Taunton Regional Group

The Taunton Tour de Potholes was held on February 15 attended by nine tandems and Ed on his recumbent. We met at Monkton Elms garden centre for coffee and cycled a 25 mile clockwise route through villages around Taunton. 
Throughout the day our thoughts were of Dave Jones from Weston super Mare, one of our founder members who had passed away during the week. Dave and Janet had regularly joined our rides and trips away. We shall miss their company and also miss them roaring past us downhill. 
We returned to the restaurant at the Monkton Elms Garden Centre for a super Sunday Lunch. Fortunately no one disappeared into a pothole during the ride and the rain was slight.

Photo is in memory of Dave and shows him with Janet on the Tarka Trail with the Taunton Group

The Rides for Easter are now available at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?group=tce2026. This link is also at the top of the events page. Chris Juden has put an amazing amount of work into these, thankyou. There are 4 available for Friday and Saturday and 6 for Sunday. Broadly most go the same way, the variations are with distances and smaller loop additions. When you go to rides, there are various downloads. 1) The GPX file 2) Route Sheets. Chris has done detailed route sheets and route descriptions, these are all on the same PDF which is duplicated for all the rides. Even if you never use a route sheet, please download and print this off as it really will enhance your experience. The final PDF is a map I have produced for each route from Rides where I have labelled the map with the highlighted information, these will also be on display in the marquee. Both Chris and I share the same vision in that we try to prepare things so that you get the maximum information and locations for the things you will encounter on each ride. Any queries please ask.

Last day of bookings. If you know anyone who is thinking of coming then please book by the end of today please. We have 126 people coming which is fantastic. Hopefully everyting in place, a speaker, a band, tea stops arranged, glorious routes and you never know the sun may shine. There are a few gaps on the comittee so I'm sure Peter would lve to speak to you before the AGM. For myself, doing stuff for the Tandem Club over 30 years now has been life enhancing, give it a go

I have been working in the background, over the last year, on improving the Rides system software. This is basically complete and you will now notice a new Rides selection system which I hope is easier and more intuitive for everyone to use. It will likely have bugs, so please email webgroup@tandem-club.org.uk with any noticed issues and also possible improvements.

The Rides list is at: https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides.

The help for this new system needs to be updated and will be over time, but I hope it will be intuative enough for people to user as it stands.

CAR PARKING FOR THOSE OFF SITE - This is really important. The campsite is pretty full as it's Easter, so there is very limited parking for those not staying on site for the event. This includes arriving at the start to commence a ride. To manage this, please can everyone tandem to the campsite or join the routes as appropriate. There are room for a few cars, I need to know in advance if you are thinking of coming by car please. Can you send an email to neil@tandem-club.org.uk. Thankyou

The March ride was a short 20 mile circular adventure with 8 tandems , 3 solos, 4 ducks, a flock of sheep and two early chiffchaffs all led by Rachel and Nick . 
This carefully curated route started and finished in Wellington (Somerset) and cunningly bi-passed a series of marshes swamps and bog land that used to make up the local by ways . 
As the sun came out signalling a farewell to Winter, the daffodils glowed and frolicked on the verges. We stopped for the first alfresco cafe stop of the year at Bridwell Court near Uffculme. 
Revived, we tackled the perilous crossing of the main South West express rail line between the 1145 to Penzance and the 1158 to London Paddington both remarkably on time. 
Getting a single bike over the line can be dodgey, but as we in the club are aware: tandems: twice the dodginess. 
We proceeded to take a turn along the Tiverton Canal tow path and again skilfully avoided losing any participants. We returned to base with much conviviality and recovered over a delicious lunch at the White Horse Bradford on Tone. Yum.

