Great Chishill – The Windmill Cycle Club

Bidet drinks?

All too often in this ever-online world we find ourselves at the mercy of autofills and spellchecks that render our hastily despatched messages into meaningless gibberish – or even unintended filth; we will never forget Andrew’s promise of a sinning trip to London! This time round it was Martin who, ahead of Thursday’s ride was promising “bidet drinks“. How intriguing; Cillit Bang martinis? Domestos daiquiris? Who knew? On reflection we decided he meant birthday drinks; more specifically, free beer. Top chap! No surprise then that 15 Windmillers turned up for the ride and a couple more freeloaders rolled in for lunch.

Victor enjoying a glorious winter’s day, with Maurice following up behind

What a sumptious day, all blue skies, sunshine and very light winds, to explore the rural idyll that is North East Herts. Setting off from The Pheasant, we headed south to Anstey and The Hormeads before turning east to Furneux Pelham, Manuden and Rickling Green where we pulled in at The Cricketers for coffee. There’s never a good time or place to suffer a puncture but, if that is your misfortune, where better than just before the coffee stop. So it was that Howard, notwithstanding his sealant-filled tubeless tyres, pulled up with a flat rear tyre. Not to worry; while the rest of us took refreshment, Howard, with the help of yet more sealant (courtesy of Charles) affected a swift repair.

Stopping for a breather – with one of Clavering’s two windmills in the background

Back on the bikes we made short work of the return via Arkesden, Clavering and Langley Upper Green to Great Chishill.

Despite the glorious day, the ride was wet in parts. Here’s Rod making waves somewhere near Clavering

As ever, we enjoyed a cracking lunch at The Pheasant and Martin, top chap, bought us all a beer.

15 for lunch, including Charles behind the camera

For the record, the turnout was: Alan, Andrew, Brian, Charles, Deborah, Geoff, Howard, Martin, Maurice, Nigel, Ric, Rod, Roger, Tom and Victor – and we were delighted to see Gareth and Ken joining us for lunch.

Happy birthday, Martin. It seems no time since the last one!

30 miles anticlockwise from The Pheasant, Great Chishill

Our thanks go to Alan for planning the route, booking the pub and leading the ride; Charles for the many photographs and, naturally, birthday boy Martin for the big round of drinks.

Andrew’s mystery tour

Mystery tour: An organized pleasure trip whose destination is kept secret.
Oxford English Dictionary

With the first Thursday of the year fast approaching, Andrew was keeping us guessing as to whether or not there would be a ride. No doubt recovering from Hogmanay, it was Wednesday before he finally WhatsApped, “I’ll work out our mystery ride later today”, shortly followed by “See you at The Pheasant 10am”, followed by “Make that 09:30” and with a GPX route attached.

It was the GPX that, upon further inspection, caused some consternation as it included Violets Lane, officially the longest ford in England, where the River Ash runs along the roadway for half a mile or so. Not to mention the several off-road sections, some of which didn’t even follow footpaths; and all this after the wettest December on record. It looked more like a route for the Hertfordshire Hunt.

Undeterred, some fifteen Windmillers turned up at The Pheasant on Thursday morning, eager to work off their Christmas excess and curious to know what Andrew had in store.

Assuring us there was a drier alternative to Violets Lane, and that the off-road excursions were mere mapping errors, Andrew led the way out of Great Chishill heading for Anstey and the Pelhams.

Not as wet as Violets Lane but still pedal-deep

There was indeed a lot of water about and at one point we chanced our way along a hundred yards or more of flooded road. Thankfully, no more than pedal deep, we got through ok, though Keith was miffed that his socks got wet.

We had hoped to stop for a coffee at Rickling Green but, alas, the Cricketer’s Arms was closed. The bench on the village green provided an ideal spot for Keith to remove his sodden socks and replace them with dry gloves.

Keith, replacing sodden socks with dry gloves.

Despite our caffeine deficit we made short work of the return leg to The Pheasant where we were delighted to be joined by Chris for lunch.

Andrew’s route in red – and our actual route, 26 miles, in blue.

For the record, the turnout was: Alan, Andrew, Brian, Charles, Gareth, Geoff, Graham, Howard, Jenni, Jeremy, Keith, Maurice, Paul, Ric and Rod.

Our thanks go to Andrew, we never doubted you really and it was a lovely route. Also to Charles and Graham for the photographs.

Brian