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It was real pleasure to return to the Golden Fleece at Braughing, home to many a pleasant Windmill Club occasion, including Christmas meals. The last few weeks might in fact have been Christmas, judged by the weather. However, this was the first ride of May and at least it had turned a bit warmer. Still cloudy though.

I’m always amazed that Jess remembers me, my gluten free needs, and that, this being Braughing, that I always order sausages. How does anyone do that when we only go a few times a year?

Better weather and the prospect of quite a good cake had resulted in an excellent turnout; Maurice, Brian, Martin, MartinB, Roger, Kieth, Paul, Victor and Andrew, Charles, Ken, Howard, myself, Rick and Deborah or something like that. The groups got mixed up several times for various mechanical and biological reasons.

In Greek legend Jason needs to find the Golden Fleece. He was accompanied by heroes in a ship called The Argo, hence The Argonauts. We intended to cycle to The Brewery Tea Rooms in Walkern, then to re-find The Golden Fleece. Well, I supposed, someone with a Garmin and a sense of direction might be able to. I’ve just come along for the ride.

Those up for a little further education might want to re-read the legend of the Argonauts. https://theargonauts.com/the-story-of-jason-and-the-argonauts/. I didn’t realize that some words from this source have entered directly into our language like Harpies; an unpleasant sort of woman, who were cruel to Jason. Also see Sirens, alluring voices, but likewise bad news. Bit of a misogynous theme developing here. More of that later.

The ride out to Walkern was excellent. We went via High Cross where is buried Captain Arthur Martin-Leake, one of only three people who have ever been awarded two Victoria Crosses. The first was in the Boer War and the second in the First World War. I suppose he must have been quite brave then.

Less resilience was required of us as we proceeded towards a beautifully cooked, home-made cake at the Brewery Tea Rooms. Safely ensconced in the tent outside, with the joyful sound of children playing in the local school yard, continuing living seemed preferable to any attempt at winning medals.

Still, everyone must suffer some time and this time it was Kieth who had a puncture. Two weeks ago it was me, and last week it was, oh no not him again. However that one was before the ride, so it doesn’t really count. Still a new tire, on the bike, should fix all that. Scwalbe Marathons no doubt, this should avoid the possibility of an end of year award. Hopefully.

The Argonauts did return to the Golden Fleece where they enjoyed excellent beer, food and a good get together. We were more fortunate than Jason who ends up underneath the aging Argo after his wife has killed all his children. I’ve already explained that he didn’t have much luck with women. Finally, he is struck dead by a rotting timber falling off the boat.  They don’t call them Greek Tragedies for nothing you know.

Thanks to Maurice ably assisted by Andrew for another vintage Windmill Club ride. 

So far it has been a Goodyear for punctures – not a patch on 2023, so pinched tyring and deflating puns have been few and far between. We were obviously treading on thin ice however – its a Marathon, not a sprint, after all and it all went flat today. For a blow by blow account, read on:

Martin’s ride was another “Only Way is Essex” spectacular, taking in some new quiet lanes, a new pub (the Maypole, Thaxted) and a new cafe (Booking Hall in Rayne).

Those wanting pre-ride coffees were thwarted by the discovery that one of our regular cafe stops, Parrishes, is now shut for the forseeable future. Luckily the Swan came up with the goods with great value coffee and bacon sandwiches.

12 riders set off from the Maypole in two groups. Group A initially in front, only to be overtaken by group B at the first puncture. Group A retook and kept the lead through punctures 2 and 3 in group B and maintained the lead despite sustaining puncture 4 at the cafe stop and managing the full route down to Waltham Cross and a cultural tour of Great Bardfield.

The route set off on a route devised to avoid the busy Dunmow road (but not to avoid puncture 1 to Martin W), across to Duck End (punctures 2 and 3, both to Simon) and down across the busy A120. Via a barely visible track, we joined the Flitch Way.

We have ridden a part of the Flitch way west of Great Dunmow before. This time we were heading east towards Rayne.

