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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.

Plan A was for a nice easy flat route around Essex lanes with a Huffer for lunch at The Compasses in Littley Green. But with many on holiday or otherwise engaged Plan B emerged at short notice which also enabled numbers to increase from 7 to 11. The result was a mountainous route devised by The Right Revd Holy Moley which produced outbreaks of Climb Every Mountain from The Sound of Music at times during the ride, but the nuns were more in tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKuqySkqhHw

Setting off from The Pheasant in Great Chishill at 09.30 without the promised coffee beforehand but on a reasonably mild day compared to recent rides, two groups headed initially for Elmdon for the first climb of the day up Hollow Road towards Freewood Farm where the Jersey bull and heifers have been replaced by another breed – Devons or Red Polls or something in between? Not sure.

Stopping firstly to see the sad remains of a recently burnt out house in Elmdon due to an electrical fault, which caused a fatality, Group 1 then paused again on Freewood Lane to inspect the site of a former windmill where only a mound now exists. It probably blew over given the strength of the winds on the ridge at this point.

Descending from Elmdon at speed, the next mountain to climb was up to Littlebury Green where Group 1 again stopped to catch breath and admire the nature reserve created by Windmiller Simon T and chums from an old chalk quarry – heaving with fauna and flora and well worth a visit the next time you’re passing by. The little corrugated iron church is interesting too – an original Ikea style flat pack similar to those sent overseas to preach the gospel to the heathens.

Hill Bastardo was the next in line but this time a descent to the B1039 before the climb up to Saffron Walden and another climb towards Debden when a large herd of deer were spotted by eagle eyed Maurice. A further climb towards Carver Barracks ended with a much needed rest for coffee at Elder Street Café and Deli who gave us a warm welcome and served great coffee and cakes.

The route back continued the theme of the outward leg – hills, hills and more hills until the final mountainous climb up to The Pheasant from Shaftenhoe End. This involved once again squeezing past a road closed section at Langley Lower Green but it was good to see some of the lane being patched up, particularly the steep descent to Little Chishill.

Lunch at The Pheasant is always pleasant and this was no exception. It was good to be joined by Ken who had done his own bit of climbing from Ickleton.

This is where we went up and down:

Thanks to Charles for most of the photos and a special mention of Ric who probably clocks up more miles than the average Windmiller by always riding to the start of a ride from Harston, and on a bike without much of a climbing gear. Well done Ric.

Rev Holy Moley

Heads down, mind the puddles, mind the potholes and don’t get blown over was the order of the day on this ride around Hertfordshire and Essex lanes. Even getting to the start at The Catherine Wheel in Gravesend near Albury was tough going for some due to road closures and flooded roads but at least there was a nice warm cup of coffee to spur the spirits before setting off at 09.30.

Did any of that deter Windmillers? Not a chance. 14 hardy types gathered to brace the elements and it was great to have Rach join us again after a long absence due to injury. Welcome back! Besides her, the others were Maurice, Graham, Ric, Andrew, Rod, Howard, Nigel, Geoff, Victor, Jeremy, Alan, Charles and yours truly.

Setting off in two groups in a northerly direction with the wind behind there was soon a difference of opinion as to which route to take – group 1 obeying the rules and avoiding the road closed through to Stocking Pelham whilst group 2 tried their luck and found an obliging road worker who shifted the barrier and let us through. Then we continued north to Duddenhoe End via Clavering before descending to the B1039 and having coffee at the excellent Compass Courtyard Mixing Shed café.

It was only after the cofee stop that the full effect of the wind and rain was really felt. Starting with a long haul up to Newland End, which probably took 10 mins compared to the 2.5 mins achieved by racing cyclists during summer weather, the route then passed Ann Currie’s sculpture barns and grounds where many rounded specimens could be seen through the hedgerow – well worth a visit when her exhibitions are on show, (and fibre glass casts being available for purchase at Compass Courtyard). Then it was through to Arkesden, Wicken Bonhunt and another long haul up to Rickling Church when a pause was made for some to don wet weather gear.

