Author: GrahamDolman

With thanks to Keith for stepping up to organise this ride at late notice. Its always pot luck what sort of turn out we’ll get on wet, windy pre-Christmas December days. In the end, this was a pretty good turn out. However, wet, Easterly windy conditions and the absence of Charles restricted photography to a bare minimum so as blogs go, this one is gearing up to be pretty brief !

The Black Bull at Balsham is always a good starting point, with a roaring fire and coffee to start the proceedings. Also, the rain was just about holding off when we set off as two groups toward Streetly End windmill. Unfortunately Maurice’s encyclopaedic knowledge of multiple routes hereabouts meant that, on auto pilot, he managed to miss the Streetly detour and was not seen again until coffee !

Now in steady light drizzle and headwind, we crossed the busy A1307 via the sneaky path cut through at Horseheath and headed up to the Camps. From there, it was past the trig point (126m altitude) and the radio mast at Olmstead and down to Helions Bumpstead.

At Helions Bumstead, the second group caught up with a puncture repair to Keith’s bike in progress. Ric stayed on to lend his proper old skool, full sized bike pump whilst the rest of us ploughed on towards the promise of coffee.

At Steeple Bumpstead, the newly promoted leading group took an executive decision to not head up another hill but head in the most direct line towards Tarkas café. Fully re-inflated the new second group were made of sterner stuff and completed the route up the hill as planned.

Coffees and yummy teacakes later and Maurice back in the fold, it was back into the damp (but now with a following breeze) it was off via Kedington and Great Wratting and Withersfield back to the pub for beer and lunch, where a glass was raised to Martin W.

As a footnote, anyone cycling home from Balsham will have received an absolute drenching as the drizzle gave way to a downpour !

Deborah, Andrew, Martin B, Alan, Keith, Maurice, Brian, Ric, Simon, Howard, Jeremy, Rod

The number of times I’ve been through Burroughs Green and never noticed the Bull, a welcoming looking pub set slightly back from the main village road. Victor’s ride this week plugged this glaring gap in my ‘local’ knowledge.

This was the first winter ride of the season, recognisably winter because Simon and Alan had their knees covered up. Plus there was ice on the road and the thermometer was reading sub zero, of course. In the end, despite some gloomy posts on the group chat, a creditable 12 riders turned up for coffee, to pre-order lunch and, unusually, to pre order and pay for beer too. A welcoming pub fire meant that at least we would start the ride warm.

Two groups set off and were very quickly into new territory via a bridle way leading to the Brinkley Road. The bridle way was fine for riding but ice either side of the obvious riding line served as a reminder to be vigilant. As it turned out, there were very few icy sections on the rest of the route and the majority of those could be easily bypassed. There were no ‘involuntary dismounts’ to report.

From Westley Waterless our route turned east. At one point, there was an option to shorten the route in the event of excessive miserableness, but brief patches of sun and properly covered knees meant that we were all happy to head for café 33, the only café in the Stradishal area (at least that we have found) and therefore a regular Windmill stop.

“But virtually no wind 🤗” Charles had declared that morning, so whatever it was we were riding into on the return leg from the cafe (which caused flags to flutter and noses to run) was probably something else. With the promise of a decent beer, decent lunch and a pub fire beckoning there definitely wasn’t any incentive to be hanging around in the chill (well, apart from admiring the lovely widespread views offered by this part of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire that is).

A great route on some familiar roads but a few unfamiliar twists and turns to keep us on our toes.

Food and beer back at the Bull were as good as anticipated, where we were joined for lunch by Martin W and Andrew.

Simon, Alan, Deborah, Tom, Paul, Graham, Charles, Keith, Rod, Victor, Howard, Jeremy.

Remember the halcyon days of cycling in the UK just 14 years ago ? We had our first male grand tour winner in Chris Froome at the Vuelta 2011 (beating Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France victory in 2012, but far less recognised because it was granted retrospectively after the ‘winner’, Cobo, was disqualified for doping offences. In the Women’s Grand Tours, Nicole Cooke had already won the Giro d’Italia Femminile in 2004). We were leading up to the golden year of 2012 with that afore mentioned win and a second place at the Tour de France and a dominant 8 gold medal haul at the London Olympics.

The future of cycling was rosy. Mere mortals could buy fantastic ‘standard’ bikes at a reasonable price and roadside maintenance had never been easier. Nearly everyone (except dyed in the wool racers) rode on 700c x 23mm or 700c x 25mm tyres with inner tubes and aluminium rims, so inner tubes could be shared between riders. The wheels could be easily removed because everyone had quick release skewers – no tools needed. Brake rubs were quickly fixed roadside, or even on the move, because we all had simple to fix rim brakes. Flaky battery and motor assisted gear changers were still a marketing executive’s wet dream. OK, we still had 9 or 10 speed chains to deal with and the myriad of bottom bracket ‘standards’ but still – relatively standard bikes.

Then progress happened: Road tyres proliferated into tubeless gunk filled and standard inner tube variants and up to 34mm wide variants. All of a sudden, tools were required to remove wheels. Wheel width options increased and carbon fibre wheels appeared alongside our old aluminium wheels, with the dreaded ‘hookless’ rims making an appearance. Disc brakes escaped from the mountain bike world to the peloton so roadside maintenance was replaced by work shop maintenance, higher bike costs and higher bike weights. Chain pitch options spiralled to the slightest-bit-of-muck disrupts-it 13 speed and chain dropping ‘one by’ options became available.

