Hi, we have a 1200k Audax in September starting from Deventer in NL. Would any members, especially NL members know the best way to use the trains or any other method to get us and the Tandem from Rotterdam port to Deventer. We are currently at the ITR if possible to discuss this.
Update on Janet. Following her fall last night we attended hospital in Goes. She has broken her cheek and we have an appointment with the Maximo facial consultant on Monday
Good morning Campers,
Today (Monday) will take you onto the Rammekes Route:
Day 2. Middelburg - Rammekes Ride IDs: 863, 860, 861
Free tour of the Cheese Farm Schellach, https://schellach.nl/,
Prooijenseweg 26, 4333 KD Middelburg – Tours will happen on demand from 10:30 when there are enough in a group, some waiting around might be required. There is also a self-guided tour (follow the footsteps on the ground) and a milking viewing platform, cheese making window, play meadow and terrace. The shop sells locally produced cheese and other products.
Please remember to book your meal for Friday today (Monday) with reception, thee will be one free drink on arrival (tap beer, glass of wine or a soft drink)
Nothing specific organised for the evening although the beach volleybal is available for anyone who fancies organising a game!
Have a good day,
The Veere Rally Team
In case you didn't know , the ferry does not run on Mondays nor Fridays
Good morning,
today (Tuesday) will take us to Goes.
Day 3. Noord & Zuid Beveland (Goes) Ride ID: 851, 852, 850
The tandem games will not hapoen on Tuesday night now due to the weather firscast benig quite rainy. We hope to do these on Wednesday evening.
Hopefully you have all booked your meal choice for Friday?
Have a good ride!
The Veere Rally Team
Janet has had her operation and is back on the campsite. All went well.
Good morning Campers,
Today (Wednesday) is a Day off, no route planned but we suggest a ride to Veere (use the cycle/pedestrian) ferry across the lake. We have the community hall booked in the centre of Veere from 12:30 till 16:00 hrs (any time in between) and you are welcome to pop in for a social time with free coffee, tea or fruit juice and traditional Zeeuwse bolus. We also have a number of traders showing off their tandems and garments. You are welcome to bring a picnic and sit in or outside. The address is:
De Korenmaat, Kerkstraat 6, 4351 AK in Veere. From 12:30 – 16:30 hrs
In attendance will be:
- Staerk Bikes - www.staerk-bikes.nl tandem manufacturer
- Sports basics https://www.sportsbasics.nl/ – cycling under garments
- Livecycles.Bike – bike builders from Haarlem
- brandz-bikes.com/
End of rally meal on Friday - Contrary to a rumour going round there are still places available for most time slots, which are: 16:00 hrs, 18:00 hrs & 20:00 hrs.
The Weere Rally Team
Tandem Games
Tandem Games will start at 19:30 and will be held on the strip of grass that is between the surfing toilet block (nearest one to the rally marquee on pitch 918) and the lake. Competitors and audience welcome!
Good Morning Tandem Campers,
Today's (Thursday) rides will take us across the Oosterschelde Dam to Schouwen-Duiveland. The whole area of Zeeland was very badly flooded in 1953 and many people died. As a results the Delta works were started and the Dam is one of the many measures put in place. For those doing the extension from Zierikzee, you will be able to visit the 1953 Watersnood Museum in Ouwerkerk (https://watersnoodmuseum.nl/).
You will also have the pleasure of cycling across the Zeeland Brug, 5km long to get you back to Zuid Beveland!
4. Oosterschelde Dam & Schouwen-Duiveland, Ride ID: 866, 885, 864
Evening: informal gathering, you are welcome to bring any
tandem related items to try and sell or recycle
(marquee) from 19:00 onwards or come and talk to Neil about the excellent mapping tools on the Tandem Club website.
Janet Pritchard is feeling a lot better now and is just a bit tired!
The Veere Rally Team
Good morning Rally Campers!
I hope you enjoyed your visit to Schouwen Duivenland and the new tandem game: cycling across a bridge in a straight line for 5km!