From Rickling onwards it was hard going – strong wind on the nose and driving rain at times resulting in Group 2’s decision to avoid the loop out of Manuden and to proceed directly to Hazel End, despite the potholes and heavy traffic on this stretch of road. The final stretch westwards was easier and then a blissful downwind mile or so to the Catherine Wheel completed the ride.

Lunch was excellent, as usual in this fine pub, and good conversation was had around a large convivial table.

Thanks go to Maurice for planning the route, to Andrew for distributing it and Charles for some of the photographs. In normal circumstances the ride would have been glorious, but such are the vagaries of English weather……

Martin

‘An “anticyclonic gloom” which has brought dreary grey weather to the UK is set to finally subside, with sunshine making a welcome return.’ This is what Holly Bishop of GB News said on 11th November 2024, which just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you hear on GB News.

The endless grey skies and cold weather indeed continue, resulting in some Windmill rides having to be cancelled, but we were fortunate to have a dry day on this albeit cold ride organised by Jeremy, and there was even sight of some blue sky at one stage, and so we can’t complain too much. It’s just English weather and it will improve, according to Holly Bishop.

Starting from the Duxford Community Centre, ten hardy Windmillers took part. Besides Jeremy, the others were Rod, Howard, Nigel, Ric, Alan, Andrew, Roger, Deborah and Martin W.

The mathematics of group numbers once again proved a bit of a challenge for Windmillers not knowing their 5x table resulting in Group 1 setting off with initially four in tow until a fifth caught up. Whilst waiting with Group 2 this reminded Martin of a Robert Maxwell story who once asked the senior partners of three top accounting firms bidding for his business what 3+2 came to. Two of them said 5 but the guy who won the business asked ‘What figure did you have in mind, sir?’.

Jeremy’s route took us through Whittlesford, Little Shelford, Hauxton and then towards Trumpington Meadows where some fine hedge laying was taking place before the M11 bridge. In Grantchester, there was a loud shout from Andrew at the rear of Group 2 as everyone ahead had missed the turning down a bridle lane and back over the M11 towards Barton. Then it was pretty straightforward through Comberton and Toft, passing over the Greenwich Meridian Line and soon arriving at the very warm and cosy café, The Stove, in Bourn for coffee.

The return leg took us back via Harlton past one of Ken Worthing’s famous off road Friday evening 40mpg rides (beer not petrol) taking the bridle way to Barrington with Lawrence Wragg, John Bagrie and others. This resulted on one occasion with someone falling into some blackberry bushes and yours truly doing the same through laughing so much and breaking a rib in the process.

The only event in Harlton on this ride for Group 2 was another loud shout from Andrew, this time with a detached chain. Fortuitously, this happened outside a house with this notice in the window, which got the onlookers talking whilst Andrew attended to his bike with some help from Rod:

Harston was next, followed by Newton and then back to Whittlesford where it was good to see a fine display of snowdrops, and if you fancy seeing a lot more just head for Chippenham Park near Newmarket.

Back at Café 19 in Duxford Community Centre, well ahead of schedule, a good lunch was enjoyed by those staying.

Thanks go to Jeremy for organising an excellent ride. Let’s hope this marks the end of the gloomy weather but if it continues maybe this will cheer you up: It was a dark and gloomy day and to make it worse I ate all the cheese in the house. Ain’t no sunshine when cheese gone.

Martin

A day of weather contrasts, leaving home in fog and wondering what the day would bring, the sun appeared past Reed and The Golden Fleece was was bathed in golden light. We gathered in the bar too a warm welcome from Jess and Peter and free coffee, what was not to like.

Jeremy was warmly welcomed, to tell us of his adventures in Antarctica, although he had travelled in style. Clearly modern Antarctic travellers are not hewn from the same cloth as those earlier adventurers, such as Scott or Shackelton. Should cruise ships be allowed in the pristine world of Antarctica, shouldn’t we be satisfied with armchair travel. Why risk an ecological disaster?

