The Monthly Newsletter of Chelmsford YHA Local Group
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The Biggest and The
Best
For part of the day, we had fifteen riders, nearly double the number on my previous cycling weekends. .jpg)
The garden at the hostel looked beautiful and much more colourful than when we left it. Not only had Margaret (the warden) maintained our work; she had also put in lots of bedding plants. She has also put up a board telling the story of our work on the garden. It's nice to know our work has been appreciated. We then set about the business of eating and drinking our prize for best work at a hostel. Chris and Janet had provided food for the barbecue, with plenty of beer and wine to wash it down. Jane and Jan did their own two-wheeled pub crawl from Cambridge to join us for the barbecue. [see below for Jane's story] Sunday: We said good-bye to the Cambridge contingent after breakfast and rode along the Stort valley (ditch?) to Stansted Mountfichet for morning coffee, and then on to Molehill Green for lunch. We then returned to Chelmsford by way of the White Horse in Pleshey. Thankfully the few rain-drops we felt came to nothing. The ghost of Castle-Heddingham was exorcised for this year! .jpg)
The Statistics: Saturday - Chelmsford YMCA to Saffron Walden youth hostel via Dunmow: 34 miles. Sunday - Saffron Walden to Chelmsford park via Stansted: 40 miles. Total distance over the weekend: 74 miles. Beyond the call of duty awards: Joss for getting a train from Cambridge, via London, to join us at the start in Chelmsford. Dave P for driving from Saffron Walden to Chelmsford, cycling back to Saffron Walden, cycling to Chelmsford again, and then driving back home to Saffron Walden.
Jim Melbourn to Saffron Walden - the alternative cycle route I was not going to tackle the Chelmsford to Saffron Walden route of 35 miles outbound and 40 miles return - that would just have been silly. So instead, Jan and I decided to set off from my home, (10 miles from Cambridge, not Australia) at a leisurely pace, taking in the beautiful South Cambridgeshire countryside.
Our outbound journey was lengthened somewhat, by taking in some pubs, as well as the countryside, en route. As we puffed our way up the hill to Barley, we decided we could in fact walk faster than we were cycling. We therefore walked over the "speed ramps" designed to slow traffic down as we entered the village, and arrived at our first stop, The Fox and Hounds, near exhaustion. As we crawled to the bar, the landlord commented that we were "glistening heavily" which we thought was rather polite. We wondered at our sanity at attempting this cycle ride, beginning at midday, on what was clearly going to be the hottest day of the year so far. We spent a good hour or so, recuperating, and then sped off another 100 yards to The Chequers in Barley, where we felt another break was crucial to keep up morale. .jpg)
As we headed towards Great Chishill, we puffed our way past the beautiful windmill, and then swung left by the church, for some more team centred encouragement at The Pheasant in Chrishall. A long stretch then brought us on the road to Arkesden. As we approached the village, I marvelled at how despite 2 pints of alcohol, I had found no need for a toilet stop, and it began to dawn on me just how much I must be "glistening" for this to be the case. Arkesden may be a beautiful village, but lacking we felt, in that it did not have an all day opening pub. We made our way from the village, and freewheeled for a mile or so to our delight, on the approach to Wendens Ambo. That was going to be a dire hill to have to tackle in reverse, thank goodness we were missing out Arkesden on our return journey - do hope Jim isn’t planning to send his troops in that direction on their return, we thought. Another disaster at Wendens Ambo, no all day opening at The Bell. To console ourselves we had a breather in the churchyard before tackling the last leg of the journey towards Audley End. As we approached Saffron Walden, we decided to go in search of a cream tea, and ensure we were composed and less like limp rags before we met up with the rest of the crew at the hostel. As we dismounted in the Market Square, we were mortified to bump into Jim and Tom, fresh faced and not glistening in the slightest, after their 35 miles from Chelmsford. A super evening at the hostel, and so interesting to compare levels of buttock pain around the BBQ. A much quicker journey on the return - in the coolness of the morning, and no stops en route, we were back within 2 hours - in time to pop to the Royal Oak in Barrington for a spot of lunch. Jane 
Kemsing in Kent A devilishly hot Saturday in August saw us wending
our way to Ightham Mote for a rendezvous with COPSE, a fellow local
group from Croydon. Dave led us on a super walk through the steamy
Kent countryside, which included a very early and very lengthy stop at
a public house. Largely due to this episode some of our friends from
COPSE had to turn back part way as they were hosting a barbecue and
barn dance that evening and had to get their coals stoked. The
evening's events were excellent with everyone keen to join in the
dancing (with more enthusiasm than expertise, it has to be said!).