All of this means that there are far more possibilities to end up with incompatible parts on a modern bike, more things to go wrong and much lower chance that a cycling mate has the right tools, tyres or chain link in their saddle bag in order to help out during a roadside mechanical. This is significant, as will become apparent ……..

Storm Benjamin had passed and typical wet ‘n’ windy autumn weather had taken a brief hiatus for this Thursday’s ride, attracting 18 riders out for some, or all, of the route organised by Maurice from the Catherine Wheel, Arbury. Unlike one large cycling group we saw, we stuck with our usual tradition of splitting into more manageable sized groups. And so it was that three groups headed South, then East along familiar lanes enjoying the Autumn colours and clearing blue skies.

From Manuden, the course headed back North with brisk progress towards coffee at the Compass Courtyard. It was all going well. Too well.

In group 3, on the outskirts of Arkesden, Deborah had a puncture. Initially blamed on a skinny inner tube in a wide tyre, Deborah, Keith and Graham started investigation. First hurdle, an Allan key to remove the rear wheel. Tick. Then we found that the rear tyre was nearly impossible to remove from the rim. It transpired that a tyre “for hookless rims only” had been fitted by the bike shop to Deborah’s smart new hookless wheel. We managed to remove an offending thorn, but attempts to fit a new tube were thwarted by the tyres being too tight to avoid ‘pinching’ and puncturing the new inner.

Forty minutes later, Deborah had to call the long suffering rescue services (in the shape of husband, Simon) for a lift to lunch whilst Keith and Graham had to forego coffee (stopping only to make a welcome meeting with Martin W at the Compass Courtyard).

Brian led a brisk pace on the return leg in order for us to make a one o’clock lunch – unnecessary as it turned out as lunch was a little slow in arriving, although excellent when it did. A fantastic ride and an opportunity to reflect on the benefits of ‘progress’ in the cycle industry.

Keith, Graham, Geoff, Jenny, Brian, Deborah, Maurice, Martin B, Ric, Alan, Nigel, Chris, Rod, Charles, Simon, Tom, Victor (from Compass Courtyard), Ken and Martin W for coffee.

Well we could hear them, but low cloud to start with meant that the flights coming into Stansted from more exotic climes remained invisible to us.

This was the situation as 12 riders gathered in the morning at an old favourite; the Red Lion at Great Sampford. Maurice (sadly absent due to a virus, along with Alan) – had organised an old favourite outing on the mostly quiet lanes East of here.

Our coffee stop arrived fairly early on into the ride. Tarkas café seems to be going from strength to strength ! Always busy and always worth the sprint along the busy A1017 Braintree road in order to get there. Whilst Charles opted for his usual calorie bomb of hot chocolate (all the trimmings) and a slab of cake (coffee and wallnut), a few riders took Deb’s lead in ordering the new home made teacakes, which definitely gained an approving smile.

We had the usual dose of “Road Closed” points, thankfully all passable by bike or on foot. Maybe the notoriously poor road and drainage by Walthams Cross will be repaired at some point ? – we live in hope ! On this ride, it was probably in as good a state as it ever is – just loose dirt and gravel at the bottom of the hill and a few wet streaks on the steep ascent away.

Obligatory Yeldham Great Oak and Windmill photos and then the, now usual, traffic chaos by the one way bridge in Great Bardfield – and we were on the home leg ! (footnote: Great Yeldham elected a communist coucillor in 1967).

The weather had cleared steadily throughout the morning and by lunchtime, it was pleasent enough to drink our beer outside. After that it was the usual excellent Italian themed food: Good quality, good value and very tasty ! An excellent end to a great ride.

Its a while since we had a puncture on a ride and it looked like this ride would go puncture free until 2km from the pub. Luckily some squirty foamy stuff Charles was carrying lasted just long enough to get Graham to the pub and a tyre change in relative comfort, pint in hand.

Andrew, Howard, Victor, Brian, Ric, Simon, Keith, Deborah, Geoff, Simon, Charles, Graham.

Time For A Quickie. A phrase which could have appeared on one of the many witty signs adorning Petals Cafe (although we didn’t see this particular one). Titter ye not ! This is not a smutty innuendo but a commentary on the speed at which this particular ride was conducted (at least by group 2 on the road, pulled along by Geoff’s battery power). Maybe the increasing probability of rain in the afternoon was acting as a spur ?

Victor had organised this ride, starting and finishing at the Three Horseshoes, Helions Bumpstead. A pub with a massive garden area, a good selection of ales and fishfinger sandwiches.

Although touching on many familiar roads, this was a new course for me. And very pleasant it was too, swapping back and forth between rural Essex and rural Suffolk (the three counties border with Cambridgeshire being slightly North of Helions Bumpstead and not on route).

After coffee at the pub, two groups headed South towards Finchingfield, passing Jamie’s mansion en route. We didn’t go into Finchingfield on this ride, however.

Passing Wethersfield Airfield on the right, originally an RAF station, the site was later used as the headquarters and training centre of the Ministry of Defence Police until 2022. It is now used for asylum accomodation. Soon after we passed the grade two listed 1869 windmill at Gainsford End, now a house and without sails.

At Toppersfield, group two had caught up with group one (time for a quickie, remember ?) so we paused for photos outside the Green Man community pub to restablish a respectable gap.

Very soon we encountered the busy A1017 and a short sprint up to the splendid and quirky Petals Tearoom and its aforementioned collection of witty signage. Excellent cakes, too.

Soon off the main road, at Tilbury juxta Clare, we turned into the brisk breeze for our return to Helions Bumpstead.