The sun was still shining as we departed, in two groups, for the ride, was all that warm weather gear needed, time would tell. Into Puckeridge and the first of the Road Closed Ahead signs, fortunately not on our track. Crossing the ever busier A120, we headed onto the quieter lanes, with only the usual gravel, water and mud to contend with. Making steady progress as the sunshine slowly dwindled and before long we were back in a damp gloom, winter gear was required. Our coffee stop was the Old Brewery Tearooms in Walkern, voted Hertfordshire’s best independent coffee shop. The warm welcome for coffee more that made up for the gloom outside.

The downside to the coffee stop is that there is not a lot of space inside, not usually a problem as we can use the marquee outside, but not on a cold winters day. So we had to spread ourselves around the vacant tables. not helped when another group of cyclists arrived, but the staff and customers are understanding on the needs of cold cyclists. When group 1 left not all were ready but our Leader decided the stragglers were capable and would catch-up, we did eventually!

An uneventful ride back, although again the dreaded Road Closed Ahead sign appeared, this time it was closed and only a diversion up a grass bank got us round the blocking vehicle, all in a good cause though, pot hole filling. Many more to go though, but I think slowly they are winning the battle.

However, group 2 had a less easy return with both Deborah and Roger puncturing, as a result Group 1 were well into their meal before the others returned.

Back to the pub and birthday boy Jeremy, of Antarctic fame, bought the beer. Thanks Jeremy.

The riders were, in no particular order: Maurice, Howard, Nigel, Paul, Ken, Andrew, Deborah, Jeremy, Alan, Roger, Charles, Rod.

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.

What sane person would choose to cycle on a cold foggy winter day, only a Windmiller. Windmiller’s are built of sound stuff and come rain, shine, frost of fog, on a Thursday morning you’ll find a group of old friends pedaling their local back lanes. This Thursday, as we assembled at the Fox and Duck in Therfield, it was a gloomy foggy morning and we knew that the usual long views as we left Therfield would be lost in the cloud. Lights were needed and those without were advised to pedal within the peloton.

Setting off in 2 groups, group 1 were misled by their leader and took the long route to the Wallington road, group 2 led by Keith, who followed the correct route reached the Wallington turn first. The road was CLOSED but the workmen, understanding that any diversion for cyclist would be unsafe, allowed us through, provided we walked past work in progress. They were fixing the potholes and drains. No cyclist should ever stop pothole filling, any workers doing that need our thanks. It was a pothole that was Graham’s downfall, fortunately he’s now on the mend.

Wallington is famous for being the village where George Orwell lived for 4 years prior to WW2, and the local village church is where he married his first wife Eileen. It was the local Manor Farm that provided the setting for his most famous book Animal Farm, which was set in the village of Willingdon. Although there may still be pigs who walk on their hind legs at the farm, it was too foggy to see any.

For those of us wearing specs, these soon became wet and steamy, restricting visibility and making the fog appear thicker than is was, my excuse for getting lost. Fortunately Martin has found the solution, although how practical these would be on a bike remains to be tested:

Keith identified an alternative solution, although his could prove tricky on some of the narrow styles we had to negotiate:

I digress, back to the ride. Leaving Willingdon, sorry Wallington, the road became a tarmac race track, the smoothest and newest tarmac we’ve seen in the many rides we’ve had this year. Why a very minor road leading to a small hamlet should have such a surface is a mystery, but maybe that’s the future for Hertfordshire lanes.

Pressing on through Baldock the next obstacle was Weston Hill, a long and steep climb, but then a fast run to our coffee stop at Church Farm Ardeley, where Group 2 had already arrived. First to the coffee stop though was Martin, who arriving late at the pub, had taken a more direct route cutting out Wallington and Baldock. He was fortunate to arrive as, as far as I’m aware, he is the first cyclist to collide with a Red Kite, which flew out from a hedge and almost knocked him off his bike. He’ll have had birdies in golf but this must be a first for cycling.

