Old Hunstanton , Norfolk 2018

Day 1 Tuesday 10th July

The big surprise on arrival at Caley Hall Hotel in Old Hunstanton was the temperature. Having become accustomed to two weeks of sweltering conditions in sunny Hertford , an abrupt change to 14 degrees and cloudy was certainly a shock to those of us who'd brought only shorts --i.e. all of us except Ron , our boy scout who came prepared with leg warmers, and Sue who must have known something we'd all missed

After checking in and taking a leisurely lunch , Dan led us for an afternoon ride to Sandringham. This was the first challenge to the myth about Norfolk being flat. The quiet , pot hole free lanes passed through tranquil villages and estate houses and were certainly fantastic to ride but totally flat , they were not.

Regrettably the Queen and the Duke could not get to the Sandringham cafe to greet us as they had a prior engagement in London, (watching the RAF celebrate 100 years ), but many of our group nonetheless treated themselves like royalty with cream teas , cakes etc. to supplement the recent lunch.
Geoff Perry provided a bit of entertainment by smashing a drinking glass over his cake then ,after careful extraction of shards, attempting to eat it. He discovered it was still a bit crunchy however ,so Sheila immediately took matters in hand by whipping it away from him and exchanging it for a fresh one – big smile on Geoff's face.
The return journey found some of the long straight Roman roads of this area , and these often seem to exaggerate the climb of any hills ahead – i.e they looked harder from afar than they turned out to be.
Sue managed to get a puncture a few miles from home , but as she and Graham were staying in their own caravan , we didn't bother to help them out and just rode on without them. ( actually Graham insisted we went on , and quickly made the repair)

We completed 29 miles on the first day , and returned to Caley Hall around 5.00pm ; plenty of time for a shower, shave (or whatever ladies do) and snooze before dinner at 8.00 pm.

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Day 2 Wednesday 11th July.
Caley Hall Hotel put on a substantial breakfast and clearly many cyclists had the impression that the planned trip to Wells would require all the calories on offer.

The controlling factor for today's ride was the football World Cup semi final and Allan organised an early 5.30 p.m. sitting for dinner , for those who wanted to watch the match. This meant ensuring we were all back to the Hotel by 5.00p.m. latest . A military style edict went out that all cyclists should be on parade for departure by 9.30 am sharp- this worked well, then Sue discovered something wrong with her front wheel ( it was going round and round ?) . Whatever it was Graham managed to fix it, and we set off in three groups in dull chilly and breezy conditions. Radio contact was wonderful for the first 5 miles or so , then the back group became detached and didn't meet up with them again until Holkham Hall . Here they made an unscheduled coffee and cake stop , which encouraged the two following "lead groups" to then do the same.

Groups 1 and 2 at Holkham Hall memorial

After this stop we had all of three miles to our lunch destination of Wells next the Sea. The plan to eat en plein air along the harbour wall was however thwarted by the chilly weather, and most of us retreated to the warmth of any eatery we could find with room. A few brave souls could be seen nonetheless eating takeaways as planned , and pretending to enjoy the experience.

After lunch we regrouped -again under strict orders not to be late - and made our way via Little Walsingham to Burnham Thorpe . The plan here was to visit the Church where Nelson's father was curate , and where a memorial to Nelson himself is constructed from the timbers of his ship at Trafalgar. That was the plan , but the World Cup semi final was looming, so an executive decision was made to cycle directly to our next destination of Burnham Overy Staith - a small picturesque tidal creek and hamlet. The low tide ( muddy) and uninviting weather took the edge off this otherwise pleasant backwater , and the we quickly motored on to our afternoon coffee and cake stop at Burnham Market. Despite time constraint this was felt to be an essential halt. As there were about 20 of us we spread ourselves between the various cafes in this so called "Chelsea by the sea" ; except Allan who made his mark by visiting a wet fish stall and purchasing Oysters after asking the stall owner to open them for him.

