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NORTHERN NEWS |
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Number
131
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Oct 04 |
HON SEC’S JOTTINGS
by John Bedford
Alan
Woollatt. It
is with great sorrow that I write that Alan passed away whilst on holiday in
Cycle Jumble.
The Section
Cycle Jumble will be held on Saturday 5th March next year. Bookings
are now being taken at £6 per table. Early booking essential as there is
usually a waiting list.
The DA Winter
Clubroom starts again in October. Whilst the dates clash with our own clubroom at Shenstone, it is
hoped that members will support this, meet friends from other sections, and
have an enjoyable evening out.
Second Tuesday of the month at
October 12th Roger
Thorpe
4C’s
Castles, Coasts, Canals and
Cyclists.
November 9th Rob Bishop
Slovenia/Croatia
December 14th John Bedford ‘Six of the
Best’ European Cycle
THE SECTION
AGM will be held on Tuesday 2nd November at Shenstone at
DA AGM on
Sunday 14th November at Maxstoke Village Hall,
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CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES by
Brian Hailing
It’s time to start thinking
about the Christmas festivities again. There are three events open to all
members and their friends. Please book early as places are limited.
There is a lunch at The
Trooper, Wall, on December 2nd, bookings to Alan Dodwell.
Another lunch is on Friday 17th
December at The Dog, Whittington, bookings to myself.
Finally, there is the Festive
Tea at the Clubroom, Shenstone, on Sunday, December 12th, bookings
to Val Jones.
As usual, the Section
subsidises the cost of the meals by £1.00 per meal.
-----
Annual Slideshow & Prize Giving
Winter Touring in
and
Summer Touring in
Admission £1-50. Refreshments, car park and cycle
storage. Adjacent to Erdington Station
There are two
types of slideshow. One generally requires a large amount of the “adventure
spirit”, the other is for normal people.
Our tours
are ones that almost anybody could undertake. If Beryl can do it…….!
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LETTER from
Sue Jinks
I just felt I had to write to
say a big thank you to everyone who has made me feel so welcome since joining
your rides, the first being 27th August. I even had my own personal
escort up Beacon Hill, when I didn’t think I would make it, (thanks Chris!)
having just ridden 70 miles, my record to date.
I would also like to thank
everyone who has supported me in my fund-raising for the Women for Women Cycle
the
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NICE ONE TED!
by Brian Langdell
The late Ted Schilling decided
to do a sponsored ride for charity when he was into his seventies. Denis
Watkins said that when the sponsorship forms was circulated it was headed ‘You
get the first 100 miles free!’ So everyone felt they could be quite generous
with their promised mileage rate. Ted rode 204 miles!
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FOR SALE
Two original
Pattersons framed and glazed. £200 the pair
Offered to genuine
cycle-tourists. No dealers.
Maurice Purser, 21 The Close,
DAVENPORT STRIKES BACK
by Arthur McHugh
Since he knows nearly everything about
nearly everything, my cycling friend
Having read it through with a darkening
frown, he enquired brusquely:
"Who is this git?"
"Well,"
said I, "If you mean the author, he's a respected member of the cycling
community. Furthermore, he's an
astrophysicist, a crack shot with pistol and rifle, and a world authority on
the habits of hobbits."
"How do you know it's lies? Does that mean you were
there?"
"Never mind about that," replied
"I can lend you a Mongolian
hose-whip," I said helpfully. It's in excellent condition. I bought it quite recently from a gypsy in Seville..."
But
"Well, do me a favour,"
continued
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R.A.F
As a schoolboy during the war
I frequently cycled from my home in Erdington around the
Like anything that is
familiar, we tend to ignore, and so it was with some surprise to discover that
the site at Fradley was, in fact, R.A.F. Lichfield.
The airfield was built in 1939
(none too soon) and was occupied by 51 M.U., and their job was to receive
aircraft from the manufacturers and to prepare them for operational situations.