The return to the pub was uneventful, Group 2 taking the plotted route along a gravel trail, Group 1 choosing to stick to the muddy lanes. I must look more closely at what is plotted in future, less rush more care. But Jeremy did say the gravel was good.

A warm welcome back at the Fox and Duck, for what might be our last visit while Ivan is the landlord, he leave the F&D at the end of March for what he says will be some time out after over 12 years at the pub. A well deserved rest.

Considering the day, it was a good turn-out of riders: Martin, Gareth, Geoff, Howard, Jeremy, Keith, Neil, Nigel, Paul, Roger and Rod, with Maurice, Graham and Ken joining for lunch.

Rod – who has yet to workout how to copy the route into a blog!

It’s been a Black week for Windmillers. Other than Black Friday when hopefully some bargains were found, we had Black Ice Thursday which felled four Windmillers resulting in a different kind of Black Friday, plus Black Saturday and Black Sunday for Brian when the bruises appeared from his Thursday fall. But that didn’t stop him riding 26 miles on Monday with his Shelford Spokes group – a man truly made of sterner stuff.

Worst of all, however, was Black Monday for Graham who had a horrific accident near Harlow whilst doing a recce for his planned ride on 5 December, resulting in a blue light and siren rush to A&E to be assessed for his injuries and to be stitched up. It seems a water filled pothole was responsible for throwing him off his bike and landing on his helmet which got trashed in the process – without that it could have been a lot worse. Thankfully he was discharged early on Black Tuesday and was able to join us all for lunch after our ride and to show off his cuts and bruises – another great example of sterner stuff.

And it’s good to know there are still Good Samaritans amongst us. Graham fell outside a guy’s house on a quiet lane and was discovered lying unconscious in the road by his daughter. Together they managed to get him up and indoors where they called the ambulance and cleaned him up as best they could. The guy then delivered Graham’s bruised but not broken bike back to Ickleton a few days later. He deserves a medal.

So it was in a mood of careful riding and thankfulness that there was a short window of dry, mild weather available that 17 Windmillers set off on a hastily but brilliantly organised ride by Jeremy from The Pig and Abbott in Abington Pigotts which replaced Graham’s proposed ride. To achieve a pub booking for such a large number, let alone at the home of Pat’s famous pies, also deserves a medal.

Those riding were Alan, Charles, Deborah (from half way), Geoff, Howard, Jeremy, Keith, Martin W, Maurice, Neil, Nigel, Paul, Ric, Rod, Simon, Tom and Victor. This is where we went:

Setting off in three groups clockwise via Wendy and Croydon it wasn’t long before we reached Wimpole and climbed up to the ridge to enjoy magnificent views towards Barkway and Chrishall, where groups 1 & 2 merged for a while for the obligatory photos:

Descending from the ridge, the route bypassed the Wimpole Hall café and took us through to Orwell, Barrington and Shepreth before smelling the coffee on the outskirts of Melbourn where a high quality stop was made at Hot Numbers, and where Deborah joined us for the rest of the ride:

After coffee the route took us via Meldreth, Bassingbourn and Shingay although it was tempting to take a cheeky short cut in Litlington and get back to the bar first at The Pig and Abbott.

Back at the pub a warm welcome was received as usual from Pat and her staff where it was good to be joined by Graham, loooking better but still a bit worse for wear, and Brian who kindly drove him over. Unfortunately, Brian probably overdid it earlier in the week such that his leg was not quite ready for a 30 mile ride. We wish both him and Graham a speedy recovery from their injuries.

Thanks to Jeremy for planning and organising the ride at such short notice and to assistant photographers Charles and Simon.

Martin

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.

November 14th, another Thursday and I wake up to fog. I draw the curtains, the grass is still growing, the leaves are still on the trees. It’s my son’s birthday he’s 32. I remember the fortnight before his birth only too well. Nottingham had snow on the roads for all of the two weeks before. The ruts were so deep I had to park the car several streets away from the hospital and trudge the rest with two carrier bags. They mostly contained spare clothes, nuts and chocolate. Apparently women in late pregnancy double their calorie intake. Believe me that’s a lot of nuts.