It was then a nearly 10 mile straight Roman Road for home , which we essentially had to ourselves. We arrived back  having completed 48.5 miles shortly after 4.30 p.m. in plenty of time for the early diners to attend to ablutions . Those who did eat early rearranged the lounge furniture to ensure comfortable viewing   ~~  but we all know the outcome. Oh dear , and today was Chris Ramsden's birthday!

Among our party was six non cycling spouses , and those who could had spent the day walking and visiting the local seal colony off Blakeny point. They obviously had enjoyed their day and shared their experiences at meal times

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Day 3 Thursday 12th July

Today's ride  to Castle Acre was a more relaxed affair , but we still managed a 9.30 am departure.
Chris Meade who was leading the back group along with Ron , was under the misapprehension that he had planned the route along with Anne ( who was leading the first group) . Ron had certainly written out the names of villages the route passed through, but they soon found signposts to be few and far between .Net result was that the back group was totally dependent on Chris's Garmin , and we all know Ron's opinion of Garmins! They did make it however, and in a time that enabled the three groups to get  seated in the only cafe on rota system. Whilst some were lunching , some walked down to see the ruins of the Priory.

Some of the old ruins

The really energetic walked on further to the remains of the Castle , originally built as a Motte -and -Bailey at the time of the Norman conquest , but later reinforced with stone walls etc.

Our return home was made exciting by a radio message from the rear group

( Chris again ) that they'd gone round in a circle soon after leaving the cafe - she later spread a malicious rumour that she'd been misdirected over the radio. By the time they'd sorted themselve out , they were once more out of radio contact and we didn't meet up again until cream-tea stop at Great Bircham Windmill.

The pace then picked up as some riders smelt home and disappeared in a haze of dust in front of the leader. Unfortunately they missed a turn and arrived at the Hotel some 15 mins behind us more sedate cyclists.

That evening after dinner , Chris Meade  expressed our gratitude to Allan for organising this trip and made a presentation to him in appreciation.

In reply he made the point that it's success was in no small way due to the easy and cooperative nature of participants.












Day 4 Friday 13th July
Obviously unlucky for most of us ; we had to return home on this Friday 13th,  The irony was the sun came out as soon as we left the hotel after breakfast , and we were sweltering again by the time we reached Hertforshire.
In fact our weather conditions were far better for cycling , so we should add this to our list of positives for this excellent break.

So.... where to next year?

----------------------------- More photos in the picture gallery ---------------

Hertford Community Festival June 2018

East Herts District Council has a commitment to promoting health and fitness in the community , and to this end they support "Active East Herts" - a network of local organisations who deliver sports and physical activities.

We accepted an invitation to participate in the " Hertford Cycling Festival" put on by Active East Herts, on Hartham Common and had one of a dozen or so stands at the fare.It was largely aimed at youngsters and young families, the central attraction being a really impressive BMX show put on by three potential Olympic 2020 freestyle riders -- right next to our pitch.

We had 15 inquiries , but these were mainly from  people of working age seeking social rides in the evenings or weekends. 

The organisers considered the Festival to be a success and hope to repeat it next year , but to include activities other  than cycling.

My thanks to Tim and Allan for their encouragement and support.

Going Dutch June 2018

Our LF 1 route

This was our second tour within the Netherlands and followed the LF1 part of the North sea route from Dunkirk to Den Helder. On this occasion we decided to leave cars at home and rely on trains and ferries to transport us to and from our start and finish points.

Day 1 was made exciting by a major reorganisation of train timetables and last minute cancellations , which meant 4 out of the 6 of us making unscheduled cycle dashes to St Pancras station before 8.00 am in order to catch our Train to Dover for the ferry. After a farcical frisking at UK boarder control we boarded the ferry in good time ,and the sun shone as we had lunch during the crossing . We and several other cyclists left the ferry  at Dunkirk in high spirits but 5 mins later ,the mood changed somewhat as  we found our route barred by high fences and locked gates - presumably migrant barriers. Eventually a port official came along with keys to let us out into France.