By 1941 the most important element on the base was an Officer’s training unit,
which trained aircrews, mainly from the Commonwealth, on
51 M.U. were the only unit to
survive for the whole war at
Lots more fascinating history
about the airfield on website www.raflichfield.co.uk. Why not have
a browse?
-----
OUTING TO THE
This museum has possibly the
best collection of cycles in the country, displayed in chronological order with
contemporary backgrounds. There are of course all the other common forms of
transport, buses, cars, motor cycles on show, and extraneous features such as a
reconstruction of the Coventry Blitz in WW2,
Travel will be by train from
New Street Station. The walk from
Also at the museum you will be
able to experience breaking the World Land Speed record in a very realistic
simulator.
All invited, no need to book, just
turn up – the more the merrier.
DETAILS
Date: Wednesday November 10th
Meet: on platform to catch the
Cost: Museum free
Train, free with
Centro Senior Citizen Pass, otherwise £3-60
cheap day return.
Food. Café in
museum. Supermarket opposite sells sandwiches
Contact: Brian Langdell on
07906 704 874
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LIVING ART AT THE ROADSIDE by
Maurice Purser
Well we’d ridden past many
times without noticing it – but my mate, just a bit more observant spotted it
right away. Nothing more than the dead stump of an ash tree, maybe 12 feet or
more high. But as dead tree stumps go it ain’t in too bad a shape. And shape is
the reason for our interest.
Ash, we understand, lends
itself particularly well when it comes to carving, and that is just what a
local artist, Dave Johnson, has been and gone and done. There’s a barn owl with
wings spread wide, a rabbit or two, a bear, and other wild life personages all emerging
from that otherwise lifeless wood. Carved, it is, from the crown down to the
ivy around the base. No notice intrudes on it apart from a tiny plaque almost
hidden among the ivy leaves, showing that it was created no more than a couple
of years ago.
What patience, what foresight
that artist must possess – to create this amazing work of art for no other
apparent reason than to give a smile of joy to passers-by. Certainly there is a
tiny nature trail close by which has been designed with disabled folk in mind.
Apart from that, at least as far as we could find out, the whole thing is
without rhyme or reason – but what amazing rhyme and what reason. In these days
of rash publicity and cheap self-aggrandisement, ain’t it refreshing to meet
such humility and love for those who pass by.
And just where is it? Well
now, the whole whatever it is seems to cry out for a bit of mysteriousness. So
we’ll just give a few clues. Take your coffee with Thelma at the Old Peculiar,
point your wheels to the north for half a mile, turn right towards the most
Royal of the Bromleys, and just before you reach one of
-----
MEETING MARYANN
by John Bedford
We first met Maryann when she
came to our rescue and rode with us into
Eventually we made our flight
booking to
The tour went well and we
arrived at
Yes, we were in
-----
FROM A CTC TOUR from
Bridget Lowe
There’s
a sea-side town called Southwold, that’s noted for fresh air and fun,
Roger
Nash and his cycling companions went there on their CTC run.
The
first thing we came to, and went on, was the newly restored Southwold pier,
where
we had to make do with coffee ‘cos the bar wasn’t open for beer.
Through
the town, past the marshes and river, which we crossed on the old bailey
bridge,
then
we rode along the line of the railway, past Walberswick and up to the ridge.
Through
the Sandlings we rode into Dunwich; we sat and we ate fish and chips,
some
ate in the Nursery gardens: but nobody supped at The Ship.
We
returned back to base via Halesworth, where Roger a cottage has got.
We
had tea, buns and cake in a café, where the back yard – a sun trap – was ‘ot.
The previous
day had been Ranworth, with its church and ninety-foot tower
and
its boats and its broad and The Malsters, where we sat with a beer for an hour.
We
went and came back via Reedham, a grand day, all sunny – no rain
and
the highlight for some was the swing bridge, being shut for a very slow train.
The
next day we all went south-westwards, Episcopal ruins to seek,
then
Fressingfield and back lanes to Flixton; I once toured these parts for a week.
But
Flixton was THE great attraction, with its air-e0o-nautic remains
of
choppers and missiles and nose-cones and a wondrous selection of planes.