The Flitch Way stretches almost 24km along the track of the former railway line between Braintree and Bishop’s Stortford, which opened in 1869. Although the last passenger train ran in 1952, goods continued to be carried until the end of 1971. The name “Flitch Way” originated from the Flitch ceremony in Little Dunmow whereby couples who could prove that they had not argued in marriage after a year and a day would be awarded a flitch (side) of bacon.

At Rayne we stopped at the Booking Hall cafe for refreshments (and puncture 4, to Martin W) before rejoining the metalled roads heading back north. Group A had time to do the full Waltham Cross muddy lane experience followed by some, or all, of the advertised cultural tours, namely: “A brief visit to an ex-prison in Great Bardfield, now the home of a cottage museum where information about famous Great Bardfield artists is available”. Group B, having being more tardy in their puncture repairs, had no time for either.

From Great Bardfield it was a short ride back to Thaxted, fine food and ale and to meet up with Brian.
Group B: Graham, Keith, Simon, Geoff, Chris, Charles
Group A: Martin W, Maurice, Jeremy, Ric, Andrew, Howard
Group C: Brian (lunch only)

Jeremy, Graham, Howard and Brian had all ridden to Thaxted but the combativity award has to go to Ric who rode the whole return trip from Harston. Thanks to Martin W for another great ride exploring new routes.

A somewhat shorter than usual blog due to the author missing the second half of this week’s ride and lunch due to lingering coughs and sneezles. The rapidly diminishing start list bore testament to the fact that I’m not the only sufferer. (that, and the potential for some heavy showers, which never materialised). What we really need are some blue skies and sunshine to top up our vitamin D levels.

As it was, eight riders took to the road as a single group from Cafe 19 in Duxford. Ken apparently misread the ‘took to the road’ memo and literally ‘took to the road’ via an involuntary dismount on the loose gravel and boards around the cafe car park on his way into the cafe, having ridden in from Ickleton. The mud will almost certainly wash off.

Jeremy’s cunning plan this week was to visit a new local cafe at the Compass Courtyard, near Wendens Lofts. With this in mind, we headed off North, in completely the opposite direction, through Whittlesford, Newton, Thriplow and Fowlmere before heading South towards the cafe.

At Chrishall, Geoff timed his home departure to perfection, joining the peleton as it wended through the village.

For those familiar with the old Bicicletta in Saffron Walden, the Compass Courtyard is run by the people who used to run that cafe with the same coffee, menu and in-situ ‘home workers’ nursing their take away coffees and occupying the tables. Luckily the weather was clement enough to make sitting outside with the view a very viable option.

At the cafe, it was apparent that the combination of mucky roads and nagging winds were taking their toll and a slight short cut was adopted, eliminating a re-ascent of the hill to Duddenhoe End and the very wet and pot holed descent from Arkesden.

At the foot of the hill affectionately known as “Bastardo”, I left the group for a flatter run home. I can only assume that the remainder of the ride passed without incident and lunch was enjoyed by the partakers.

Thanks to the ever diligent Charles for the photographic record. The starters were Jenni, Jeremy, Andrew, Charles, Ric, (muddy) Ken, Roger and Graham.

Birthdays are coming thick and fast at present, what with Maurice’s last week, Roger’s this week and Rod getting in early next week with his 81st before he departs to Oz for 2.5 months after Easter. Keep ’em coming – we all love it when birthday boys and girls buy the drinks.

Graham chose a delightful route through quiet Essex lanes to celebrate Roger’s birthday. Accompanied by Rod, Maurice, Andrew, Ken, Keith, Simon, Deborah and the duo of Martins, the route started at an old favourite The Fox & Hounds in Steeple Bumpstead and took us on an anti-clockwise route via Great Bardfield, The Blue Egg for coffee, and through lots of Ends – Bridge End, Church End, Rotten End, Blackmore End – until the final end back at The Fox & Hounds for lunch.

