President's bike ride

Report by President Francis

There were a number of reasons why I decided to cycle from my home, in Debenham, Suffolk to Chelmsford, stay overnight, attend the weekly meeting of The Rotary Club Of Chelmsford the following day, and then cycle home to Debenham. To raise some funds for our nominated charity for this Rotary year, Kids Inspire, and for Rotary’s own charity, Rotary Foundation, was certainly one. There were some personal motives as well, for instance my route would pass through some Suffolk villages whose churches I had not photographed for the collection I began several years ago but which has received very few additions since the summer of 2021.

Another personal reason was to see if I was still physically capable of cycling between 55 and 60 miles on two consecutive days. Between 2005 and 2016, I made six cycling trips from Writtle (or, in the last case, Debenham) to Lothersdale, near Skipton, around 250 miles, over either four, four and a half or five consecutive days. Eight years on, the distance was much reduced, a challenge, but also something to look forward to; I could remember the mood of anticipation when I set off on my first ride to Lothersdale, as well as the feeling of exhilaration when I reached the top of the final climb, laughing and telling myself “You’ve done it!”

These motives could all be satisfied in one way or another, but my final one would be more difficult to satisfy, and in ways it was the thing that motivated me most. That was to generate some interest In Rotary, and our excellent Club in particular. It has been going for 97 years now, and done so much “dogoodery”, both locally and internationally, as our website bears testament to, but we have reached the stage where an infusion of younger minds and bodies would be a big help to give our Club a positive start to it’s second century. Would me cycling from Suffolk to Essex and back do the trick, probably not, but as the saying goes, if you don’t try, you won’t succeed. I know Rotarians are people of action, but others may not, so I hope my bike ride will help dispel the myth.

My preparation for the ride had gone well, particularly after my cycling friend David, who is also our excellent cycle mechanic in Debenham, commented when we were out on a ride that I seemed to be riding in a very high gear. He was quite right; for years I have tended to use a gear at which my legs feel comfortable at a relatively slow pedal speed, thinking this was saving my legs and knees. David introduced me to the concept of “cycling cadence”, using much lower gears with more pedal speed. I really didn’t think it would work for me, as I would soon tire myself, but decided to give it a try on a ride to Walsham le Willows, a village fifteen or so miles west of Debenham. With a few additions to the route, I covered about 44 miles and was pleasantly surprised to find my legs and knees still felt fine and ready for more miles when I got home. After a further 35 miles the following day I felt the same.

Both rides were on my Cannondale bike, which David had suggested I use in preference to my old and trusty Claud Butler (veteran of four of the Yorkshire trips), as it was lighter. Whilst it was a shame not to use the bike with which I have enjoyed so many cycling days since I bought it in 1991, I had to concede that the Cannondale, which made the two most recent Yorkshire trips, had gone very well on my practice days, so I chose that to the ride. The other change I had made was to abandon the cycling trousers I always wear, for a pair of shorts. Whether that had helped my cycling I have no idea, but I decided to stay with shorts on the 28th and 29th, as the forecast was for warm weather, particularly on the first afternoon.

David, his wife Sarah and another cycling friend from Debenham, also a David, had kindly agreed to accompany for the first eighteen miles or so, to a farm shop at Semer, on the Hadleigh - Lavenham road. We left Debenham as the church clock was striking a quarter to ten, on a lovely sunny morning, and proceeded along Low Road, then through Mill Green, to join the A1120, the “Tourist Route” that links the A14 at Stowmarket with the A12 at Yoxford. Despite a passenger in a car telling us it would take ages to cross; we passed over the A140 at Stonham crossroads easily enough, and a bit further on were able to leave the busy A1120 to take a well surfaced track that is devoid of cars, other than the occasional one visiting one of the isolated dwellings.

I discovered this lane many years ago, on one of my visits to Suffolk for the annual churches cycle ride on the second Saturday of September, but only recently learned that is known as The Lord’s Highway. This I guess is because it links the churches of Earl Stonham (alongside the A1120) and Creeting St Mary, which stands on a hill overlooking the Gipping valley and Needham Market. We descended to cross the river, unrecognisable as the wide channel that becomes the Orwell at Ipswich and flows out to the North Sea at Felixstowe, and then climbed again to join the long main street of Needham Market. On another day, we might have stopped at one of the coffee shops or cafes, but we were only halfway to Semer, so continued and turned right on to the B1113, the Bildeston road.

The road was busy, not least with traffic coming to and from RAF Wattisham, so we had to ride single file through Barking, and on the steady climb to Barking Tye, which as the name suggests is a vast green. At Great Brickett we were confronted by a “Road Closed” sign, with, as usual, no indication of where the road was actually closed. “Looks like you’ll have to go home, Francis” David told me, but of course, we carried on, as there is normally a way through for cyclists. So, it proved, but we had the road largely to ourselves as the closed signs seemed to deter motorists.

