Southend

Tuesday 21st April It was a sunny day but disguised by a cold, Easterly wind. I was dressed in my winter gear and I was ok. Unfortunately Dave saw the sun through the window and dressed in short sleeves and shorts! Peter C was leading and took us along the standard route to Papermill Lock. The tearooms was fairly quiet. Luckily we were able to sit in the sun. Nine of us went on to lunch through Witham and the Braxteds. Lunch was at The Swan in Little Totham. Once again if we hadn’t arrived there were only about 8 other people. How do these pubs survive? Fortunately the ride home was generally with the wind behind us. 50 miles exactly for me. Trev

Thursday 23rd April St George’s Day. Trev’s route was a bit long for me so I had a start/finish at Hatfield Peverel. It meant a short ride to the Steam Pump Tea Room where I joined Ralph and John H. There was a party of school children having fun with water cannons and having rides on the miniature railway. The place looked splendid in the sunshine. I hadn’t really studied Trev’s route but was surprised how much was the same as mine on the upper part. At Fairstead I did a shortcut but not before I visited the church. This is Grade 1 listed and contains 13th century paintings and the building uses many recycled Roman bricks. It not being locked is a rare thing in Essex! I arrived in Terling about 10 minutes before the main group. There were seven of us lunching outside under a very blue sky. The 3rd Baron Rayleigh of Terling Place was a clever bugger and worked out why the sky is blue. Sunlight is made up of several colours but blue light is scattered about 10 times more than red light. After this discovery it was called Rayleigh scattering. He made a number of discoverys including that of argon for which he and another guy were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Jeanne and Stewart did Trev’s route but had a late start and at a different pace. They used the Owl Hill Tearoom for their lunch. It’s the last days at their current location as they move to the chapel on Church Road on 2nd May. I was riding down Terling Hall Road minding my own business but could hear a cycle group bearing down on me. I was expecting them to flash by but it didn’t happen. I got out on Main Road smartish and didn’t see them again. 21 quality miles for me. Mel