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Essex and East London
Organisers Contact:This is a Tandem Club regional group.
I have complied a list with the help of some members, that gives details of cycle friendly cafes and tea rooms where we like to stop in our area when we are out riding. I thought this might be useful if you ever visit this part of the country and wanted to plan a ride in the lovely countryside.
If you are aware of any that we might have missed then please email me with details and I will add them to the list which can be found in the document section at the bottom of the East London/Essex Region pages.
Hope you find it useful.
Vivienne Woodroffe
Also, I have found a very useful website, halfwaycoffee.com, which shows on a map cycle friendly cafes, country wide.
Alan Peck
It is with regret that I have to pass on the news of Ken Saunders death. He, together with his wife Margaret, were founder Regional Officers for the North Essex, South Suffolk area of the Tandem Club. He passed away on Tuesday 6th March after a return of his throat cancer. They had a tandem trike and were often to be seen out in the byways of Suffolk and farther afield, with their dog Lulu in a carrier behind. Ken was a great character, very friendly and with a good sense of humour, he will be sadly missed.
You have sent a message to David but I received it on "technical@tandem-club"
As I am standing down as Tech officer I will need a login under...c.peachey@tiscali.co.uk. I have requested this but it is not functionning yet, perhaps because I an still tech officer until Sunday.
What a good idea to have a booking sheet it will save a lot of hassle. Could we suggest please, that those of us who are parked up in the field use our vehicle registration number as we don't have a pitch number.
Alan and Wendy Baird did a great job organising the camping weekend at Wickham Market.
They had produced routes for all 4 days. There were 15 tandems and 3 solos so the Sunday ride was split into 2 groups The first group left Wickham Market at 9.15am with the 2nd group departing at 9.35am.
It was overcast and a bit cool for the time of year with a moderate wind.
First stop was at Peasenhall after 12 miles, the cafe had been pre booked and the faster group were about to leave as the 2nd group arrived. Excellent planning by the Bairds. The next stop was at Dunwich after 27 miles for lunch. It was pleasant enough to sit outside and eat our fish and chips. Again the timing was perfect and the 2 groups managed to have a chat while dining.
With 7 miles to go the 3rd stop was at Snape Maltings. After a welcome drink and a short break we set off on our final leg back to Wickham Market where there was a small celebration for one of the riders 80th Birthday and of course cake was involved.
The roads we took were small and hardly any traffic. The ride was very enjoyable thanks go to Alan and Wendy Baird for organising a great weekend.
We went back to the cottage, bathed, has a pizza and spent a nice evening in front of the fire with a few friends.
After a hot drink we set off from The Coffee Shop at Thremhall Park on a tour of the Essex and Hertfordshire countryside. The weather was kind to us with the sun making a welcome appearance on several occasions. The ride was uneventful apart from one puncture and having to stop to round up a stray dog at Hatfield Forest. On our return to the start Allison and her staff were ready for the hungry hordes and served us quickly with our pre ordered lunches which were of the usual high quality that we always receive from this Coffee Shop.
Epic 100 mile ride through the Essex countryside calling at Timbers Rayne, Waterside Cafe Witham and a pub somewhere near Writtle
The ability to download all the rides, by a member, in a zip file will be available once the rides have been published here.