My meteorology is not great, but I think the splendid cloud formations we were treated to were Cloud Streets. Cloud streets are long rows of cumulus clouds that are oriented parallel to the direction of the wind. Their technical name is ‘Horizontal Convective Rolls’. Typically, they form straight rows, but when the wind driving the clouds hits an obstacle, the clouds might curl into patterns and become von Kármán vortex streets. So now you know.

If anything the pace picked up further (or maybe it was just the head wind ?) and by the time we arrived back at the pub, we were all together as one group and thirsty. The forecast rain didn’t materialise (at least not until much later when all riders were safely home), so luncheon was taken on the patio under the biggest sun shade possible. Sadly no birthdays this week.

Thanks to Victor for a great route.

Geoff, Rod, Alan, Rob, Rik, Keith, Graham, Simon,Victor, Andrew, Martin B, Nigel, Howard, Jeremy

Its not often that birthday drinks are so far removed in time from the actual birthday that a rendition of “Happy Birthday to you” felt too embarrassing to sing, even for the normally vocal (but musically challenged) Windmill club. That obviously didn’t stop us drinking the beer that Simon had kindly bought us at the Crown at Hartest, though. And very nice beer it was too. Brewed at the Crown’s own Brewshed Brewery, the unfashionably dark best beer was going down particularly well.

But that was later. Firstly, sixteen of us had Keith’s fantastic Suffolk lanes tour to ride.

Setting off in three unusually well organised groups, we cunningly outflanked Hartest Hill (claimed to be the steepest hill in Suffolk, who are we to argue ?) and headed out towards Stanningfield before heading for Cockfield.

Cockfield will be featured in the Men’s Tour of Britain stage 2 next month.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/tourofbritain/article/20250806-tour-of-britain-Stage-Routes-Announced-For-Lloyds-Tour-of-Britain-Men-0

The tour has a strong field with top stars like Remco Evanaepol and Gerraint Thomas featuring, amongst others. There is no mention on their route of either our Cafe Como coffee stop or the Crown, however. Their loss.

From Cockfield, we skirted around Lavenham, with its prominent church tower visible from miles around. Not for us today, Lavenham ! Instead we headed for the hamlet of Brent Eleigh and the fantastic cyclist’s destination cafe of Cafe Como. Homemade cakes to die for, all in the wonderful sunny garden !

Reluctantly, we eventually had to leave, picking up a headwind on the way to Acton, then skirting the West side of Lavenham before arriving at the top of the aforementioned Hartest Hill and a fast plummet straight to the pub. Drinks outside, but too many wasps for us to eat in the immaculate garden. Instead, we tucked into sandwiches and beer inside whilst admiring the real linen napkins. A great day for a great ride.

Rach, Simon, Maurice, Howard, Keith, Alan, Norfolk Roger, Neil, Andrew, Graham, Brian, Geoff, Ken, Rod, Rob, Paul.

Three firsts in a week (possibly) !

• All riders were on normally aspirated road bike.
• All th riders rode to the start of the ride for maximum green credentials.
• A first visit for many to the now community owned Lion at Ickleton.

A few Windmill stalwarts were away this week including a party busy fostering Anglo French relations in Normandie and there was a hole in Thursday fixture list. Step forward Ken, who proposed a slightly shorter ride (ostensibly to encourage people away from their e bikes), starting at Graham’s for morning coffee and finishing at the Lion at Ickleton for lunch – no coffee stop planned.

Six riders rolled up to Graham’s for a leisurely 11.00 start – all commendably arriving under their own steam on their normal bikes (OK I didn’t have to roll very far). Although a little breezy, it was bright and not too hot which was just as well because, although short, this was not a flat ride !

First hill right from the start, up the very worn looking Coploe Road, with magnificent views opening up once the top is crested. From there past the notorious Strethall crossroads (with, it should be noted, bright new “Give Way” markings in place after a number of nasty accidents).

Up and down past Littlebury Green, Duddenhoe End and Arkesden. From there, over to Clavering and then the familiar but ever popular stretch through Langley Lower Green (where Ken left for a more direct route to the Lion but picking up Gareth for a short period on the way), to Little Chishill and Shaftenhoe End. Here Gareth also departed, leaving the rest of us to wind our way up to Great Chishill, then Elmdon and home.

The Lion has only just re opened after an extensive effort by Ickleton village to buy and save the pub. Three ales were on offer, plus simple but inexpensive lunchtime sandwich options. Hazel dropped in to say “hi !”.

The ride length was 39km but clocked up 444m of ascent in the process.

Ken, Graham, Ric, Rach, Simon, Howard (Gareth for a short part of the ride, Hazel joined us at lunch)

A first for the club – a 100 mile ride to test Windmiller’s mettle. The route, meticulously planned by Graham, started and finished at his home in Ickleton. It provided 3 new coffee stops together with intermediate-length rides that gave easy access to trains to return home. The route also cunningly got the hills out of the way before the first coffee stop, whilst our legs were fresh.

On top of that, to spur everyone on their way, Graham provided what, for some, was a second breakfast – tea, coffee, sausage or bacon and egg rolls; and Ken came to wave us off and provide moral support.  

At 08.40 eight now-satiated riders started: Graham, Ric, Jeremy, Alan and Victor who planned ‘to go all the way’; Martin W, Keith and Paul who planned to do the first section of the route, to La Hogue farm shop.

The day was fine, the sun was hot and, mindful of the distance, the initial pace was gentle. There were also stops to remove layers and Keith had a couple of nasty chain-offs. At the second of these Graham, Ric, Jeremy, Alan and Victor had to press on, leaving Martin and Paul to help Keith restore his mechanicals. They caught up at La Hogue, where Charles, bless him, had brought his car to give lifts home. What a star!

