Taunton Regional Group

Hi I am gluten and dairy intolerant so find it hard to get cake will there be options that i can choose from?

Brilliant We have about 8 families coming I think. Not the 12 I was hoping for but really encouraging Please book in on the website and I’ll have a look when I get home. There is plenty of space, so you are most welcome. Any problems, I’ll iron them out Neil (still in Mongolia)

Hi Neil , thanks for getting back to us , I have already booked for the 6 of us on the website but at that point did not book in the family section so perhaps you could move our booking to that section and add an extra tent. Many thanks Jason .

Neil, Are we going to be able to get the runs list for the rally THIS COMING WEEK ? We expect to be away the week preceding the rally(at CTC New Forest WEEK so will need to print off our routes next week. Thanks Ian &Jill H

I would really appreciate it, if folks could stop asking for the route sheets and GPX files on this medium, Facebook and by personal email. Life is busy, I have just returned from 2 weeks in Mongolia as stated and have a busy life, not just involving the Tandem Club. Please be patient, I could be utilising the time finalising things rather than responding to these messages.

TUESDAY ROUTES. I have opened up 3 of the routes SHORT https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1901 MEDIUM https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1903 LONG https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1904 All the rides head out the same way and return the same way. Each ride has been ridden and checked over the winter in 2025 and detailed route sheets and pictures to give you a flavour of the route enclosed. If you can do the long ride and have time to visit Cadbury Castle (a 40 minute way there and back, it's a worthwhile thing to do.

TUESDAT ROUTE FAMILY at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1917. This is 25 miles long and includes the National Trust proprties of Tintinhull and Montecute. There is quite a hill out of Montecute, you could cycle to Montecute, have a look around then reverse it to Tintinhull, that would work. I am going to release these in batches for each days before Thursday. Each have been ridden and written up with route sheets. All the icons on Rides show you what will be there. On each evening aside the rest day on Friday at 19:00, I will talk the next day through before the evening activity.

WEDNESDAY ROUTES These are at SHORT/FAMILY https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1906 MEDIUM https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1907 LONG https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1908 These head west. For the medium and Long please go prepared as the western parts are poorly served with pubs/cafes. The long is quite a ride to Wellington. If you have time go and look at the monument, but the view isn't as good as you'd think, better the layby a mile before. The caisson lift which I've highlighted is in my opinion quite something.

THURSDAY is velocio day. It's a test of map reading and route planning. The format will return to the one that Stephen Dee did in Stratford. There are multiple clues in several directions each has a value and all you have to do is cycle to whichever you think will get you the most points. For families, I have done clues in the closest towns, designed for you to cycle there and walk around in a limited area to find the answers. As a twist points will be awarded for stopping at a tearoom and having a piece of cake or an ice cream. It's a fun event. In the evening, we'll mark the entries together in the marquee as I have pictures of each clue. There is a grand trophy as soon as I locate it.

FRIDAY. Heading south. The family/short ride is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1910 Through Martock and Stoke Sub Hamdon and onto Barrington Court. Some good places to eat and drink, including The Feed Station at Merriot that was CyclingUK's cafe of the year a few years ago. The medium ride is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1911 and extends to the lovely rail trail from Chard to Ilminster

OOOPS, hit return, so FRIDAY CONTINUED. After Ilminster through Dillington Park and back via Barrington Court. The long is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1925 This takes you further south. If you have time, you can visit Forde Abbey. I stopped at the delightful Thorncombe Village shop that serves a good cup of tea, a community shop seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Out and return as the medium Ride

OOOPS again FRIDAY is the rest day, nothing planned aside the Hog Roast in the evening

SATURDAY RIDES are the ones I labelled as Friday, apologise

SUNDAY. Last day and it has to be Glastonbury. The short/family is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1920. There is no sensible way to shorten the short for a family, but it could be reversed to go back, but there will be a climb as on the way out, it is shorter than the short if you do that. The medium takes in Wells at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1921, well worth a look, to get in the mood watch the film 'Hot Fuzz' and mind them swans. The long ride heads to Castle Cary. Personally I liked this ride when I test rode it (as with all the routes) a few months ago. The countryside around Castle Cary is different to the levels. It's at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=1922. These have 6 as the number in front, could be 4, but it makes no difference really. So endeth the routes, I hope you can print of the detailed route sheets and please have a look on rides, even icon tells a story and helps plan to get the most out of the day

Hi Neil Can we fit in a jumble at the rally? I have a few bits and I am sure others will have also. Perhaps on the Wednesday or Thursday? See you soon Chris & Margaret

A seconder for jumble please. Mark and Gill

A seconder for jumble please. Mark and Gill

Ive tried to download the route for Saturday and Sunday so i can print it out but i am unable

Hi John. Could you download Tuesday and Wednesday?

If we add bringing things to sell, that should work. After the Tandem Games

Download route sheet as PDF file

Tuesday and Wednesday were ok but no link to Saturday or Sunday

Only links to gps and tpx

CAMPING WITH FRIENDS. The site is exclusive use and not that large. However I can try to arrange for friends to camp next to eachother if you are on an electric site. To allow this, can you liaise with the folks you wish to be next to and as a group tell me. What I can't easily do is cope with daisy chains, where X wishes to be close to Y and Y next to Z, then Z next to A etc. Please email me privately at Neilwheadon1@gmail.com. For non electric there is space and non marked pitches, so come along and save a space for a friend. All the families will camp together if they are non electric. Having written this as the campsite is small and there are new members, everyone mixed up is a nice thing to have.

Download for route sheets on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully fixed, thanks for the fedback

Janet and I will be bringing a selection of items from the Club Shop

I contacted the campsite to check for availability a

Over the weekend before the rally. They have spaces and said they anticipate having the rally pitch allocations so we can be put in the same one throughout without having to move on the Monday. Is that correct?

PRE CAMPING FOR THE RALLY. I visited the campsite for the last time yesterday before the event and Sally gave me the list of those that have booked a pitch before the rally. I will be allocating pitches by Saturday and people prebooked will be placed where they will be during the rally. It is therefore absolutely crucial that anyone booking a site before Monday emails me and tells me, otherwise you may have to move when the rally starts. Can I also put this one to bed please. I have had maybe 6 emails regading the price of the pitch at the rally being £10 more than if you booked it yourself. There are 2 factors. Firstly the level of extras involved. The extra showers and marquee are just shy of £3000 for example, you don't get that for hiring a piece of grass for a day. The other is the fact that we have sole use of the site, so a single figure was asked for. In advance it is tough to guestimate the break even point, therefore for the clubs sake I took the decision to make sure that it would hopefully break even. Any surplus does not go to shareholders it either goes to the club or is ploughed back into the event. Previous organisers may appreciate this but having some money to play with takes an awful lot of stress out of putting these together. In short this is an event

Hi Neil. It would appear that you used Ride With GPS to create the routes. Did you save them with public or friends visibility? If not, would it be possible to make them available to us? It would appear that inporting the gpx files only loads the route with no cues. It would be particularly helpful for David and me to have the turn-by-turn cues which ar automatically generated when creating a route. Thanks Peter and David