This is where we went:

Great Bardfield is both a pretty and interesting place which is well worth a stop on future rides to admire some of its fine buildings, many of which were once homes to famous artists between 1930 and 1970. Known as the Great Bardfield Artists, they shared a love of figurative art which made them distinct from the better known St. Ives School of artists in Cornwall. Amongst them were Edward Bawden, whose works can often be seen in the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden, Eric Ravilious (who also made wonderful drawings of Sussex landmarks) and John Aldridge. Associated with them also was Bernard Cheese, whose paintings of boats on Aldeburgh beach are very collectable. A talk on Great Bardfield Artists is being given in Ickleton Village Hall on 11 July at 7.30pm for those who might be interested in attending.

All went swimmingly as far as The Blue Egg where, once again, we enjoyed some excellent coffee and cakes whilst sitting outside, although some were heard mentioning that the choice was not perhaps as comprehensive as usual.

The return leg of 20 miles started on the busy stretch of road outside The Blue Egg which created two groups of riders. The second group also split up into those who knew the way and those who didn’t, plus those who wished to admire some of the beautiful buildings that we passed continuously, so much so that Deborah suggested the title of this blog should be Beautiful Buildings Ride, which it is, sort of.

The lost souls caught up but it wasn’t long before a double whammy happened simultaneously to tail enders Deborah and Martin. ‘I’ve got a puncture’, shouted Deborah. ‘And I’ve got an electrical issue’, shouted Martin. The latter was easy to fix, or so it was thought, but without a spare tube or tools poor Deborah started to think about walking the 9 miles still to go. Martin’s spare tube was too big but a call to Gallant Graham, who frequently comes to Deborah’s rescue, soon had him whizzing back with a tube and getting stuck into the job of removing her tyre and replacing the punctured tube.

On we went, thinking that the first group was probably stuck into a pint and having lunch by this time, only for Martin’s electrics to play up again and a few minutes were spent sorting them out whilst Graham and Deborah went ahead. Eventually all 3 of us reached The Fox & Hounds together to find that lunch was indeed in full swing.

Joining us at lunch were Brian who had ridden 19 miles on his bike from home, Tom who had off-roaded on his motor bike for much of the way, via Chrishall, and Nigel who had come on his motor bike from near Much Hadham. All joined in with a hearty rendering of Happy Birthday to Roger, who kindly bought the drinks. Thanks Roger!

And what did we all talk about?

Thanks go to Graham for not only organising the route but also once again acting as shepherd to his flock.

Martin

It was quite a week of celebrations for Maurice’s 80th birthday. Firstly, a ride and lunch at The Pheasant in Great Chishill on his actual birthday of 11th March and then a repeat on the 14th from The Pig and Abbot in Abington Pigotts, surrounded by his Windmill Club friends on both occasions.

Joining Maurice on the 14th were Andrew, Roger, Keith, Paul, David, Howard, Gareth, Ric, Rod, Graham, Deborah, Victor, Geoff, Charles, Martin B and Martin W. After coffee and tasty bacon pastries provided by Pat, three groups set off on Maurice’s anti-clockwise route via Bassingbourn, Barrington, Haslingfield and the Eversdens to Bourn for coffee and then back via Longstowe, Hatley St George, Croydon and Shingay – a lovely 33 mile circuit and a mild dry day to go with it.

Charles came to the rescue of Martin W before setting off with a pair of spare gloves, Martin having forgotten his, only to discover that Charles had also forgotten to charge his battery, resulting in a range issue and his decision to take a shorter route to avoid the risk of having to pedal his heavy beast without power. Such are the potential woes of an e-biker.

Keith also had an issue with his rear gears refusing to work but luckily that only became apparent towards the end of the ride with a strong breeze head on to make matters worse. Deborah’s bike, however, behaved itself admirably after having given her grief on the 11th when her chain jammed well and truly for the second time. And who came to her rescue again? Gallant Graham of course. Bike repair shops in the vicinity will be having a field day.

Brian recommended an excellent new coffee stop in Bourn, The Stove, which all agreed was excellent and that we should pay another visit.

The route back was uneventful with some good speeds recorded whilst descending Croydon Hill, Howard in particular seen riding almost Tour de France style – was he actually sitting on the crossbar?