Day 5 (Friday) will take us along the coast on Walcheren to Domburg and towards Vlissingen. Don't forget your voucher for your free icecream at the IJsboerderij De Koehoorn, https://dekoehoorn.nl/ijsboerderij/ If you do the short after 22.6 km you have to turn right (at knooppunt 46), if you do medium you will pass it at 47.1 or long at 76 km. There is a marked map in the tent.
In the evening will be the end of rally meal, hopefully you will all have booked in for one of the sittings. You can get your first drink free from the bar, this is a tap beer, a glass of wine or a soft drink. At 19:30 there will be a interlude for a couple of short speeches. You are all welcome to join in for that.
The Veere Rally Team
Here's the ice cream stop on Friday
https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=873 LONG at 76km
https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=872 MEDIUM at 48km
https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=871 SHORT at 23km
Map enclosed, have a lovely final ride
Neil, Eugene and Phil
Just to confirm that the icecream farm is open all day contrary to what it says on their website! 😀 Sunshine is on its way!
Hi
I've tidied up all the rides from Veere and added 6 pictures to each, an example is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/rides?cmd=view&id=872
There were 2 bits of feedback from Veere. Firstly that the rides weren't in any particular order, this will hopefully be addressed. It's to do with the numbering system. Basically when you enter a ride it gets a unique number, this cannot be changed, but we've thought of a workaround. Secondly the naming convention needed thought about and as you may see I have altered all the names now. This will be looked at for fture events.
I have also created 5 galleries, so for example the one for the Friday medium ride is at https://tandem-club.org.uk/showcase?cmd=view&group=&id=145 The system is clever enough that these galleries can be linked to the ride which I've done. Even better all the galleries for an event also appear in the ride, so it's agreat historical record.
Now everyone can add a gallery, all you have to do is create one and add you pictures. It would be great if folks can create a gallery for the short and long routes and maybe add any others to the medium ride. This further helps anyone using these routes in future as people do
Finally, I showed about 10 people the Rides database in detail ad all were surprised just how much was in there and the functionality. I'm the first to admit the interface is tricky at first (an upgrade is coming) but once in there, there is a lot of good stuff, check out 'published rides' The easiest way in, is to use the search button right at the top, type in a place or even a name of a popular tourist attraction (English Heritage/NT for example, scroll to the bottom and hit the hyperlink, that will get you started
Thanks again to Eugene who did all the admin as well as Phil and don't forget Tony
Neil
The May ride of the Taunton group was blessed with a glorious sunny day after a real downpour the previous day. Arriving at Fordmore Farm Shop and Cafe in Cullompton, it was evident that everyone was keen to fuel up on coffee.
Once assembled in the car park and the obligatory photo call, we set off at a good pace with 9 tandems and 5 solos on a circular route along some beautiful East Devon lanes. The ride was led by Ed and Gary with Mike being the sweeper up. Soon Mike called in to Ed to say that someone’s battery had been left behind but they were able to catch up shortly afterwards. The route took us through the hamlet of Mutterton then Clyst Hydon and Talaton villages.
A coffee stop at Escot House was most welcome. This is the family home of the Kennaway family and the Wildwood Enterprise visitor attractions.
The route headed east and then north passing through the villages of Feniton, Payhembury and Luton. Gradually climbing there were views of Dartmoor followed by a descent back to our start point. The route also had some challenging road conditions due to the farmyard debris and evident water run-off from the fields. The narrow lanes were not too busy but good weather does bring out the motorists and tractors with trailers too.
We arrived back for a well-earned lunch. There was an additional 10 mile loop organised by Jeff and Vicky afterwards but most were satisfied with the 28 miles of mixed terrain, some having made journeys from Torbay and Bristol to join us.
Ed and Gary
The rally bookings and T-shirt / hoodie bookings for TCN2024 closed closed on Sunday 30th June.
223 people have booked.
Further information about the rally will be published soon, including rides.
