Saturday 25 August
Whilst many sat in self-made mega-jams of up to 70 miles long on this Bank Holiday Saturday, six of us got the fast intercity Liverpool Street 60 minute train to Manningtree on the river Stour. £10 return with railcard. There was 10 seconds of demarcation nonsense as we tried to board the train....our tickets were, for a short while, not good on Anglia trains. But they let us on to the new style sliding door train with two special bike areas that take 4 bikes each.
Manningtree is much more interesting than I expected. We left the wharf area for next time and detoured three miles to artist John Constable's birth-village of East Bergholt, then Flatford Mill where his hay wane got stuck, and Willie Lots millers cottage next door (lovely, all much less pretty pretty than expected). Then back to Manningtree to Robert Adams Mistley Towers on the estuary (that architects only shot at church architecture), I then forgot I wanted to see Mistley for me but headed south through lovely car-free lanes to Brightlingsea.
Brightlingsea is a famously cut off delta settlement that used to be a major fishing port famed for its sprats and oysters. There’s only one-road in with much ribbon development and lots of flowered welcome signs. We arrived around 2.30pm. Both the two pubs had stopped doing food but the most central one didn't mind us fish and chipping it...
We then found the beach with dozens of ace huts. We need to return to explore better. A pleasant and biked beach warden asked us nicely dismount on his concrete prom).
Then Wivenhoe on the Colne (and those Essex Uni tower blocks), and dip into south Colchester where two of us trained it home after 30 miles), to Rowhedge where we had another riverside drink, and Fingringhoe, Abbeton, Peldon, Great Wigborough, Salcott cum Virley, (wonderful village names.......why did every tiny village had birthday parties going on......front gate balloons and bouncy castles),
We rode west into the huge setting sun......... fields full of potatoes,
corn, maize, cabbages, rhubarb even.....combine harvesters everywhere
getting in the crop single-handed but making big dust that hit my throat,
door-step fruit and veg sales, leaves on trees starting to brown, a time of
rural plenty and dappled fruitfullness, a hint of autumn, dark if not wild
nights.
Then Tiptree (and jam factory), and 8.05pm train back from Witham full of fine Essex clubbers in their best heading into the big bad city.
Loads of wonderful countryside and mile after miles of quiet lanes......huge estuary views, massive skies, tree tunnels and tiny working wharves on rivers like St Osyth's creek that cany locals link to the sea. Another world.
Great ride. Loads more to see in that area.
BAM
28 August 2001