After that, for the remainers, it was pancake flat all the way to Welney Wetlands centre. A SW breeze helped us cruise easily through Chippenham, Isleham and Prickwillow before riding along Bank beside the River Ouse on Branch Bank to Littleport and then on 10 Mile Bank towards Welney. People say they love the “big horizons” of the Fens. And indeed it is lovely on a sunny day. But there’s little tree or hedge cover and it must be bleak in winter!

Welney Wetlands covers 1,000 acres of the northernmost part of the Ouse Washes. It is Britain’s largest area of seasonally-flooded land. In winter, thousands of wild ducks, swans and geese gather here. It is one of several wetlands being developed in the Fens, including Wicken, Lakenheath, Chippenham Fens and will be soon joined by ‘The Great Fen’. A visitor centre at Welney was opened in 2006 and, importantly, includes a café where we could take our lunch.

Coming back, that pesky SW breeze opposed us, but taking the front in rotation gave surprisingly effective shelter most of the time. The Hundred Foot Bank beside New Bedford River took us to Pymoor. Then, with the wind turning to W, a bit of jiggling about on winding fen roads took us to Coveney, Wentworth and final coffee stop at Twenty Pence Garden Centre, Wilburton. If anything, our pace increased as we headed for home via Cottenham, Oakington, Madingley, Comberton and Harston. Back at 18.15 with no more mechanicals, no dramas, having just had a great ride.

Post-ride, Maurice and David joined Graham, Julia, Victor and Alan for a celebratory dinner at The Red Lion, Hinxton.

With thanks to Victor for this blog and added kudos for having ridden to and from the start / end. Thanks to Maurice for his generous donation to the club’s charity collection.

Sing a Song of Sixpence, a short story by Agatha Christie or a number of other books. Take your pick. We were only interested in three blackbirds, though; The Three Blackbirds inn at Woodditton to be precise where 12 riders gathered on a very fine morning for coffee (for which Rod somehow managed to foot the whole bill).

Simon’s route soon took us on a dead end road towards Dullingham Ley where we encountered the most traffic of the day (one delivery truck, two cars) before heading over a stretch of byway to Burrough Green (would have been fun if wet !).

Great lanes and onto one of our regular stops at Cafe 33. A short detour was required from the main route to get there, safely negotiated by the second group on the road but somehow missed by group 1 (the one with the route planner in it). Such was the temperature, teas and coffees were substituted for cold cans from the fridge.

Some more fantastic roads took us to the steady hill between Dalham and Gazely which always feels tougher than its modest elevation would suggest. Also included on the route was the much photographed Moulton pack horse bridge.

From there, back to the Three Blackbirds where Geoff was kindly buying birthday beers (which I had to miss – ouch)

Rod, Martin, Simon, Keith, Maurice, Graham, Victor, Alan, Geoff, Howard, Jeremy, Paul (Ken for half the ride and lunch)

It’s a good few years since I last ventured out to the Swan at Henny Street (not to be confused with the Hen at Swanny Street), but everything looked friendly and familiar as I joined eight other riders on the banks of the River Stour, just South of Sudbury, for our Mayday outing.

A bit of a rarity for a Windmill ride these days was the opportunity to ride as a single group of 9. Initially northwards on the delightful (and very popular) Valley Walk on the disused Sudbury-Cambridge railway line.

Back on the road, the repeating theme seemed to be flowering wisteria and beautiful old flint churches.

After a few photo calls, we pitched up at the White Hart Inn, Boxted (inevitably run by another of Maurice’s old mates), for coffee and cake (or possibly a sneaky pint).

For those that wanted it, there was a stop off to view vintage cars.

For others, the Swan beckoned and it was back on bikes for more churches, wisteria and some surprising little hills.

The pub was doing a roaring trade when we arrived back, with customers enjoying the warm sunshine and the river. We had a perfect outside table spot reserved from which to watch the world go by and to enjoy great beer and food.

Thanks for Maurice for organising and to everyone that supplied photos, allowing me the luxury of having to write very little !

Graham, Rod, Chris, Andrew, Maurice, Alan, Keith, Martin B, Simon

This Thursday, 16 riders took to the start line at the Pig and Abbot for a foray into Bedfordshire, destined for Jordans Mill for coffee and cake. The promise of birthday beers usually gets a good turn out ! Three people owned up to birthdays this week: Gareth, Rod and Howard (on ‘significant seventy’). Happy birthday, all. Everyone got mentioned in the usual off key rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, but only Rod was buying the beer on this ride and he got the Pig and Abbot birthday cake to cut – Howard and Gareth’s beers to be looked forward to on other weeks !

A largely incident free ride (apart from one slow puncture for Ric, some rubbing brakes for Gareth) in a slightly chilly breeze bought us past the closed road in Langford (pavement bypass available) to the aforementioned Jordans Mill for coffee, cake and bike repairs.

Jordans Mill at Holme on the river Ivel has been in the Jordans family for over 150 years and was the last working flour mill in Bedfordshire. Originally milling flour, Jordans is probably better known to most for their range of cereals and mueslis (although these are no longer produced at this site). The site at Holme was substantially renovated in 2013 with a new visitor centre and café. On this trip, the Windmillers only visited the café but the original water mill in the adjacent building can still be seen in its working state.

The return leg took us through the busy town of Biggleswade (one of the few places with an A1 ‘Great North Road’ underpass).

