September 18, 2022
Day 12: Northfleet to Maldon
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We asked the people at the Granby Hotel if we could take along some food stuff, to keep up our strength during the day. They gave us a big container of melon and some yogurts, which was a big help. Dodie did a wonderful job, I think, in figuring out the train routing that had been printed for us at the station. It would take three trains to get us from Northfleet to Chelmsford, and we would cycle from there to Maldon.
The breakfast lady at the Granby told us that although we could in principle start our train odyssey at the station near the hotel, it would be cheaper to return to Gravesend and to start from there. Ok, we did that, which you can see from the wobbly line that starts today's track.
At the various stations, we asked directions of different people in yellow vests, with the exception of ourselves, of course! (Some other unfortunate people did try to ask us stuff - bad choice!). In every case the people we spoke to were personable and helpful. We do think the English are leaders in the "personable" field.
Among the yellow vested people we accosted were two police officers. I approached them with my dumb tourist question about whether they truly carried no guns. They confirmed this, but also proudly displayed their Tasers, which they characterized as non-lethal. We told them then about the killing of Robert Dziekański, by Tazer at the Vancouver Airport in 2007. They mentioned that police had killed someone in England a few weeks ago, but we all agreed that these events are rare enough to make headlines in our two countries, and that is a plus.
The train must have been slow in coming, because I had time to then ask these officers about not having a billy club. But no, they also proudly showed that they now sport an extendable model. I didn't test it out, but I would guess that a good old fashioned baseball bat style would have superior bonking power.
The trains in England, surprisingly, are quite bicycle friendly. In every case we have found not too high a lift into the carriages, space inside set aside for bikes, good tie down belts for the bikes, and no special extra charges or reservations. Here are our bikes enjoying one of the legs of our trip today:
The train part of our adventure today terminated at Chelmsford, from which we cycled to Maldon. Our route took us by the Chelmsford cathedral and then onto the high street.
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The high street has the great advantage of being car free. This allowed us to calmly proceed along, and then to stop to eat our lunch on a bench. Dodie took the opportunity to drop in to a pharmacy to search for yet another wrist brace, since she is now having problems with both left and right. In our last blog we had a photo of poor Dodie's hands, showing a bad rash. Now here are the same hands, with arthritis in their wrists. It's making cycling fairly painful, but we are also carefully adjusting the bicycle hand rests, to get just the right angle.
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2 years ago
2 years ago
We had now jumped a certain distance away from London, and were hoping for some improvement in cycling conditions. Chalmsford turned out to be rather a London suburb, fueled by the same quite good train service that brought us out here. Despite it being a fairly large town, it did offer us right away some of the things we treasure in cycling.
The first was swans. We adore swans, and like to spot them nesting in Spring, the babies following their parents later on, and their splendid elegance on still water at any time. At Chalmsford, with its River Chelmer, we found a family of swans with eight babies, now teenagers, but still brown. The mother swan was trying to get them organized, but they were being rather difficult:
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The second good thing was an actual bike path, and we rolled joyously along this rare apparition.
Next we crossed over a "weak bridge", and yes it did look very weak. But it held up long enough for this photo of canal style boats in the river.
Next up was an even weaker bridge. We could have known that this was the precursor to a weak path.
Oh yes, here we go now with the useless cycling infrastructure.
This deteriorated further to a sandy road by onion and potato fields. We had to push here, because of the depth of the sand.
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But finally, and for a decent distance, we found ourselves on that ideal kind of small laneway, where traffic is very low and where at last one can get going cycling, without sidewalks, crossings, and all that nonsense.
Maldon high street had the now familiar mix of small shops, but including a Marks and Spencer food outlet, which of course deserved special note.
The church across the street from our hotel, the Andersons approved White Horse, is a lovely one, with stone walls and statues. We will have a closer look tomorrow.
The White Horse is a typical pub/restaurant/hotel, and we were happy to see that while they were not hosting exactly a traditional "carvery" this Sunday afternoon, they were offering a roast dinner - either beef or lamb. We went for one of each, abandoning the salads we otherwise had brought, to hopefully stay fresh until tomorrow, on a picnic table outside.
We found that literally every shop in town will be closed tomorrow, for The Funeral. Those salads were beginning to loom large as a source of sustenance for the day. But OK, the White Horse plans to be open just until the show begins. Here below are the breakfast choices. I think I will be a rebel and go American. That will also avoid any Black Pudding!
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 402 km (250 miles)
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2 years ago
I have tried "hold the sausage but double the bacon" without much success. Dodie has tried building the breakfast up as a series of sides. That can work.
2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago