February Warty21st February, meet at Wickford for 9.30 start.
NB There are no trains between Shenfield and Colchester on 21st, 22nd and 28th Feb. This will not worry Wartiers from London, who will want a Southend Victoria bound train from Lpoo St.
Londoners should buy a cheap day return to Burnham-on-Crouch, which is the same price as for Wickford at £8.10 with a railcard. About £6 on a groupsave for 4.This ride will have three significant climbs. Within a mile of the start, we have Brock Hill, which is good for 35 mph when going the other way. Later there is Bushy Hill (known to CTCers as Radar Hill) via Edwin's Hall Road and finally St. Lawrence Hill, famed for its lost chevron. The old 1" OS maps gave it one, the 1:50000 have taken it away. None of them is Ditchling.
11ses will be at the Round Bush pub which has a cafe alongside. More of a beans-on-toast café than a cakey one in my experience. Good value.
Lunch will be at one of the Bradwell or Tillingham pubs, all serving ale. Del & I intend to research this.
Notable points on the ride: St. Peter's on the Wall, a wonderful Saxon church; splendid views of the Crouch estuary in the first instance, and later the Blackwater. Tony Benn's house (well, we'll see the road leading there). Bleak, utterly bleak, remote coastal farmland. I think even the remote bits of Lincolnshire struggle to come up with this sort of bleak.
NSTN rating: good. There are two or three roads marked white on OS maps but they are concrete farm tracks frequently used by road bikes. There will be very little skog because on this ride there is little or no woodland. There might be some mud from agricultural vehicles.
The "official" ride will finish at Burnham in a sea-wall pub. There are trains back to Wickford at 39 mins past each hour, except the last which is at 11.23 p.m. Trains between London and Wickford are are 3 an hour. This will be just short of 50 miles. Delthebike has kindly agreed to act as ride leader for anyone who wants to cycle back to Wickford (about 20 miles from Burnham). If I can persuade Mrs Wow to ride solo, I'll join you on the way back to Wickford. If you choose the Burnham - Wickford option, it will be dark.