The
‘end of tour’ dinner had speeches; I kept stum so’s I’d not look a berk;
so
this poem, dear Roger, says “Thank you; enjoy life and keep up the good work!”
I
forgot, we did fifty miles daily, or so our computers all said.
Except
Bridget’s whose needs calibrating; but of that there’s quite enough said.
-----
ATMOSPHERE
by Terry Forks
Atmosphere is that indefinable
quality that you know you’re missing when you watch The Tour on telly and short
of actually going to the event you’re not going to be able to absorb this
essential ingredient. But it’s no
good just being a passive spectator, standing on the side of the road clapping
your hands from time to time, deluding yourself that this is part of some
unique, never to be forgotten, experience. The trick is to capture the whole nine yards and this is why
you see those poor demented souls running by the side of the riders. They do this so that they can feel the
pain of sucking in the hot air into lungs contracted by effort and understand
the agony caused by the build up of lactic acid in the legs. This empathy enriches the experience
and sears it into memory.
And so it was with us but in a
very different way as we watched the time trial on the Alp D’Huez. We got there before eight in the
morning with the intention to avoid the crowd and ride up to a decent vantage
point but found that a million others had the same idea which opened the door
to the walking option. A grassy
knoll appeared a little before the first bend with a couple of spare places and
we opted for these after all who wants to see the ignominy of riders being
caught on the higher slopes and anyway their deodorant would have worn off by
then with all the attendant disgusting implications. So there we were ensconced on this verge, which lay sloping
down to the road, which itself, of course, incorporated the mountain slope
meaning we had one foot higher than the other. Further, our heels were three inches higher than our toes
but by carefully stubbing our feet on the grass clumps, we could prevent ourselves
from running headlong into the gathering crowd. Imagine if you will, the situation at noon, the sun overhead
and the temperature reaching around 40 C, factor 30 working overtime,
capillaries shrieking at four hours of standing and cramp an ever present
threat. Our toes are now twice the size and with a real risk of DVT we were
beginning to be ever so slightly thankful that we had only another five hours
of this rather chummy cheek by jowl waiting to see Lance. Now is the time to contemplate the al
fresco ablutions where comfort breaks have to be completed en plein air where
hopefully a small bush will be on hand, so to speak. A Gallic shrug seems to be the norm when you’re caught
out. Oh! By the way, did I mention
the dust…
Unfortunately by the time the
trial started the crowd in front had grown to four deep so that we could only
see the tops of the riders. The upside was that when the caravan entourage came
by we were well out of range of being injured by the numerous freebees that
were being thrown wantonly around.
So the equation reads thusly:
9 hours of the above to see 9 milli seconds of
A small aside is that the next
day we climbed the Alp in a calendar measured time but hurtled down the 21
hairpins in 36 minutes which puts into perspective L.A.’s climb, from the village approx. one kilometre
further, of 39 minutes; i.e. he went up faster than we came down.
-----
CTC TOUR OF
25th AUGUST
"This
is not a cycling sightseeing holiday.
It is a cycling tour. If
you
are not
exhausted by
Mark Waters,
Tour Leader
Taking 16 days, with no rest
days, we cycled west from Donaueschingen
(source of the
following the
eventually joined the River
Rhine at
The Donau Radweg was well
signposted for the most part but at times we relied on the sun and instinct for
some of the signposts were in odd places
and the maps are not always
very accurate! One or two of the
men, namely Mark, seemed to have a very good nose for the right direction!
The magnificent
old monasteries and ancient
castles. On the third day, we left
the Danube for a while and cycled through the
the original course of the
storks nesting and in flight,
black kites and herons.
TOWNS AND CITIES
There are so many attractive
places; all so clean and well kept and each with their market square and church
or cathedral as the dominant feature.
Those that spring to mind are
play just as I walked through
the main doors.
squares with many medieval
houses and a l2th century stone bridge.
Towering above the City and
the
the
Burghausen, a charming town on
the River Inn - it has a very medieval atmosphere and again, perched on the
high rocks overlooking the
were the burghers palaces,
almost impenetrable to this day.
