train-assisted as is usual. There was a brief delay at Upminster while I passed the time with some members of Havering Branch of Essex DA who were meeting for a ride that was starting at the same time as ours. I did have to make sure that Kelvin was not comandeered by Havering CTC as I had managed to pinch him from them about 18 months ago.
On the road things went smoothly. Far too smoothly as the early stages were very flat we managed to get a long way ahead of ourselves until we hit rising ground after Dunton where the vast Ford Motor Company testing ground is. I had got some plans for additional distance and some loops to be included before lunch but I completely forgot them and instead decided on the simpler startegy of riding much slower. Not even that or a stop to do some shopping when we went through Stock prevented us pitching up at The Red Lion, Margaretting at 11:45 having already managed 43Km. As the weather was pleasant and there was plenty of seating in the extensive pub grounds nobody was too keen to do any pointless loops.
Once we were inside after opening time there was a strange incident whereby the bar staff seemed quite reluctant to allow us to have menus and order food. Eventually that was sorted out but we still had a fairly long wait before being fed but that was made up for by food that in my case was both plentiful and tasty. A few of you will have been on rides where we have lunched at The Alma, Chelmsford and The Red Lion is owned by the same people who run that establishment and, as a result, does excellent food.
Due to the early arrival and slightly slow service we had a lunch halt that ran to nearly two hours. After that the group was reduced with Nick Dean plotting his own way back to north-west London and Kay and Roger heading towards Harlow to visit Kay’s mum. The rest of us set off at a pretty good pace as we had almost fifty kilometeres to do to get to the tea stop at Writtle Agricultural College by way of a loop round Chelmsford. With no mechanical problems to delay us we managed to get to Writtle by 15:40 which was pretty good going and with plenty of time to spare before the cafe shuts at 16:00.
After a well deserved rest we pressed on and completed the circuit of Chelmsford by returning to Margaretting and back down what was formerly the A12. Only a brief halt on the way back delayed us when Julie and Kelvin headed for Shenfield, and eventually Kate, Charlie and myself returned to Upminster with all of five minutes to spare before a train back to Fenchurch Street was due.
Thanks all for your patience in following me and not complaining too much when I was either on a go slow to kill time or riding almost as fast as possible to ensure timetables were kept to. I almost forgot too say that we managed a more than respectable 120Km at an average speed of nearly 24 Kph which is distinctly unshabby as friends say.
Riders
Leader – Ken Peters
Kay Bettis, Kate Sandall, Julie Willis
Roger Cline, Kelvin Dane, Nick Dean, Roger Fretwell, Charlie Keep, Alex Macinell