James Charles Bigglesworth, nicknamed “Biggles”, is the title character of a series of adventure books by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). It would be reasonable to expect that the town of Biggleswade was named as the place where Biggles crossed the River Ivel. In fact, Biggleswade is a market town 18 km south-east of Bedford with a population of 22,541 and is likely to pre date Biggles. Evidence of settlement in the area goes back to Neolithic times but it is likely that the town as such was founded by Anglo-Saxons. A gold Anglo-Saxon coin was found beside the River Ivel in 2001, which the British Museum bought in 2006. At the time, it was the most expensive British coin ever purchased. The town’s market charter was granted by King John in the 13th-century.

More busy roads through Poton and we were soon back on familiar quiet lanes from Croydon down the resurfaced Croydon hill and back to Abbington Piggots where our beer and pies awaited. Thanks Rod for organising. Pat for hosting. Charles, Simon and Graham for the pics.

Rod, Howard, Gareth, Paul, Deborah, Ken, Martin W, Andrew, Maurice, Ric, Victor, Charles, Graham, Simon, Geoff, Jeremy

You know the weather has taken a turn for the worse when Simon’ aka ‘The Professor’, abandons his trusty khaki shorts in favour of long trousers. However, despite the drop in temperature and the possibility of some hail, snow and rain, the promise of birthday beers courtesy of Maurice plus Pat’s famous homemade pies ensured a good turnout of 12 riders (it would have been two more except for Ken’s puncture and Geoff getting a back twinge, neither of which prevented either of them from attending lunch).

We followed a familiar and favourite route from Abbington Piggots to Waresly, but this time the pre-coffee leg of the ride was into an unfamiliar cold Northerly breeze. Because of this and to ensure a timely return to the Pig and Abbot, Maurice cut the route slightly short by eliminating the loop north of Gamblingay Cinques. There were no dissenters.

And so it was that, after placing food orders and topping up on coffee and croissants, two groups eventually set off from Abbington Piggots.

There was some discussion as to the etymology of the name of the village of Guilden Morden through which we passed. A quick scan of Wikipedia unearthed the following tit bits:

The name is derived from the Old English “Gylden More Dun”, meaning “Golden” (rich or productive) “Moor Hill”.

The parish of Guilden Morden is in the very south-western corner of Cambridgeshire, separated from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire by one of the Cam’s many tributaries. The area has been occupied for at least 2000 years with the Saxon village probably built slightly after its neighbour; Steeple Morden, from which it has been separate since the Norman Conquest. The Guilden Morden boar is an Anglo-Saxon copper alloy figure of a boar, found in a grave in the village around 1864. Not to be confused by the ever so slightly younger bores found in the village last Thursday.

For group 1, it was a fairly uneventful ride from here around the outskirts of Potton and onto the Garden centre café at Waresly. Group 2 did not fare quite so well, with Deborah (or at least her bike) sustaining a nasty puncture, possibly due to some broken glass on the road. Despite the best efforts of the ‘Slime’ self sealing innertubes, the ‘fix’ only lasted as far as coffee. Some tyre cuts are just too severe for self-sealing technology, it seems.

A welcome tail wind brought us to Hatley St George in the picturesque 730 Ha (1800 acre) Hatley Estate. The Hatley Park estate has been owned by the Astor family snce 1946. (Second geography lesson courtesy of Andrew, AKA “Dawg”).

No time to dally, however. Angry clouds full of rain and hail were looming behind. By the time group 1 reached the newly re-surfaced Croydon Hill, the hail had hit and it was full speed ahead back to the Pig and Abbot. Group 2, having a puncture to contend with, didn’t escape quite so much of the downpour.

Back at the pub, there was time to steam in front of the fire before the aforementioned pies, a rendering of “Happy Birthday” to Maurice and Roger and a fond adieu to Roger, who is on the move to Fakenham. Hopefully his companionship won’t be entirely lost to the Windmill Club.

Martin, Graham, Rod, Simon, Deborah, Victor, Howard, Maurice, Andrew, Roger, Paul, Neil,

All week, the talk has all been doom and gloom in the world: The increasingly nationalistic stance of countries; the upsurge in misinformation through social media; the apparent alignment of Trump and Putin against the (mineral rich) Ukraine on the edge of Europe; little sign of reconciliation in Gazza. The world lurching towards apparent crisis …..

Thursday, at least, provided a welcome respite from the doom and gloom for the Windmill club. Their own little bubble that day contained only sunshine, good company, good food, snowdrops and daffodils, talk of puppies and welcome back professor. Crisis? What Crisis?

16 riders congregated at what has become a firm Windmill favourite: The Red Lion at Great Sampford offering Italian style pasta cookery and fine beer. With many white knees on display, two groups of 5 and one group of 6 headed off in a South Easterly direction in the direction of Great Barfield.

Here group three encountered an unexpected traffic jam near the narrow bridge. The combination of numerous of parked cars, a HGV heading one way and a tractor with an enormous trailer in the other plus a few increasingly frustrated car drivers provided a brief source of entertainment. No particular rush for us, enjoying the sunshine.

On our way again and even the oft wet and dilapidated Waltham Cross road was kind to us.

A surprisingly up and down stretch up to Great Yeldham followed. Some slight discord (but only slight) was sensed once it became apparent that it was still a little way to coffee! The coffee and cake stop was well over half way round the route at the newly extended Tarka’s café at Baythorne End. The new extension meant the café was even busier than usual and so we settled ourselves in for a leisurely break.