Woodham Walter Walk
We sheltered under a tree for a while, and then made a dash for the woods, where Nigel pointed out the giant anthills we'd been promised. Soon the rain stopped, and despite fading light and threatening clouds, we opted for the longer route back, arriving at the pub in the dark to be greeted by Tom and George just back from Scotland with tales of far more adventurous walks. Dave P Photography Evening
 Billericay Barbecue Thanks to Jim for hosting a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine. And a word of warning for future barbecues: don't stand too close to Lynn when she's squirting sauce at her burger, she might miss! Sun and Rain in Rochester And thanks also to Helen for treating us to a wonderful lunch, followed by a very interesting tour of Rochester with an official city guide. From King John and Henry VIII to Charles Dickens and Helen Leech, many notable figures have connections with Rochester. The Coast to Coast Walk If you were wondering where I was in June, I spent a fortnight on Wainwright’s walk from St Bees Head in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. There was also an added advantage in that for much of the walk I would be outside mobile phone coverage so out of contact with work! My companions for the walk were members of the Sheffield YHA Local Group, Alison, Gerry, Suzan, Margaret her Australian niece, Sarah and her boyfriend Brad. Margaret Sarah and Brad only planned to walk the first week and left us in Keld, Swaledale so four of us were left for the second week. We took our time in the Lake District, staying in and visiting Youth Hostels – we called in at Black Sail on Day 2 for morning coffee and cardamom flapjacks before the steep climb up Loft Beck. Thankfully the heavy rain held off, although there were a couple of days of mist and light rain- some of the party chose the high level route at the end into Grasmere and ended up in Thirlmere by mistake! We also discovered the joys of visiting pubs during, at the end of walks, and again in the evening! On Day 5 we left the Lake District and reached Shap. Approaching Shap from the West one has no awareness of the height of the Shap summit. Early the next day we crossed the M6, a indicator that we were a third of the way. Kirby Stephen, the next halt provided a twenty first-century essential –cash machines We were also enjoying the one fine week of sunshine in June, which meant the crossing of Nine Standards Rigg was dry. By now Yorkshire beckoned and the descent into Swaledale, having crossed the watershed, was a joy with the meadows full of cowslips, amongst the field-barns . Wainwright’s route through Swaledale takes the high road, but we chose the low route through the valley for the following day enjoying an ice cream in mid-morning as we passed through the villages of Swaledale. The next night we spent at Grinton Lodge Youth Hostel, and had to eat out as supper had been moved earlier because of the England / Germany Euro 2000 football. The heat began to take its toll on the following day as we walked on the flat to Bolton on Swale. Richmond was not enjoyable, as it was impossible to get a snack lunch- all the pubs were serving full Sunday lunch. Because of the main bridge over the Swale being unsafe after part of it got washed away in the floods at the end of May, we had to take a slight diversion upon leaving Richmond. An emergency teatime stop at the Catterick Bridge Hotel, just after we went under the A1, gave us energy to reach the B& B in Bolton on Swale. This was the lowest and the hottest part of the walk as we crossed the Vale of Mowbray- we were the first customers in the pub at Danby Wiske at 11:15am. One of the problems of the walk not being an official long distance footpath is that there is no footbridge or underpass or traffic lights at the crossing of the A19 – just a dash across! After a night in Osmotherley, we followed the Lyke Wight Walk across the Cleveland Hills and along the old Rosedale railway line to the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge. Here we met up with other groups who we had seen earlier on the walk and would finish the same day as us and watched the England Romania game. By now the end was in sight. The penultimate day was short giving us time to see the North York Moors Railway in Grosmont. The final day from Egton Bridge to Robin’s Hoods Bay was a mixture of sunshine and showers.The rain held off at journey’s end allowing us to dip our boots and throw the pebble from St Bees in the North Sea before signing the completion book in the Bay Hotel and enjoying a pint. I would recommend the walk (particularly if you walk with a daysac and have a bag carried by one of the motorised sherpa services as I did). If you don’t camp it is necessary to book accommodation ahead, we had everything booked before we started , and take a chance with the weather! James Milligan |
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The
next day we all compared bruises and decided it had been jolly good
fun! 