Back at The Pig and Abbot, where it was good to be joined by Simon in civvies, Pat did us proud once again with her fabulous choice of pies and puddings along with other excellent fare. The highlight of course was the celebration once again of the 80th birthday of our remarkable leader Maurice with a hearty rendering of Happy Birthday. That makes three 80+ Windmillers still pedalling strongly, albeit on e-bikes most of the time, (but there has to be a bonus for reaching such a milestone, surely?), and another to follow in a few months time.

Finally, fresh from the ski slopes with the Windmill ski team Andrew reminded everyone of his love of French petit pois, a large tin of which was consumed one evening apres ski. Missing his peas, Simon very kindly donated one to keep him happy:

Thanks go to Maurice for planning the route and buying a large round of drinks and the coffees, Rod for preparing and distributing the GPX file and photographers including Charles, Simon and Gareth. This is where we went:

Martin W

There is a reason why Ireland is lush and green and called the Emerald Isle. It rains a lot. Maybe similar reasoning can be applied to the 9 Windmill riders that turned out despite flooded roads and a forecast of torrential rain later ? Everyone, for the first time I can remember, was garbed in bright green.

And the Gold ? there was a belated presentation of the prestigious Windmill Pédale d’Or to our statistician in residence, Victor, for outstanding spread sheeting in 2023.

Brian’s route started from the 14th century Royal Oak overlooking Barrington green, claiming to be the longest village green in Europe. The Royal Oak had been taken over by Cambscuisine in 2022 so great things were expected of the food and beer (not to mention the traditional Black Adder sound track playing in the toilets).

The morning had started off very pleasantly, with a number of riders opting for the ‘green’ option by cycling to the start of the ride. The first ‘obstacle’ on the ride was the climb up chapel hill (AKA Barrington hill), past the old cement works site. It wasn’t clear whether the little mechanical ‘niggles’ befalling some of the riders up the hill weren’t actually strategic rest stops.

Barrington cement works, operating until 2018, has several claims to fame: it has high grade Grey Chalk as well as Chalk Marl on site and its unique geology allowed it to operate as a free-draining quarry. It also held the distinction of operating the last standard gauge quarry railway in the UK.

Because it is now the only remaining complete section of the Lower Chalk in the area, parts of the quarry is a designated SSSI, whilst other parts form an extensive landfill as well as a substantial housing development.

All was going well with the ride through Haslingfield, Harlton, Eversden, Kingston up to Hardwick. Then the weather took a massive turn for the worse and the heavens opened. From there it was a race for the sanctuary of the cafe at Coton Orchard, with sections of the route through Madingly being bypassed in the interests of getting to shelter.

After coffee and cakes and the ritual of trying to refit wet gloves, the rain had temporarily eased as we headed for the outskirts of Cambridge but had resumed its full volume by the time we passed Grantchester, Byrons Pool and Trumpington Meadows. By the A10 the group had fragmented with some opting for the sensible option of the direct route back along the A10 cycle path whilst others (stupidly) opted to take the full route down past the Thriplow daffodils and the flooded Foxton road.

Back at the Royal Oak, we were ushered into the bar with a woodburner. Even that didn’t alleviate the chill (possibly not helped by the fact that it was now loaded with soaking wet cycling gloves). We were joined at lunch and beer by Geoff and Ken who had done the sensible thing and driven straight there.

For the record, thanks Brian for organising complete with new pub venue and to the fellow lads in green: Brian, Victor, Jeremy, Alan, Roger, Andrew, Graham, Rod, Howard. Relatively few photos this week due to lack of an underwater camera.

The prospective riders were anxiously scanning their ‘phones for the expected “Launch Cancelled” message. None came.

Outside it was -7C when the riders set off or loaded their bikes into cars or, more sensibly, opted to crawl back under their duvets (Special mention, though, to Deborah who’s reason for not riding was more disturbing: she had suffered a break in and her bikes had been stolen). Nevertheless nine riders felt able to brave the ride, lured in by the promise of a balmy +2C later in the day. The starting point was The Bell, Balsham where lunch was ordered (via a coffee at the Old Butchers cafe for Graham and Howard) .