A relatively short (but hilly) return leg passed without incident and the time lost at the cafe was soon made up for a timely beer (outside in the sunshine) and lunch stop.

There aren’t many venues where the majority of riders opt for a main menu choice rather than a sandwich option but the pasta and risotto dishes here proved irresistible ride recovery fuel to many.

Thanks to Maurice for organising this ride and laying on the perfect riding weather.

Martin, Geoff, Brian, Graham, Rod, Charles,Tom, Simon, Deborah, Victor, Howard, Maurice, Nigel, Andrew, Alan, Roger

Crisis? What Crisis? is the fourth album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1975. Personally, I don’t think its anywhere near their strongest work.

Widespread chaos was forecast and rare red weather warnings had been issued for Friday. Storm Éowyn, pronounced “ay-oh-win” (and definitely not to be confused with the Tolkein character Eowyn, meaning “horse-joy”) – was destined to bring gusts in excess of 180km/h (110mph) to parts of Scotland and Ireland.

Therefore it was with some trepidation that thirteen riders assembled at the Black Bull in Balsham on the Thursday morning, hoping that the weather would hold off until past lunchtime. Even without the onset of the storm, a morning temperature of 3C, possible drizzle and a stiff breeze was daunting enough. Chapeau to Ric and Victor for cycling to and from the pub in spite of this – I’m guessing the post lunch rain put the dampers on the home run ?

Actually it wasn’t quite as bad as expected as we set off down the hill from Balsham. Unfortunately, Tom quickly realised that his new year virus hadn’t cleared up as he’d hoped and decided to return to base (so just the last hill to re-climb ! ). A sensible move – best not to try to rush rehabilitation.

Chilly but steady progress was made along familiar lanes, over the sneaky pedestrian crossing at Horseheath, past the Camps, Helions Bumbstead, Cornish Hall End and the impressive Spains Hall (which I believe is still the Jamie Oliver abode – no sign of him today). With no invitation to Jamies’ forthcoming, we pitched up at Winners cafe in Finchingfield – an old favourite and former Windmill cafe of the year.

Mercifully still dry and refreshed, we set off back towards Balsham, now with a steady tailwind in our favour. The return through Great Sampford, Radwinter, Ashdon and Bartlow went smoothly and without incident and again, in the dry (if you don’t count the wet and filthy road surfaces everywhere).

As with last week, we were the only customers in the pub. Despite that, the hospitality (and Ghostship) were as good as ever. Who would run a pub at this time of year ? Thanks to Maurice for organising and Charles for providing all the pictures. Storm avoided.

Riders: Charles, Graham, Alan, Andrew, Deborah, Brian, Rod, Maurice, Roger, Victor, Ric, Howard, Tom

‘Twas the day after the Windmill Christmas lunch and not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse….

Well actually, the mice might have thought it was too cold and windy to head out, but not us ! We were lured out by the offer of a slightly later start, slightly shorter ride and mulled wine and mince pies to finish.

Maurice and Lynn were hosting from Heath Farm. This meant the ride started uphill to Reed Joint and continued to go up and down hill all the way round. The route took us past Therfield, Sandon, Buckden then back via Barkway and Barley, with the final stretch up hill into a stiff cold breeze to Heath Farm. Closer to 35km than our usual 50km but more than far enough and hilly enough for the day.

Luckily for us, Lynn had been slaving away in the kitchen to serve up wine and mince pies and cream when we arrived back – also cheese and coffee for those in need of something more hearty !

Many thanks, as always, to our hosts and a non denominational “Season’s Greetings” not only to the day’s riders but everyone else that made it another thoroughly enjoyable year of cycling. Raise a glass to your saddle companions and here’s to many more enjoyable outings in 2025. Cheers.

Riders, from blurry memory: Jenni, Debs, Nigel, Neil, Martin, Graham, Alan, Victor, Brian, Ric, Maurice, Charles, Jeremy, Simon, Roger, Keith, Howard, Rod and Iain for pies.

Water is essential for life on earth. What is less obvious is that the almost unique properties of water ice are also essential for allowing life to exist and evolve. With high specific heat capacity, low thermal conductivity and high albedo, surface ice plays a pivotal role in regulating the earth’s temperature and hence climate.

At atmospheric pressure, water freezes to its solid state at a temperature of approximately 0 °C (or lower for salinated water). The heat of fusion of water is 334 kilojoules per kilogram. The specific heat of ice at the freezing point is 2.04 kilojoules per kilogram per degree Celsius and the thermal conductivity at this temperature is 2.24 Watts per metre Kelvin. Most materials contract when cooled but water is different. As water freezes into ice, its molecules arrange themselves into a regular lattice structure through hydrogen bonds. This is more spaced out than in liquid water, expanding its volume by about 9%. This unique property results in ice having a lower density than water, allowing ice to float (and burst water pipes).

The fourteen Windmillers gathering at the Black Horse, Brent Pelham on Thursday morning did not have the wonders of ice uppermost in their minds, however. For them the salient properties of ice at that time were merely: ‘Cold’ and ‘Very Slippery’ and ‘Not a Good Thing’. Indeed, Roger had already suffered a fall whilst cycling to the start.

After coffee and lodging food orders at the pub, riders headed off on one of the minor roads hereabouts – with a well founded degree of trepidation! This trepidation was well founded; the road was a proverbial mine field of semi thawed water and sheet ice. In the space of the next 2km, three riders had succumbed to gravity. Brian having taken a particularly hefty knock to the hip, he and Jeremy sensibly abandoned the riding for the day, whilst Rod soldiered on (I was instructed not to say “hip, hip, hooray” here, so I won’t). Importantly, no bikes were damaged.