That's when the fun and games really started. The plan was to cycle 30 miles to our hotel via a pleasant coastal route which bypassed much of industrial/ urban Dunkirk. We knew however this required the passage over a lock gate - this being about 5 miles into the journey. All indications were that many others had used this route but , possibly because it was a Sunday, the bridge was secured by yet more fences and gates , and we could not get through. We therefore had to retrace our steps and take a torturous route through the back streets of Dunkirk. After 43 miles we arrived tired and hungry  at our Hotel in Belgium, Somehow we found the energy to take a taxi into Oostduinkerke to seek late night restaurants . 

Day 2  . In view of the  kerfuffle yesterday , an executive decision was made to take a short route to our next stop in Bruges. We set off  in bright and breezy weather and within a few hunderd yards of leaving our Hotel we                                                                                                  came across the first sign for the LF1 route and the "

Blue Whale rubbish sculpture - Bruges

Fietsroute" numbering system used to waymark cycle routes in the Netherlands. Our coffee stop was after 16 miles in Oudenburg , then we had a relaxed  ride along a canal to reach Bruges by mid afternoon. Dan and Derek were able to Garmin lead us directly to our Hotel where we clocked 31 miles. We spent the late afternoon taking tea and strolling around Bruges  , then after some of us had had a kip, we took our hotelier's advice to dine in an excellent restaurant within walking distance

Day 3. We knew this would be the longest and most exposed leg of our journey - 59 miles. Again the weather was a mixture of sunshine and cloud but , most significantly the breeze was against us - a constant 9 - 12 mph. We set off early and pushed hard to reach Breskins by mid morning . It was here we were to catch a Ferry from Belgium to Vlissingen in Zealand.

Securing the bikes on the Vlissingen Ferry

We just had time to enjoy a coffee before the ferry arrived to take us on the 20 minute crossing. On arrival in Vlissingen we made our way to Middleburg for lunch in the "Imagine" cafe.  It took some effort to extract ourselves , knowing that ahead of us we had a long breezy ride across exposed Dykes. However we made good progress and reached the De Bajaard  Dam and delta project in good time.                                                                              Once across the three dams and sluices  of this delta we took afternoon tea and completed the next 10 miles or so to our hotel at Renesse ( Ellemeet ) .                                                      In fact it

took us  a minute or so to convince ourselves that the Garmin had brought us to the right building , there being no obvious indication of it's name.  It was a popular hotel however ,as demonstrated by the bike shed which was over full. We were glad therefor that we had booked the hotel restaurant before our arrival. Surprisingly when we arrived at the restaurant was not overfull and  we found the menu arrangement rather odd - there was a self service buffet arrangement for the starter , but the main had to be ordered from a limited list. Those who'd ordered the starter were well pleased with it -- but then came the main ; or rather it didn't. After a long wait ,Chris decided to "remind " the waiter that we had not been served.  After another 15 mins or so , she did so again and the food  was then quickly served . It didn't take a gourmet to realise however that the food had been under warming lamps for a very long time. Those who had sweets were equally disappointed in what was offered. At this point Chris expressed very clearly  and forcibly her conclusion that some recompense was due, and  managed to negotiate drinks and other goodies on the house.

Day 4.

The LF1 lead us over 3 more impressive dams and sluice systems of Zealand and south Holland. The going was tough as the headwind had picked up to around 12 mph ,but at least it was bright and sunny.

We had to cycled 17 miles before we were able to find a coffee stop at the Zeemeeuw fish restaurant at Havenhoofd. Although tempted by the fish dishes on offer we made do with the chocolate brownie given with the coffee, then cycled onto Rockanje (24 miles ) for lunch. This was in a cafe in a sheltered ,sunny square and we succumbed to the temptation to linger ,despite knowing we had an infrequent ferry to catch some 12 windy miles further on. This was at Maasvlakte, and plied between the north end of Rotterdam Europort and the Hoek of Holland. Towards the end of that 12 miles the countryside changed from nature reserves to petrochemical industrial , with a long, busy and tiring climb over a flyover. By this time the wind had really picked up and we were glad to reach

Dan falls asleep on the Maasvlakte ferry

the ferry landing - an isolated pontoon with a "bus shelter" to protect customers from the wind - but disappointed to find  we'd just missed a ferry and had an hour and a quarter to wait.
The "Fast Ferry" lived up to it's name , whisking us to the Hook in about 20 mins,; plenty of time for Dan to catch up on his beauty sleep after his lunchtime beer. ( Didn't work though ).