We turned off the B1113 near the little village of Naughton, and immediately were in a different world, cycling wise, a quiet lane that descended in a mile or so to the valley of the little River Brett. A very pleasant freewheel, although I did speculate in my mind that it would be a hard climb when I was cycling in the opposite direction the following afternoon. The hill away from Semer church was challenging, a one in ten according to one of my companions, one of those climbs where you think you have reached the top, only for the road to turn and continue going upwards.

We reached the café at Hollow Tree Farm Shop around 11.30am and eighteen miles of cycling and paused for some very enjoyable refreshment. When I left the others at 12.15pm, the temperature had risen noticeably, and a hot afternoon beckoned. I went first to Kersey, one of the show villages of Suffolk, and another steep climb, up to the church, which stands on a hill to the south, overlooking the picturesque houses that line the single street. Then it was Polstead, once a place of high drama as the location of the Red Barn Murder in the nineteenth century, but now silent, other than the occasional quiet talk of one or two anglers around the enormous village pond. Next it was a climb to another hilltop village, Stoke by Nayland, with a church that is visible for miles around, towering over the Stour valley.

The church was the second one I wanted to photograph, but when I entered the churchyard, I found it was partly covered with scaffolding, so had to make do with the familiar view of the tower rising above a terrace of half-timbered cottages to add to the previous snap of Polstead church. It was a glorious freewheel down into the valley and into Nayland itself, another pretty village, with the church located in a small area off the High Street that made a good picture difficult. The next few miles were along a very pretty road alongside the Stour, although certainly not flat; there were plenty of ups and downs. A no-through road took me to a little gem of a church at Wissington, sometimes shortened to Wiston; it had an attractive wooden bell tower and an apse at the end of the chancel. This, I subsequently discovered, was added by the Victorians, who seem to like that particular feature, as Little Laver church in the Rodings has the same rounded end to its chancel. What really appealed to me about Wissington church was the location, away from the hustle and bustle of life, with only the Hall for company, where the only sounds were birds singing and the gentle rustling of the trees in what little breeze there was.

There was an appealing looking café opposite Bures church, but the clock on the tower told me it was nearing 2 pm, and as there were a further twenty five or so miles to go I decided to press on. I crossed the river into Essex and climbed up to Mount Bures, concentrating so much I completely missed the church, which has a distinctive Sussex style spire. Then it was downwards again, into the Colne valley, which I crossed at Chappel, which has another delightful little church, which I did stop to photograph, and the famous 32 arch railway viaduct. The ascent away from Chappel was the final one of any note, with flatter terrain through Great Tey and beyond the A120 to Feering. I had thought of stopping in Kelvedon, but didn’t see a teashop or café that appealed and couldn’t even purchase refreshments at the Co-op, as it was closed for refurbishment.

After the very enjoyable cycling of the first forty odd miles, the final stretch to Chelmsford was less appealing. First, I had a section alongside the A12 to the outskirts of Witham, where the sudden noise of all the traffic was a nasty surprise, particularly the numerous lorries, all of which appeared to be travelling at enormous speed. I made the mistake of following a cycle path sign in Witham that took me over the railway, then along a path that got progressively more overgrown with brambles and ultimately some way off route. When I eventually got to the road out of Witham it was followed by a further noisy stretch alongside the A12 to Hatfield Peverel, then the original A12 through Boreham, from where a succession of cycle paths took me around 5pm into Central Park, Chelmsford.

It was a lovely surprise to be greeting by a whole crowd of Rotarians at the coffee shop and stop and share some reflections on the ride to date, although after sitting for a few minutes, my legs felt very heavy. After we went our separate ways, I had a drink and chat with two longstanding friends who had also come to the park to see me arrive, before proceeding to my overnight accommodation with another old friend, in Moulsham. It would be good to say that I spent a relaxing evening followed by a good night’s sleep, but alas neither would be true. I had several attacks of cramp during the evening and night, which copious quantities of tonic water, containing quinine, did not abate, while when I did finally fall asleep, I was soon awake again, contemplating the numerous hills I had to cycle up on the way home.

Nonetheless, when I climbed on my bike the next morning, my legs felt fine on the ride to Springfield Green, where I met Pam Scammell, widow of one of our former Rotarians, for some photos before she set off on her ride to Edinburgh, a trip that put mine in its proper place. It is a ride that I am not sure I could have managed even in the heyday of my journeys to Lothersdale, as that is less than halfway to Edinburgh. Pam chose that destination because her late husband had appeared at the festival and it was a favourite place of his. Fellow Rotarian John Watkins kindly joined us and acted as photographer. Pam’s bike was sturdy, and laden with two sizeable panniers, while the friend who was accompanying her for the day was on a Brompton, and after they had set out off, we wondered how they would cope with a forty-mile trip to Whittlesford, just south of Cambridge. As you will learn later, we need not have worried!