Nick & Rachel

Final pre arrival information. ARRIVAL TIME - From 11:00, ideally earlier. The pitches have been pre-allocated, information on the booking form in regards camping close to friends has been passed on. Karen who manages the campsite will be there to guide you to your pitch (she also has a tandem) I intend to drive up on Wednesday evening after work, so will be there as well. MARQUEE - With a variety of things going on, 30 chairs have been ordered and lighting. There will be a solid floor. For those on the site, it would be hugely appreciated if you can bring along a chair and use this in the marquee. THURSDAY EVENING - There will be a talk on the railways and canals that you will be cycling. FRIDAY EVENING - Peter Weeks will do a quiz SATURDAY EVENING - The band SUNDAY EVENING - Experimental, but a show and tell in the marquee. If you wish to use media, please bring pictures etc on a flash drive. I will have a laptop and projector but!! my laptop has stopped talking to the projector, so if anyone has a laptop and projector as a spare that would be fabulous. I will bring a screen. PARKING - We think this will be OK, if you are off site or coming to the AGM, please park tightly. I just don't know how many cars there will be as had 4 replies (thankyou) about this last week. FOOD - No shop is close by, so come prepared. RIDES - Please download the GPX, make sure you can access Rides in the Tandem Club database and please print off Chris Judens amazing route sheets, they are brilliant. WEATHER - Looking better, I have no control over this. See you soon

When I say earlier for arrival time, I mean from 11:00, not before 11:00. The AGM is at 16:00 on Saturday, that's Peters department, just need to be finished in time for the band.

Marquee is up and waited. All boarded just in case

waited = waiting (sorry)

First day. Arrival from 11:00 please. The marquee is up and the pitches are allocated. Tonights entertainment is Mike Higginbottom who will be giving an hours talk 'Railways across the Derbyshire Peak for cyclists' starting at 19:30 in the marquee. I should be at the campsite at around 11:30 and have printed maps of the routes which will be available in the marquee. For riding over the W/E. We will be riding on trails that can have a slippery surface as there will be gravel. If cycling in groups, please be aware of other traffic and although there is no set figure, maximum of 6 tandems together with a gap to allow motorists to pass safely. Please check your tandem in the morning to ensure that it is safe. An M check is an excellent way of doing this https://www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/our-blog/get-active/mcheck/ The weather is looking OK over the W/E with chances of rain, so please go prepared for this.

The Club Shop has arrived on pitch 14. Will be in the Marquee later

TONIGHT Welcome drink 18:30, bring a glass please. Railway talk 19:30

Hi we have brought a Dolan to sell silver 105 gears hydraulic brakes available to view pitch 61, £1200 on

AGM this afternoon 4pm in the marquee.

Zoom link. Helen Blundell is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Tandem Club 54th AGM Time: Apr 4, 2026 04:00 PM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83455321713?pwd=6iHWbW0mAK6huAmWebGJoS5HS5lMLY.1 Meeting ID: 834 5532 1713 Passcode: 471968

AGM at 16:00 in the marquee. Band at 19:30.

Sorry no Zoom access at today's AGM as poor wi-fi on site.

Just going through the pictures. This one was from the photographer at Kirk Ireton

April 2026 ride postponed till May

Mary and I live in Bishops Stortford, and started tandem rides in the area last autumn.

We have a new Club Secretary Jan Cheng who is taking over from Helen Blundell.

Helen has been an excellent Club Sec and I am sure Jan will be the same. Many thanks to her for stepping up and allowing the club to continue for us all.

Just to let you know we are organising rides in East Essex, close to the Herts border - see the Herts page for details. next ride May 9th

GPX files now available as a zip file on the Attendees Page

I loaded all of the map information onto my Garmin 1050 approximately two weeks ago. Before moving forward, I wanted to confirm whether that version should still be current, or if there have been any updates that would require me to reload or refresh the maps. Please let me know if I should proceed with what I currently have installed, or if you recommend updating prior to use.

I'm struggling to load them onto my Garmin etrex 30x, it and the laptop are the same as I used for the 2023 rally without any difficulty.

May Ride postponed till June

We can bring pre-ordered items from the Club Shop. e-mail: Club Shop with details.

All the electric pitches are taken for the National in August. However there is electric in the marquee to charge devices and I will probably be able to find a fridge. All evening activities in and around the marquee, so non electric is definately a good option, why not join us?