Still this day was warm enough for shorts, just about. I got the bike out but could hardly see the road from the house. Still off to a Maurice organised ride from the Black Bull at Balsham. The fog on the way was even worse than at home.

Driving along I remembered on my son’s 10th birthday, our first in Chrishall, it snowed. His birthday party turned into a massive snowball fight. I’m convinced there is no joy greater than when 10 year old’s engage in a snowball fight. My only regret was I missed much of it while consoling a delicate, weeping boy whose hands were too cold to stay outside. The tears were half for the pain, half for missing the fun. A terrible life-lesson for anyone too sensitive about their environment.

Coffee and a chat in the car park passed the time as the fog gradually lifted.

It was predicted to clear around 10.30. Although they aren’t perfect, I’m sure weather forecasts are better than they used to be. It transpired that they were right this time.

See the fog at the start. Like hovering rain, it stuck to my legs. Yuk, where was that sun.

I set off thinking about how there had been no snow on his 20th or 30th birthday. I started thinking about the Gaia theory (pronounced Ga-ee-ya) In this theory, stuff living on the planet, in the oceans, jungles and everywhere else, interacts with the environment to form a self-regulating system that makes life on Earth possible, by stabilizing the system as a whole. So, you can think of the earth, the whole environment, as very like yourself on a ride, cold at the start, warm after a while and back to normal after half an hour in the pub. A wonderful self-regulating machine.

If you look at the temperature for November in the UK you might see what I mean. The black-dashed line in the picture above is the average, the trend, over 130 years.

Looking at the dashed-black trend line, in 1900 the earth is a bit warm, but by 1920 is back to feeling normal again. This undulation in temperate has been going on for thousands of years. Undulations that return to where you start will feel very familiar to anyone riding with the club. By 1950 it’s getting warm again, but as Gaia theory would predict, all the living stuff on the planet starts to restore normality. However, by 1970 it can’t quite do it, something’s in the self-correction machine is bust.

I’ll leave you to contemplate how thinking of the whole earth as being like a ‘single body’, like yourself, is a bit like a religious belief. After all, many ‘primitive’ religions emphasized one-ness with the sky, the rocks and rivers, being as one with all living and non living things.

One thing this religion of ‘eco-stuff’, like Gaia, does have in common with other faiths, is that it annoys people. It annoys them a lot. Its like having a Methodist berating you about drinking beer. “For goodness, sake leave me alone, I’m a grown-up”. Or a Jehovah’s Witness on blood transfusion. “My blood, my business”. Likewise, my organs, and as long as I’m completely done with them, I’d be delighted to help someone else. If you ask me, it’s wicked to bury or burn life-transforming biological material. That’s my firmly held belief, but you don’t have to share it.

So, no preaching about the climate. The data are the data and likewise your experiences might make you suspect that the trend is right. Remembering my son’s birthdays has convinced me, looking at data from expensive satellites has too. Some truth is inconvenient, that’s why it isn’t always popular.

By 11 the world around me had nicely warmed up, as had I. Time for a coffee at at Winners in Finchingfield. Nice place, very efficient and Group 1 (Roger, Maurice, Alan, Charles, Rod and Howard) already had their coffee and were comfortably seated outside.

If there had been more space outside, group 2 would have opted for that as well. But they had nicked all the nice spaces.

So group 2 (Neil, Myself, Brian, Tom, Chris, Gareth, Martin) settled for coffee and a cake inside. We made the best of it.

Actually it turned out to be a beautiful ride, designed by Maurice, with a few gentle undulations. Just enough to keep it interesting.

Special mention goes to Martin since it was his first 30 mile cycle for a while. Having missed much of the summer, at least there was a little sunshine and it must have been great to get out again.

Back at the pub we had a table and a room of our own. The service was as welcoming and as swift as ever. My meal was only interrupted when I realised I hadn’t paid at Winners.

