The Last Extended Ride of the Year 30/10/2024

The last ride of each month during the summer (ending in October) is an extended ride for the medium and long groups. This week the medium ride went to Bungay Downs golf club, led by Peter Skirrow and Peter Milner, and the long ride led by Ann, Cathy and Andy C went to Roxwell church.

Health & safety tip for the day, is one discovered by accident! Recently I was out riding and stopped at Mill Race Garden Centre. I rifled through my bar bag for my phone and found one of my Yumi date & cocoa bar wrappers split open. On further inspection, the bar had clearly been nibbled – presumably by a mouse! I’d left a couple of bars in the bar bag since the previous week, and obviously some inquisitive mouse had had a nice little snack on it! So – empty your bar bags of all edible delicacies when you put your bike away! I also wondered whether this should include things like lip salve. However, my main relief was that the mouse had not hitched a ride, ready to leap out at me when we stopped! That would have made me squawk a bit!

Ann led the long group on a fantastic, idyllic, rural route through Felstead, North End, and High Easter to cross the A1060 at the Four Wantz. We pedalled through the beautiful village of Shellow Bowells. This name is derived from “shallow” meaning bend in a river and a corruption of the family name Beaulieu.

We arrived at Roxwell church, where there is a community café, offering pay-what-you-think refreshments, open Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Our riders had never been to a café like this, with pews for seating! While we were there, I had a chat to a Community Payback team member. He was part of a gardening team working with a supervisor from the church, about once a month. There were about 4/5 people working in the Community Payback team, and today’s duties were clearing up the fallen leaves in the cemetery. The café staff said other group members were making a much-appreciated contribution to maintaining the grounds but were often very shy and diffident about having a tea break actually within the church.

Roadworks led to a speedy route alteration by Ann, and we pedalled back via Newney Green, then continued on the Route 1 cycle path to skirt the edge of Chelmsford, on our way to Great Waltham. In Littley Green the group split in two – some going home via Willows Green and Rayne, and others via Howells Corner and London Road.

43 miles, average 10.8mph (fast for me!) and probably faster for the rest of the group!

Cathy MacTaggart