The Tandem Club

Chris and Chris organised the August ride for the Taunton and West Country Groups where 14 tandems and 2 solos assembled at The George Hotel in Castle Cary on a warm and overcast Saturday. Members Carol & Tim and Mandy & Mike were making their first foray into Group rides.
After pre-ride coffee and cakes we followed the South Somerset Cycle Route south out of town and through charming villages such as North Cadbury, South Cadbury (past the site of the Iron Age hill fort, Cadbury Castle) Corton Denham, Sandford Orcas and Trent.
Splendid “sheep dog” work was done by Malcolm to gather up strays that missed one of the many twists and turns.
Lunch was taken at The Lamb&Lark @ Limington and both very good service and meals were fully appreciated.
Following lunch a gentle return through Kingsdon and Babcary to Castle Cary completed the 35 miles of occasional undulations.
Afternoon tea and cakes were enjoyed by several at The George once more and an enjoyable event was concluded without any mishaps.

Due to a poor weather forecast the decision has been made to cancel the ride out from Market Drayton on Sunday 12th August.

Andy & Anita organised the July ride where eleven tandems and one solo started from the Crediton Leisure Centre.   Amongst the tandems were two Pinos, one was John and Judy's new mount, the other was ridden by 'Freetrike' Tom and his young son Oliver.  Tom supplies a range of bikes and tandems specifically adapted to meet a variety of special needs. We were also joined by two of James' grandchildren, one on his tandem and one on a solo, so good to see youngsters on a club ride.

We set off at a leisurely pace through the back lanes towards Killerton House and our coffee and cake stop. On the way we happened upon our friends Julia and Meg who were out on a training run, getting ready for a 24 hour mountain bike race and then later in the year a run from Lands End to John o' Groats. They were soon pressed into service directing everyone through a staggered junction - thanks ladies. They rode with us until the picturesque village of Thorverton.  A few more miles saw us at Killerton and their excellent cakes and drinks.

The ride back from Killerton through Silverton was slightly more challenging than the way out, steadily climbing until just outside Shobrooke where we dropped 200 feet and then promptly had to climb 90 feet back up again before we reached the Red Lion and our lunch stop. The joys of cycling in Devon! The food was pre ordered  so we didn't have to wait too long for lunch, which was well received by all.

A short ride back to Crediton, and as if by magic, an Ice Cream van turned up just outside Mid Devon Tyres, I'm not sure who was more pleased, us or the guy in the Ice Cream van who suddenly had a massive increase in Ice Cream sales!

Thanks everyone for joining us, we look forward to riding with you again soon.

John & Judy together with Rex & Hannah organised the June ride for the Taunton Group. 10 tandems met at Hestercombe Gardens and set out in the sunshine for a gentle meander and morning coffee in the lovely walled garden of the Bike Barn in Taunton. 10 tandems continued over more challenging terrain, 2 turned round and took the low road while 8 hard core tandems carried on to climb up to Fyne Court at Broomfield. 10 tandems then met back at Hestercombe for lunch.

After cancelling the scheduled March ride due to 8' snow drifts, 9 tandems and 2 solos met at Bovey Tracey on a beautiful sunny morning for a ride over Dartmoor organised by Steve and Maggie. 

We started with the challenging climb of Haytor stopping halfway (about 700') at Ullacombe Farm Shop, where we enjoyed a leisurely break sitting in the sunshine. After our fix of coffee, we were now ready to attack the steeper part of the climb, which then plateaued out before another steeper section to the summit of about 1400',where we regrouped, taking photos of the iconic rock and the wild Dartmoor ponies. We then continued across the undulating Moor, enjoying the bluebells, gorse and stunning views, eventually winding down through the Devon lanes to the B3212. Heading east with the road twisting and turning and with a couple of fast descents, lunch at Moretonhampstead was calling. The Union Inn was welcoming and we were well looked after.