Six tandems and two half bikes met to start the ride at the Fives Senses Cafe, a little bit of Portugal in Chard. The weather was fair, with light wind and some sunshine. After navigating NCR33 through the town the group headed up hill through the forestry to pass Avishays house, (a house dating back to the 1790’s) just visible through the hedge from the lane, through Chaffcombe Village, to skirt the reservoir and nature reserve to rejoin NCN 33. The group left the NCN route at Peasmarsh, uphill to Kingstone then down the lanes, narrowed by grass heavy with seed, picking up part of the Fosse Way to Dinnington. A climb to Hinton St. George, downhill to Merriot and a very welcome break at the Feed Station, a cycle themed cafe.
Refreshed, the group set off to Over Stratton, South Petherton, the via Stembridge to Burrow, a bit of a climb past the cidery and distillery, sadly it was closed!
Some of the group were ahead and had an extra hill to Shepton Beauchamp as the group leader, who was behind the first three, took a command decision to take the rest of the group off the planned route on a more gentle climb. After a phone call between the two groups they met up again on a the bridge above the A303 then via Seavington St Mary, up a steep little hill back to Kingstone and onto Dowlish Wake for a very pleasant pub lunch.
After lunch the group decided they wanted a flatter and quicker route back to Chard. After leaving Dowlish we reached the hill below Cricket Malherbie, then DOWNHILL to Sea (not the sea, the hamlet of Sea) to pick up NCR33 back to Chard . We departed from Chard shortly after ten thirty and were back about four fifteen. Thirty-five miles, or thirty-five point five for the breakaway group with 2150 ft of climbing.. A pleasant rural route through country lanes and hamstone built houses, very Somerset!
David & Fiona
We will be posting further information about the rally soon, but in the meantime, I picked up an OS Landranger map (1:50,000) from Go Outdoors on Thursday for £6.50 - a deal with their card. Landranger 75 and 81 cover the majority of the rides. Landranger 80 is only required for 2 rides: the Medium and Long West routes.
A glorious ride through sunny North Somerset lanes was the setting for the Taunton Group’s July Ride. 9 tandems and 3 solos set off from the wonderful Strawberry Line community cafe (where there are paid jobs for adults with learning disabilities) at Yatton Railway Station for a 28 mile amble along the lanes of North Somerset just west of Bristol.
We started along Cycle Route 26 along Kenn Moor with views towards Tickenham Hill.
Passing the outskirts of Clevedon, we joined part of the Avon Valley cycleway along the peaceful shady Norton’s Wood Lane, we then turned towards Walton-in-Gordano and made our way up the coast road climb to reach Portishead with beautiful views towards Wales.
After a speedy downhill we enjoyed a coffee break at the Portishead Open Air Pool cafe (community organisation) and enjoyed views of the sailing racing in the Bristol Channel.
We then made our way through Portishead via Sheepway and Portbury to climb Portbury Hill via the quiet Failand Lane.
We had a spectacular descent down Belmont Hill (Wraxhall) then joined the Festival Way cycle path. We then approached Nailsea via quiet lanes and cycle ways to arrive at our lunch spot, The Moorend Spout.
Suitably refreshed we sped along the lanes back to Yatton. 28 miles well cycled.
As you can see from the photo, one tandem on the ground was a bit of a theme for the day (two tandems down at snail pace on sharp bends). Despite this, no injuries were sustained and we all happily made our way home in anticipation of the England football Euros 2024 game.
Duncan & Nicki with Karl & Lisa
I have spent the day going through the route sheets which are pretty much prepared and looking at the Rides database. For everything that is mentioned, I have created a place of interest icon that details what's there and that includes the 2 fords on Fridays route where you can look at what's there. This now has nearly 10.000 entries and last week I used it exclusively to find things in Powys. The map can either be google or open street view and everything is exactly pinned to its location. What it does is get rid of all those other things that google tells you about and just gives you the information you need. The fastest way to use this is a shortcut and I find it works briliiantly. Login to the members area and in the search icon (magnifying glass) type in the town, are you are in. So it you are in Wooler for example, enter Wooler, Choose a place within wooler then click on 'show on map', you'll get the map for Wooler and the things that matter for you. I'm biaised obviously but it works beautifully
Two more scammers Stephen Kyle and James Lewsen from John Lowe