A new plan was required ! Just as discretion is the better part of valour, so cowardice is the better part of discretion. We decided to shorten our ride and stick to larger roads where possible, with the new, closer, coffee destination of Dorringtons in Newport proposed. In true Windmill fashion, a split resulted in two different routes to coffee. One group plodded on via Ansty whilst the majority turned tail and headed to Newport via Clavering. Thankfully no further falls. Brian and Jeremy resorted to the car to join us for coffee and cake.

By now, the sun had been on the exposed roads for a few hours, so we opted to turn our route into a circuit by heading to Rickling and Stocking Pelham. Riding was fun again !

Finally back at the pub and joined by Keith and Ken, we were well served to excellent food and beer. If it wasn’t for poor Brian limping around acting as a reminder, we could almost have forgotten the dramas at the start of the day.

The big picture: Ice can be a real downer for cyclists, but without it cyclists wouldn’t exist to start with.

Thanks to Martin for organising the route, even though the script got totally rewritten !

Martin, Victor, Andrew, Geoff, Graham, Rod, Nigel, Jeremy, Brian, Roger, Alan, Howard, Simon, Chris, Charles

Ken and Keith for lunch.

…to paraphrase the late Larry Grayson. Grey it certainly was, although mild for the time of year and not raining. Greyness didn’t deter a great turnout of 17 riders from congregating at the ever popular Pig and Abbot in Abbington Piggots (or, as spell check would have it, “Pig and Albert”).

Maurice asserted his leadership rights and set off into the murk with the first group, followed at a respectable distance by two other groups. Good roads and a lack of significant breeze, punctures or hills meant a good pace was maintained up to Waresely (ignoring the route plan across a field), and a return to the Waresely garden centre, always an efficient café.

For those old timers that believed that Christmas happened in December, it was a slightly bewildering experience to be directed to the exit via halls and halls of tinselly decorations (or “bah, humbug landfill tat”, as this scribe would have it – not a view universally held in his household I should add).

Back on the road and the pace continued to be high, with group three putting Rod’s new motor under some strain in their attempts to overhaul group two.

No incidents meant that all riders were back in plenty of time to enjoy beer and Pat’s pies in a pleasantly filled pub (good to have Martin W join for lunch).

Much bike cleaning will be needed after that very enjoyable outing, or to give the last word back to Larry Grayson: “Look at the muck on ‘ere”.

Maurice, Andrew, Alan, Brian, Charles, Deborah, Geoff, Graham, Howard, Jeremy, Ken, Neil, Nigel, Rod, Simon, Tom, Victor

The title could be a reference to the outstanding performance of England’s cricketers on the 4th day of the first Test match in Pakistan – but it isn’t. It is a reference to the 1000mph hurricane force winds forecast for today by the BBC. A quick glance outside quickly put minds to rest: Neighbourhood dustbins were still in place, chimney pots were still intact and no one’s granny was blowing down the street. OK, there was a bit of a North Westerly pushing a few clouds about but the consensus was that the BBC had got their forecast slightly awry. Ride on !

Today’s ride started from the ever popular Fox and Duck in Therfield. Ever the cheapskates, the route had been re-routed to avoid a 15% service charge for groups at the originally planned coffee stop. Instead it was headed for the Mixing Shed café via an unusually long 57km route over familiar territory through the Windmill club heartlands. 18 riders set off in, typically, two uneven sized groups (or was it 3 groups ? some had set off already before I got to the start ! There were 5 in the last group).

The coffee stop is well under halfway round and was reached without incident, although two of us did elect to avoid the off road section across to Bilden End as a steady but light drizzle had set in. The mixing shed has not been open for very long but is already a popular venue for cyclists and “ladies who lunch”. Coffee and cake was excellent (if not the cheapest) but the number of thirsty visitors meant this was never going to be the fastest coffee stop !

Nevertheless, the first group managed the return leg via Buntingford in plenty of time for scheduled lunch. Meanwhile, all was not going so well in the last group. The marketing ‘blurb’ would have us believe that tubeless tyres are the answer to all our puncture woes, and to be fair they work well most of the time. HOWEVER when they don’t work it’s messy and time consuming job to get back on the road, as Paul was about to find out when his rear tyre suddenly went flat.

When a hole in a tubeless tyre is too big to self repair, it is possible to insert ‘plugs’ to partially fill the hole. This was the first port of call. Unfortunately with no high pressure pump, it proved impossible to reseat the tyre and with a failed CO2 inflator also abandoned it was onto the messy plan B: an old fashioned inner tube. By the time all had been fixed and various tools and pumps returned to their owners, the executive decision had to be taken to cut the return short, missing out Buntingford in the process.

All safely back at the busy Fox and Duck and having dried out in the improving weather, all riders were able to tuck into their well earned lunches and talk the usual nonsense that Windmillers do over beer. Many thanks to Rod for organising.

Rod, Maurice, Ric, Howard, Debs, Sandra, Neil, Nigel, John, Tom, Alan, Brian, Charles, Geoff, Roger, Victor, Graham, Paul.

The last home test match of the season has been lost (although county cricket plods on), the football season is in full flow and Autumn cycling apparel has been cleared of moths and is on full display. A cool start, but with the promise of better temperatures later in the day, saw 18 Windmillers once again congregating at the Black Bull, Balsham, for coffee and a 9.30 start.