Remounting our trusty steads, we were ready for the slow, steady climb towards Doccombe, after which we were able to enjoy the long 4mile decent towards Dunsford. Regrouping once again at Steps Bridge, we then turned south to follow the pretty Teign Valley road towards Chudleigh Knighton and back to the finish at Bovey. We rode 32 miles and climbed just over 2700'. The ride seemed to be enjoyed by all and there were no complaints about the downhill sections!!!

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.

James and Liz organised the January ride where ten tandems and 5 solos met at Combwich just outside Bridgwater.

It’s rather fitting that the attached photo is taken in the pub - it was only a short ride and the weather wasn’t really on our side, but the majority of the ride was spent in the pub as the food took for ever to arrive!  Lovely people, as always, and an interesting part of Somerset to explore but maybe the constant inhalation of fumes from Hinkley Point Power Station slows the cooking somehow.  And they ran out of peas!

The Taunton Group had a short ride planned for the day of their Christmas meal which was organised by Ian and Lisa but the weather was so bad that it was shortened to just three and a half miles! Only 3 couples agreed to tackle the challenge – a ride up the hill to Peter Merson’s house where he kindly supplied coffee and a slide show of his early tandeming years. We also saw Peter and Jenny’s pictures of Salviac.

The Christmas meal for 39 Tandemists at the Walnut Tree was up to the usual standard and the Christmas quiz was followed by the prize for the best fancy dress – awarded this year to Nick and Rachel. The trophy for the couple who had attended the most rides was awarded to John and Judy. Nick then led us in song to the ‘French’ version of the Tandemists anthem ‘Daisy Daisy’ which the Taunton Group had sung previously in Salviac. 

Lisa and Ian were thanked for their work as ROs and presented with a bottle of wine and flowers.

Nick and Rachel organised a glorious November ride with coffee to start and then a mixture of gentle and more aggressive undulations over 22 miles. There were 27 of us and, had we laid our tandems end to end, it looked like nearly a furlong's worth! We went west from Taunton and strung out across the lanes of Taunton Vale to descend into Milverton. A Somerset local who on another day might have had a smock and a wisp of straw in his mouth asked us what we were doing clogging up his village, and encouraged all those on the back of tandems to rise up against their oppressors on the front. Then we went east back to Taunton and shared some good beer and delicious food at the Vivary Arms. It was then back to Nick and Rachel’s for a very generous afternoon tea and cakes spread

John and Judy organised the October ride with the Taunton Group starting from the Bocabar Café in Glastonbury. A beautiful autumnal Sunday drew a record-breaking 16 tandems and 3 solos out to cycle the Somerset levels on a 30 mile circular route from Glastonbury to Castle Cary, riding twice past (but not up) iconic local landmark Glastonbury Tor.

A delicious lunch in Castle Cary was followed by an impressive group photo outside the historic Market House.

Nigel and Mercedes organised the August ride where 10 tandems and 2 solos met at Barnstaple railway station.

Some members of the Tandem Club might be familiar with the Tarka Trail in North Devon where much of the route is on old disused railway lines. It is flat, with a good surface and is popular with cyclists and walkers. The problem is that it usually follows deep wooded valleys and consequently it's difficult to do a 'round trip ride' that avoids tandem 'unfriendly' hills. The August ride for the Taunton Group tried to achieve this.

The Old Bideford Road was the route out of town which led us via unclassified roads over the hill with a couple of long steady climbs and back down to sea level at Bideford. The sky was blue and it was perfect cycling weather. We then had to climb again out of Bideford with another steady hill to Gammaton Cross. If there was any muttering of discontent about the hills, I didn't hear it and I didn't quite think it was necessary to hide in the bushes whenever the group stopped. We joined the Tarka Trail at Weare Giffard in the Torridge Valley and this was a very steep descent. Lunch at The Cyder Presse at Wear Giffard and then it was the Tarka Trail all the way back to Barnstaple but stopping for tea and cakes at the Fremington Quay cafe. En route there are a few gates etc which require a little more care to negotiate than on a solo bike but the tandems can be wheeled and no heavy lifting is required . So in total it was 29 miles and 1130 ft of climbing which was all in the first half of the ride.