2015-07-14: Ride to the sea

Post date: Jul 15, 2015 5:2:6 PM

The weather stayed fine and five of us made it to Tiptree for the start of this years "Ride to the sea". Ant Stevenson led Roger Pask, Tony O'Byrne, Jane Sherry and Steve Rogers on a great route to Maldon and back. The ride took us through quiet back roads to the sea wall and the cinder track which led towards Maldon. It gave us beautiful views of the Blackwater estuary.

The subsequent ride into Maldon gave the lie to anyone who thinks this part of Essex is flat but we recovered with a very good lunch at the Queens Head next to the many restored barges. What a lovely town Maldon is and unknown to most of us before this ride.

On the way back we stopped at the Byrhtnoth monument recording the Battle of Maldon (locals versus Vikings, locals won) of 991. Tony O 'Byrne had ridden to Tiptree from Shenfield and overall rode 82 miles on the day, the rest of us half that. We started and ended our ride at the Wilkins Cafe at the Tiptree Jam factory. Cream Teas, friendly service and the occasional delightful wafts of cooking jam made the day complete.