We stayed in a 500 year old hotel which was full of atmosphere and
history.
Wonderful.
Mittenwald at the foot of the
mountains and a popular skiing resort in winter took some beating for its sheer
beauty. We stayed in a family
home which was a typical
Austrian/Bavarian Chalet and to fling open the bedroom windows in the morning
revealing the mountains scenery,
is a sight we will not forget
in a hurry.
Everywhere we went we were
impressed with the cleanliness and the pride the Germans and Austrians have in
cities and towns. We did not
see litter or chewing gum
squashed into pavements etc. It
was so spotlessly clean everywhere.
Only some graffiti was spotted near one or
two railway stations but not
much.
Cycling along the cyclepaths,
we noted the beautifully attended gardens and allotments. We can’t remember seeing signs of
neglect. All
allotments were tended and had
a profusion of vegetables and flowers.
We saw acres of orchards bearing apples, pears and plums. To our
amazement, in some towns,
apple trees were in full fruit along the side of the roads, completely
untouched by vandals.
TRAINS
It was a pleasure to travel on
the trains which were punctual and efficient. All trains had two carriages for bikes and some had
three. At the
beginning and the end of the
holiday, l8 of us alighted the
trains together with bikes together with other cyclists.
John and I had occasion to
catch trains once or twice. The
pace of the cyclists was very fast.
Within a few minutes of leaving hotels, the speed
was up to at least 15 -16
m.p.h. and this lasted most of the day.
Although for the first week, the paths were flat, it was still
exhausting for us. On
the longest ride, nearly 80
miles that day, I became very tired and not long before our destination, I fell
and hurt my knee. We decided to
catch the
train the next day, having
cycled about 25 miles to
John was unwell a few days
later so we elected to catch a train from Bernau am Chiemsee to Kreuth, near
Tergensee. We still managed to
cycle over 20 miles so we
still kept the pedals turning. On
the last day, when cycling to Lindau, we reached the coffee stop and I felt
utterly tired
( I think it was one day too
much) and it was the end of the holiday, so we caught the train at Oberstaufen
and went straight through to Lindau
where we booked in the hotel
and then jumped on a boat and went on a leisurely cruise (a Rundfahren) around
The trains were an option
every day except for one and it was worth using this excellent service and it
was so cheap!
We did do one touristy
sightseeing trip and that was to Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle built by
mad King Ludwig 11. It was worth
seeing.
We like
how they spent their
Sundays. Nothing is open on Sunday
except cafes, bars and restaurants.
Whole families were seen out together cycling,
walking with their walking
poles going into the woods and mountains, even the young children had their
walking boots and poles. Young and
old were cycling along the
cycle ways and many men, dressed in their leden hosen and felt Bavarian
hats, were cycling at great speed
along
the paths. One sight not to be forgotten was the
cows (ready for milking) being led across a very busy main road near Kreuth,
led by the
farmer and his wife bringing
up the rear (lanterne rouge) on her bicycle!
EUROPEAN BIKE BUS
It was the first time we had
used the bike bus and found that it was a good experience. We were picked up on the A38 at
and travelled to
"Only my nose doesn’t hurt" - Bob (on tour)
On reflection, we had a good
tour although at times, we had our low points because we were very tired. However, the group were friendly
and encouraging. And when I asked for their impressions
of the tour, they all said they were always apprehensive each morning because
they
wondered if they would get to
the next destination and would they be able to keep up. And some of them, if they were honest,
did hurt
somewhat - like Bob
above. Each one of us now has a
sense of real achievement and feel that we have been stretched.
A good and satisfying tour!!!
ADDENDUM
Wild Life: storks, herons, black kites, black and red squirrels,
Stoats and snakes.
3 punctures
no mechanical problems (a few
broken spokes)
Mileage: over 700 miles
Evening to remember: Dinner with my sister, Elizabeth, on the
first night at Donaueschingen
(she lives in
Good food - comfortable hotels.
Weather: 3 half days of rain, one of which
was perhaps the worst
storm we have ever been in (at