Too busy taking photos for this blog. Still they were very nice about it. And lest we forget something much more important I include one of my pictures here.

Nice ride. Not too complicated. Made time for a bit of contemplating and reminiscing. Not too much I hope, since we all have to focus on enjoying the here and now.

Still this weather makes you think. Doesn’t it?

…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.

After a spell riding the lost railways of Andalusia it was back to Blighty and the Red Lion at Gt. Sampford. Once again the sun shone on a Maurice Ride with blue skies, a slight chill that disappeared by 10, and what turned out to be a fine ride through the deserted lanes of Essex.

Deborah was early. Yes you read that right. But she was using Jennie’s bike and a borrowed car, so the chaos of her house moving/renovating, bike loss, bike maintenance etc remains a much discussed Windmill Club saga. A bit like The Archers, but more interesting.

Our route is below.

I was in group one, lead by Maurice with; Paul, Rod, Gareth and me. Most of the pictures though are from group two; Jeremy, Graham, Howard, Roger, Kieth, Deborah and Andrew. This group followed the usual etiquette and got their group photo with the Gibraltar Mill, Great Bardfield in the background.

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly until we arrived at Tarka’s. We left our bikes up against the side of the cafe, since the ‘fence’ is only a couple of wires. One of the staff came straight out and told us not to leave bikes there because if people tripped over them on the way to the toilets then Tarka’s would be sued.

Intuitively I felt that this possibility was unlikely. We have experts in insurance within the Windmill Club, just like on every other subject, but I felt I could manage without additional guidance. I suggested that we move the bicycles to the other side of the wire. There they would be on the public road and covered by someone else’s insurance. But no, that was no good. Apparently the cafe was being enlarged and our bikes would be in the way of construction traffic. I stifled the thought that this was probably so that they could sell still more coffee and cake at £8 a go to cyclists, but instead suggested instead that we might take them round the back. But no, that wasn’t possible either.

I felt a rising sense of despair as I contemplated exactly what it was, that was within my power, which would make this lady happy. After all they have not (yet) invented hovering bikes or ones that take themselves for a ride while you have a quiet coffee. All the discussion was a pity really since this place is normally friendly enough. Eventually the fuss died down, we moved the bikes onto the ‘ultra-busy’ road, which is a dead-end and also serves a sleepy antique shop, then got on with our coffee. I made a mental note that, if they ever do provide some bike stands, I must leave my bike well away from the antique shop.

No complaints when the cakes arrived though.

I only ate half of my cake. Then, since I was riding a light-weight bike, I wrapped the rest in a serviette and gave it to Maurice, who returned it safely to the pub.

Charles rose fearlessly to the cake challenge with extra marsh mellow on his coffee. No further complaints were heard from the staff when Jeremy changed into a new shirt.

Unfortunately this was not the only coffee stop problem this week. Poppy’s Barn has decided to charge an extra 15% on groups of 6 or more. Since cakes don’t cost more for a large group, I suppose this is really a ‘we don’t want you here’ signal. Of course we cycle all year round and they may change their minds when the ramblers/wanders pack it in for winter, but until then we have re-routed our future rides to Compass Courtyard. Apparently the irascible proprietor of Poppy’s has had some dispute with a member of another, less polite, cycling club so its

“Knock knock” “Why are all cyclists the same” “I don’t know, why are all cyclists the same” “They all have bikes and they are in the way”

Anyway back to the joys of riding Essex’s best lanes on a nice day.

These were perfect lanes for a Windmill Ride. You could power ahead like Howard, while Kieth and Andrew chat two abreast. Or take-up the entire road for yourself, like Andrew here. Gareth and myself powered through the last 4 miles at a really good pace, which I enjoyed despite an all too close encounter with an oncoming heating-oil truck.

As usual the food at the end of the ride was excellent. This time Tom seemed to hit the jackpot.

Not bad for ‘pub grub’ I think. Then of course there is the beer. And with a beer in front of him Graham always looks like he’s won the jackpot.