Without the ailing Alan to sort us into orderly groups, the usual herding chickens scenario prevailed as three roughly equal groups headed off towards West Wratting (really, 18 divided by 3 should be a cinch, shouldn’t it ?).

The pacesetters in group 3 clearly hadn’t got the ‘leisure ride’ memo and duly did their best Team Sky Train impersonation, meaning that group 3 quickly caught up the more leisurely group 2 andhad to wait – an excuse for a photo stop at the dead centre of Brinkley (AKA The Woodland Cemetry).

Further on and Group 3 still hadn’t got their pacing right and had caught up with group 2 once again. This time, Andrew sensibly waved group 3 past so they could carry on enjoying their ride.

Beautiful quiet lanes led us to the regular haunt of the “classic roadside cafe”, Cafe 33, at Stradishall – popular with Tradespeople, motorcyclists and Windmillers (Is there a national numbering schemes for cafes of which I’m unaware ?). At least beautiful quiet lanes should have led us to Cafe 33. Group 1 under the leadership of Maurice, who really should have known better as this is his route, ended up on the A143 and last place at the cafe. Red face for the leader !

Cafe 33 is just up the road from the Category C Prisons of Highpoint North and Highpoint South and, I’m sure would have been popular with the following inmates during their lunch breaks:

MYRA HINDLEY: The Moors murderer was jailed for life without parole in 1966 after her and Ian Brady killed five children, with some being sexually abused. In 1998, Hindley was sent to Highpoint’s North section, which at that time was the women’s prison on the site.

LINDA CALVEY: Dubbed as the ‘Black Widow’ at the time because all of her lovers had ending up either dead or in prison, Calvey was jailed for life in 1991 after the murder of her lover Ronnie Cook – a crime which she still denies. The now best-selling crime novelist spent around 17 years in prisons, including Highpoint, before being paroled in 2008.

GEORGE MICHAEL: The former Wham! star arrived at Highpoint Prison in September 2010 after being jailed for eight weeks for crashing his Range Rover into a Snappy Snaps photo store while under the influence of cannabis.

BOY GEORGE: In January 2009, the former Culture Club front man and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! contestant was jailed for 15 months for imprisoning a male escort, 29-year-old Norwegian model Audun Carlsen, by handcuffing him to a wall and beating him with a metal chain.

LESTER PIGGOTT: Regarded as one of the finest jockeys to ever ride in Britain, Lester Piggott was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 1987 at Ipswich Crown Court. He was found guilty of failing to declare £3.25m, which evaded around £1.7m in taxes, and sent to Highpoint. After serving 12 months and being released, Piggott went on to ride winners in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in America and the 2,000 Guineas in 1992.

Cultural break over, and it was back on the bikes for the short stretch back to Balsham into a noticeable headwind, with Maurice once more in the Vanguard.

In keeping with the rest of the day, the pace ramped once again on the final drag up to the Balsham mountain top finish with a sprint for the bar ensuing, and calls for oxygen at the finish.

Once again, the Black Bull did us proud with excellent food and particularly good Woodfordes Wherry Ale (I think the Ales prefer the cooler temperatures and respond accordingly). Thanks to Maurice for planning and organising.

Victor, Tom, Paul, Roger, Rod, Ric, Nigel, Neil, Keith, Ken, Jeremy, Howard, Graham, Deborah, Charles, Brian, Andrew, Maurice

Thursday’s ride invitation looked to be clear enough as to the lunch venue: The Black BULL at Balsham, as used last July. For some reason, this caused some confusion amongst some Windmillers, with “Bulls” being confused with Horses (Black) and then onto any other flavour of animal (also Black). Luckily thirteen Windmillers were sufficiently on the ball (or bull ?) to get to the correct start of our ride – a reverse of a route we did last July.

Its always nice when you can sit outside the pub in the morning sipping coffees and catching up on any gossip. A lovely sunny start for Simon’s ride. As is normal for Windmill rides, it proved far more difficult than it should to organise into two roughly equal groups, but eventually we managed to drag ourselves away from the coffee and the sunny terrace and onto the road.

You know you are in for a tough finish to the ride when you set off down hill and down wind – but that was a problem for later as we rolled out to West Wickham and Withersfield. From here, it was past the former Karro pork ‘processing’ plant, now owned by the Canadian Sofina Foods group. The crossing of the busy A143 between Great Wratting and Kedington can be a bit fraught, but this time we all got across safely with no near miss incidents to report.

The narrow road past the start of Cock Hill and onto Boyton End is always a delight, but a rude awakening on the short section of main road leading us onto Tarkas cafe. Once again a pleasure to be able to take tea and coffee and cake on the patio outside the café and to admire the vintage fuel pump at the front.

Back on the road, it became apparent that a) it had gotten a lot warmer through the morning and b) we were now heading into an ever stiffening breeze. Consequently the drag up to Birdbrook and the subsequent undulating countryside were starting to feel like hard work. By the time we arrived at the Camps, group one opted for a well earned breather whilst, social to a fault, group 2 sailed past and onto the A1307 crossing at Wethersfield. Last July’s political tirade banners were nowhere in evidence.

From here, its a short ride to Balsham, but not before the sting in the tail ‘bastardo’ hill right at the end.

The juice man from Del Monte (AKA Brian resplendent in his straw hat) was waiting for us at the BLACK BULL pub. Well earned beers were quaffed outside in the sunshine, before heading inside for lunch. A cracking day all round, thanks Simon for organising.

Roger, Andrew, Graham, Alan, Howard, Keith, Jeremy, Simon, Sandra, Deborah, Maurice, Rod, Martin W, Brian for Lunch