Keith’s route – from Steeple Bumpstead to Glemsford and back – provided what was possibly our most traffic-free ride of the year. Coupled with a bumper turnout of sixteen Windmillers* it made for a most enjoyable Thursday morning’s outing.
Setting off from the Fox & Hounds, the outbound ride took us through many a fine north Essex village, and none finer than Great Yeldham, famed for its Great Oak – which is recorded in The Domesday Book – and its crinkle crankle wall. “What’s that?“, I hear you say.
These walls mostly date back to the days of the brick tax (1784 to 1850) when the government levied a duty of half a crown – about £24 in today’s money – per 1000 bricks to help fund the American War of Independence. No sooner was the tax introduced than canny builders found ways to minimise its impact. Some just used bigger bricks and some opted to build walls crinkle-crankle style. These curved structures provided stability and required just one layer of bricks rather than the usual two, doing away altogether with the need for buttressing. Not only were the walls economical to build but the curves provided shelter and retained warmth for the growing of fruit trees.
The tax was eventually abolished in 1850 leading to a boom in the brick industry (and a return to the building of straighter walls!)
Some seventeen miles after setting off we crossed the River Stour into Suffolk and pulled in at the excellent Willow Tree Farm Café, just outside Glemsford.
Refreshed and back on the bikes we re-traced our way over the Stour and back into Essex for the return leg via Belchamp St Paul, Ridgewell and Birdbrook – and it was somewhere along here that we encountered that scourge of autumnal outings – the tractor and hedge flail.
Sure enough, and just a few miles short of the pub, MartinB pulled up with a puncture, a long thorn protruding from his tyre. Seeing it would be the quickest way for us all getting back in time for lunch, Rod dashed the remaining few miles to the pub, got the car and retrieved both Martin and machine. Well done, Rod!
We subsequently learned Martin wasn’t the only one to suffer a puncture; a similar fate had befallen Alan, though his caused by glass and thankfully mended en route.
Returning to the Fox & Hounds we were delighted to find MartinW waiting there for us and together we enjoyed a beer or two and a good lunch.
Our thanks go to Keith for planning and leading an excellent morning’s ride.
* The turnout was: Alan, Brian, Deborah, Geoff, Graham, Howard, Jenni, Keith, Ken, MartinB, Maurice, Paul, Rach, Rod, Simon and Victor.
The Windmill Cycle Club 