I can’t say I blame him. After 30 miles or more the first one always goes down rather well I find.

Anyway great ride, excellent pub, well organised and lead by Maurice.

What else would you expect?

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

For a while Keith had been telling us that there was this great pub in Clare, The Cock. And what a load of old cock that turned out to be. They never replied to his phone calls or emails, so one Thursday he went round to knock at the door. Sure enough, it was closed. He judged (correctly) that a key requirement for a pub acting as base for a ride is that it should be open at 1 o’clock, and also preferably at 9 o’clock. He suspected that failure in this regard was likely to come up at the ‘Christmas Do’ so more investigation was required.

He decided to go down the road to The Swan although it didn’t look like it had any parking, only to find that they did, in a field round the back. So this became the base for our Suffolk ride.

With glorious late summer weather and the prospect of a ride through quiet lanes, the turnout was large, 18 in all. When I was at school we were instructed in a skill called division, so I naively thought that the 3 groups would contain 6 people each. Still after the first 8 had left I gave up on any notion of academic rigour as applied to Windmill club. The music in the garden also reminded me of very old times but there you have it.

I set off in the last 5. The going seemed hard. There was an annoying squeak from the bike. Perhaps the mudguard had got knocked while driving over? Still mudguards are a kindness to fellow riders when riding in a group, so you have to put up with them.

I got off. The side of tire was was sticky and hot. Odd but the wheel looked buckled. Had a fiddle, but everyone was keen to get on since we were only 10 minutes into the ride.

Quite a few hills at the start of this ride and by Belchamp and I was knackered. The locals seem a bit obsessed with this place. At one point all roads seem to lead to Belchamp. Perhaps they don’t want any visitors to miss out on its attractions or maybe it is 2nd World War sign intended to confuse the invading Germans.

By the coffee stop at Willow Tree Cafe near Glemsford it was clear to me that either my bike was on its last legs or I was, or possibly both.

Time to get help from one or more of our resident engineers. Anything can be fixed, especially when fueled by coffee and cake.

This is not something you want to see 15 miles from the pub, with your brakes rubbing, tire wall blistered and legs getting a bit wobbly. Still back forks are flared and by moving the wheel back as far as it would go and loosening the back brake it was possible to position the wheel so the bike was ride-able, just.

The cafe is quite posh and the service was very good, which was just as well since we spent most of the time bike-fixing. Our groups deficiencies in arrhythmic were partly addressed by us acquiring Deborah and Neil from another group. I will pass over the mere fact that we were now 7 out of 18. Its just a detail.

It was good to be joined by Neil whose bike is not deficient in any way. In fact its a very nice bike I thought. I wish I had one.

Here I can be seen, head down, encouraged by Rod while Neil enjoys his ride.

Despite my difficulties I can honestly say that this was a very nice ride through delightful, quiet Suffolk lanes. Grass growing down the middle, that sort of lane, where you can talk to fellow riders or just enjoy the sunshine and the piece and quiet.

Absolutely perfect.

Return to the pub made possible several long, cold drinks in the warm sunshine. The food had been pre-ordered and came out quickly through the effort of several busy servers.

Everyone seemed happy to have been part of another excellent Windmill occasion. It had been an adventure. New pub, new cafe, nice route, bike nursed home with some help from other club members and beer duly drunk. All that remained was to go home and nurse my very tired legs in a hot bath. Taking a leaf our of Andrew’s book I opted for a hot bath and 40 winks before my wife returned from work. Whereupon I tell her how busy I have been, gardening, jobs around the the house, that sort of thing. She expresses indulgence rather than any great belief.

For the record riders were: Keith, Jeremy, Paul, Deborah, Jenny, Roger, Sandra, Neil, Maurice, Rod, Charles, Martin B, Howard, Nigel, Andrew, Geoffrey and myself.

Doctor’s note and lunch only for Brian who is shouldering along, back to full fitness and of course our very best wishes to ‘The Reverend’ who is making sterling progress and whom I hope will soon be back as a lunching member.

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