Martin W had sensibly done a drive by reconaisance of his route earlier in the week and the worst sections of icy road were removed from the course. This meant that road conditions were, for the most part, dry and safe. The three remaining short but very icy sections were all negotiated safely and at an appropriate speed.

And so, despite relatively good road conditions and a calm blue sky, it was still very sub zero when the 9 set off in a northerly direction past our old favourite haunt of the Chestnut Tree on our way towards our new favourite haunt, Victor Victoria cafe in Newmarket. Unfortunately, Dawg (Andrew) couldn’t get the circulation going to his frozen hands despite vigorous arm ‘windmills’ and had to pull out leaving us as a single group of 8.

The café looked quite full when we arrived, which was slightly worrying as sitting outside wasn’t an option for any of us. Luckily the staff were sympathetic to our needs and quickly pulled together a number of tables and chairs to allow us to thaw out in the comfort of the café interior. Personally, I recommend the mocha and a warm cheese scones with butter. Once again, thumbs up to Victor Victoria (public service info: soon to be opening a branch in Martin’s old office premises in Sawston).

A quick visit to the Bill Tutte memorial with photo opportunity followed (Bill Tutte was instrumental, alongside more famous contemporaries, in the allied efforts to decode WW2 Axis communications; more details in earlier blogs).

Then it was back on the bikes for the journey back to the Bell on the beautiful quiet Suffolk roads. The sun was still shining and the temperature had crept up past 0C. In the circumstances, it felt positively balmy to the riders; water bottles had thawed, beard icicles melted and smiles had replaced shivering grimaces.

Back at the Bell, Brian was buying birthday beers. True to form, Maurice, Deborah, Charles joined the riders for lunch and free beer. Happy birthday Brian. Thanks for organising Martin W.

Riders were Martin W, Graham, Howard, Martin B (on new steed), Roger, Brian, Alan, Tom and Andrew.

Indeed. The notoriously wet Violets lane. Welcome to the Windmill rides, John.

Thursday’s ride started in Brent Pelham, possibly the most central venue possible for the Windmill club.

The Brent Pelham parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates from the 14th century. It contains a black marble tomb slab from 13th century, upon which the name of legendary local dragon-slayer Piers Shonks and a date of 1086 has been added. Near St Mary’s church are ancient stocks which could accommodate up to three people. A derelict windmill also survives in the village. More on derelict windmillers later. Of more immediate interest was the village pub, the Black Horse, from which our ride started.

It had rained overnight; tractors and lorries loaded with sugar beet had added a layer of mud to the already wet leaf covered lanes. Thankfully the rain had stopped, leaving just grey skies and a surprisingly brisk south easterly wind.

..And so Martin’s route set us off towards the notoriously wet Violets lane. Mercifully, the route avoided the submerged sections and instead headed up the concrete farm track to Whitebarns Lane (a muddy farm track) to Furneux Pelham. From here more conventional (muddy) roads took us through the bypassed Little Hadham, the delightfully leafy Wellpond green and Standon.

Across the far side of Ermine street we finally pitched up at Westhill Golf Club for coffee (noting the wind swept golfers as we dived for the shelter of the club house).

After a leisurely coffee and tea cakes (‘leisurely’ on account of the maximum delivery rate of a single coffee machine), Alan cracked the proverbial whip and we were back on the (muddy) roads towards Brent Pelham via Buntingford, Alpacas, Red Kites aplenty and Anstey. Just outside Brent Pelham, we passed the Royal Observer Corps observer post, now in a state of disrepair.

Back at the Black Horse, a respectable Christmas Lunch party was already under way. Sensibly, we were accommodated by a fire at completely the other end of the pub, for a lovely lunch and beer. Another great ride, muddy, breezy but mercifully rainless, not too cold and incident free – thankyou Martin

Riders were: John, Debs, Martin W, Alan, Graham, Rod, Simon, Paul, Nigel, Martin B (looking slightly unacclimatised since having just arrived back from South Africa)

Any follower of cricket, especially in the UK, will know that the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) is designed to calculate the target score for a team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. The method was devised by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, and was formerly known as the Duckworth–Lewis method (D/L). It was introduced in 1997, and adopted officially by the ICC in 1999. After the retirements of Duckworth and Lewis, Steven Stern became the custodian of the method and it was renamed to its current title in November 2014.