From the Hoek , we had another 6 miles to our Hotel at Naarldewijk , giving us a total of 42 miles for the day




Day 5  We started the day shopping around Naaldewijk for a cycling jacket for  Rip van Winkle who'd left his on the ferry the day before. As it happened , the rain held off for the whole holiday , but the jacket was seen as a windbreak over the remaining days. Our route now took us directly north along the Dunes of the Dutch coastline , passing major holiday locations. The LF1 takes a slight detour inland at Scheveningen , and it was here we came across a weekly street market. We decided to take our coffee stop here as we'd completed 11 miles . After a further 14 miles  or so ,and a slight Garmin hiccup , we came across -and succumbed to -an inviting Cafe in the woods near Noordwijk. We then passed over more undulating dunes and wooded areas and made good progress until 12 miles before our destination, Ray got a puncture . It was however very slow , so the decision was made to pump up the tyre periodically until we reached our hotel in Ijmuilden. That worked OK , but did mean we missed our afternoon tea stop.
It was here in Ijmuilden that we had our best meal. A restaurant attached to the hotel provided an excellent menu and friendly atmosphere .

Day 6  Bob had planned to spend the next two days with his own itinerary , so while the remaining five of us completed our breakfast ,

Dan preparing my bike for puncture repair

we waved goodbye to him as he cycled off towards Amsterdam. The very slow puncture in my tyre was then repaired ( a thorn) and we set off for Den Helder.
Today's journey was almost totally over undulating dunes , and again he headwind added to the challenge.
We made a welcome coffee stop at Egmond aan der Hoef , where we saw a peculiar bike/scooter device ,propelled by a running action on a platform.

More dunes and woods lead us to Camperduin ,our lunch stop ( more cheese'n ham toasties) then onto Den Helder  (48 miles) and the Weinerhof Hotel where we were to spend two nights.

Day 7  Our last full day of cycling was spent on the isle of Texel.

Awaiting the ferry for Texel

Along with many weekend trippers to the island we caught an early morning ferry , then set about circumnavigating the island. Being a holiday destination, many of the roads and tracks off from our route lead to beaches and reserves . On route we passed a number of bird reserves and those in the know ( Derek and Dan ) were able to identify many species that are rare in the UK. I identified a starling.
Lunch stop was at De Cocksdorp overlooking another street market.
Our journey from De Cocksdorp was notable , not only by more bird reserves but by the fact we'd turned south and for once the wind was behind us. We practically flew back to the ferry and our Hotel in Den Helder.

Day 8 By joint decision , we caught the train from  Den Helder to Rotterdam ( via Amsterdam ) in order to spend some time city seeing. Mary had found some locations to visit - most notable being a really huge and remarkable indoor market. Dan treated us all to Belgium chocolate , then we made a 20 mile cycle ride to the Hook of Holland to catch our night ferry for Harwich. We arrived at the Hook, hoping to board at 6.30 ish ; instead we waited 90 mins whilst they loaded seemily hundreds of lorries first.

Day 9  The Ferry docked in Harwich  around 6.30 am. As we couldn't get our bikes on a train before 9.30 ish we decided to cycle to Manningtree and catch the train from there. On route we made a detour to Wrabness to see the house of a famous potter , whose name escapes me , and arrived in Manningtree in time for coffee before our train to Liverpool Street , where we separated for our various journeys home.

A really great holiday  , great company and an inspiration to do something next year  -- ideas??