The Rotary meeting at the Rugby Club finished just after two o’clock and shortly afterwards I was on my way, along cycle tracks, through Boreham, Hatfield Peverel and Witham (I ignored the cycle path signs this time and went along the main street) and finally the noise riding alongside the A12. After I left Feering, cycling became good again, as I was again on quiet country roads. The temperature was much more pleasant than the previous afternoon, still sunny and a gentle south westerly pushing me home. I passed through Great Tey and climbed to a point where I could see the first of the river valleys I had to cross unfolding before me. This was the valley of the Colne, and I crossed it at Chappel before climbing again, past the railway museum at Chappel and Wakes Colne station, to Mount Bures, from where the next valley, the Stour, came into view. There is something very pleasing about valley landscapes, with one set of slopes down to the river and another rising on the far bank.

I crossed the river into Suffolk and the clock on Bures church was at 4.25, five minutes ahead of the time I had aimed to get to Bures. The next part of the journey was different to the previous day, as I left Bures by a very steep hill that took me in the direction of Assington, a very pretty village with numerous attractive houses, many of them thatched. I photographed the church and continued on my way to Boxford along some narrow and traffic free lanes. At the Rotary meeting, Jenny had suggested some bananas might help in stopping cramp, so I purchased some at the village stores, together with some other food for later in the day. There is an excellent café in Boxford that I had found a few weeks earlier on one of my training rides; I had assumed that at this time of day it would be closed, hence my purchases at the shop, but it was actually still open and I regretted not checking, as their sausage rolls and scones had been delicious.

The River Box is a minor player compared with the likes of the Colne and the Stour, but the hills out of its valley are steep, including the one I took towards Kersey. Near Kersey church I found a circular seat around a substantial tree and sat in the shade to eat a couple of bananas and a bar of chocolate. All was quiet, other than the very occasional car and a few people passing by, going home at the end of the day’s work, or, in the case of one lady, carrying a bunch of recently pulled carrots for cleaning and cooking for the evening meal. While enjoying my refreshments, I got a text message from Pam to say she and Ron had arrived in Whittlesford, having discovered that northwest Essex is not quite as flat as other parts of the county, quite up and down in fact. The massive tower was all I could see of the church, and it stood at the centre of what looked a perfect picture, one I thought I would photo, but when I resumed my ride its appeal abated, so I rode on, down to the main road from Hadleigh to Lavenham.

After a mile or so, I was on the outskirts of Semer and turned right to climb yet another steep hill before descending into the valley of the River Brett, which here is little more than a ditch. More climbing and I was at the turning that would take me up to Naughton and the Bildeston - Needham Market road, which I had spotted in the distance a few minutes earlier courtesy of the cars speeding along it. Mindful of the long freewheel down from Naughton the previous day, I was anticipating a steep climb in a low gear, but it was actually a nice easy ascent, while the run along the B1113 to Needham Market was literally a breeze, with the wind pushing me along.

The clock on Needham church was at five to seven, so with luck I would be back to Debenham before sunset, which was forecast at ten to eight. The final climb away from a river valley, this time the Gipping, was gentler than some of the previous ones, and I was soon passing Creeting St Mary church to join the Lords Highway. The sun was still shining brightly when I joined the A1120 at Earl Stonham, and even further on, near Stonham Aspall but I deemed it prudent to put my lights on for the fine two or so miles. Yet again a church clock was on hand to measure my progress, the final one I would pass on my return ride; it was a quarter to eight when I cycled by Debenham church. There was just time before the light went to complete my trip with a “selfie” taken in front of the “Debenham” sign on the green area in the High Street. Such a shame I don’t know enough about the camera on my phone to get the picture with “Debenham” appearing the right way round! [I’ve turned it round for you, Francis. Webmaster]

The fruits of my ride were over £700, plus gift aid, raised, to be split between Kids Inspire and The Rotary Foundation. My sincere thanks to everyone who supported me; I would have enjoyed the ride anyway, but that makes it really worthwhile. From the cycling point of view, I am a total convert to “cadence” and in the fortnight since my ride, have periodically thought of further cycling tours I might undertake, if not in the remainder of this year, perhaps next. I can finish on a really high point, as a couple of days ago I got a message from Pam to tell me she had arrived in Edinburgh, sixteen days after leaving Springfield Green, a great achievement. We look forward to seeing her at one of our Rotary meetings to hear all the details of the journey.

To see the photos from the trip, mainly churches I am afraid, click here.