All of this preamble is pertinent to Thursday’s ride for two reasons:
– The ride started and finished at the Cricketers Arms overlooking the Rickling Green cricket pitch.
– The ‘match’ was, indeed, “interrupted by weather or other circumstances”

An overnight freezing fog forecast had proved correct and a number of Windmillers decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decided to sit the day out at home with a mug of warm cocoa. Nevertheless eight hardy souls made it to the start, all with tales of icy roads and poor visibility. Over a coffee, a consensus emerged: Yes we would ride (see Rule 9, below) but a slightly delayed start would allow the fog to lift and Simon’s route would be shortened to 31km to avoid the most minor roads.

As the sun started to break through, we set off very cautiously and headed via Henham to join the Thaxted road just outside Elsenham. As we’d hoped this road had been well gritted and, as a bonus, was much quieter than we had feared and so was a real pleasure to ride on, with the sun now fully out and providing some warmth. In fact so effective was the sun that two of our number opted to sit outside Parishes cafe in Thaxted for their coffee and cake !

The second part of the ride followed pretty much Simon’s original route via Debden, picking up Martin on the way after a late start.

And so to lunch. The Woofchester’s Bark Burgers on sale at the bar were, apparently, for dogs only and so it was the more usual pub fodder for us !

Velominati rule 9: “If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.” https://www.velominati.com/

The riders were Debs, Alan, Graham, Simon, Roger, Jeremy, Brian and Rod with Martin W joining us for part of the way.

This Thursday’s ride once again showed the quality of our cycling adventures. From award winning pub, via award winning cafe, through some of the best cycling lanes in the area.

Fom The Chestnut Tree in West Wratting, rural pub of the year 2023, via the Victor Victoria Coffee in Newmarket, best cafe of 2023 and through quiet lanes in beautiful autumn sunshine. It could be worse you know.

The route was;

The route was designed by Graham, I particularly enjoyed the views descending into Newmarket alongside the ‘gallops’ for race-horses.

It was a good turnout, which was no surprise in light of the weather. Groups 1; Charles, Maurice, Sandra, Chris, Rod, Alan and Andrew, who appears to be practicing for his Christmas ‘rock-performer’ impression.

The second group got split up when I had to stop and get my front tire pumped back up. Still Gareth, Jeremy, Geoff and Roger carried on in the clear but chilly autumn sunshine.

By Newmarket it was time for a hot drink and a cake. Group 1 had taken position outside, resulting in Victor becoming far to warm and comfortable inside the cafe, smelling the freshly brewed coffee. Meanwhile I didn’t feel smug at all.

After coffee Victor was able to indulge his interest in shop signage. Who am I to complain having interrupted many a ride to photograph agricultural scrap-iron and bags of horse excrement.

The second photo perhaps requires more explanation. In ‘The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin’ his place of employment ‘Sunshine Desserts’ gradually loses letters from above it’s head-quarters doorway in step with Reginald’s declining desire to carry on with his pointless job. Something which struck a cord with many viewers. Certain other aspects from the series also entered into national conversation including; “I didn’t get where I am today …” from the boss and ‘super, fantastic’ in response to stupid ideas from fawning subordinates. The series also gives a subtle nod to surrealism (Dada), whenever his mother-in-law is mentioned, Reggie visualizes a hippopotamus trotting along. Classic subversive British TV, that would mystify an international (American?) audience I think.

On the way back to the pub our group split again(!) with myself and Graham doing a steep bit past some rather attractive wind turbines and the ‘spliters’ taking the easy route for the last mile.

Good food and beer at the Chestnut as normal. News that they are selling the pub and moving on is very unwelcome. Nothing stays the same I suppose, enjoy things well you can and hopefully we will be able to find another lovely pub from which we can explore this area.

Thanks to Graham for organizing, really enjoyed it, as I hope we all did.