Number 142
Jan 06
HON SEC’S JOTTINGS by John Bedford
Beryl & I wish you all a very happy New
Year, with many carefree miles ridden.
New developments. We’ve had an extremely successful
year with many new riders joining us. To cater more fully for everybody there
is a hope that we can develop the following:- Family Rides at weekends,
starting in the Spring. A Sunday C ride every week and possibly a fastish ride
on Wednesday afternoons. If interested in any these please let me know as soon
as possible. John & Mary are also trying to develop a social programme.
Remember, it’s your Club and any ideas and volunteers would be very welcome
Heart of England
Rally. Volunteers
are required to help at this Rally held at Meriden on the weekend 20th-21st
May. I am particularly looking for Saturday leaders to take a 32 mile ride from
Meriden to Atherstone. A route sheet has already been prepared. I am hoping
there will be considerable support from members for this weekend which has been
running for many years. Planning has already started and it is hoped to revive
some events, and to start some new ones. How about making a note of the date in
that new diary you got for Christmas!
Cycle Jumble. Don’t forget to donate any unwanted
cycle parts, clothing etc to our cycle jumble. Tom Moore and John Green have
kindly agreed to act as collectors. Please ensure components are reasonably
clean.
Clubroom at
Shenstone from Harry Child
Can all
users please ensure that the clubroom is left in a safe condition at the end of
the evening. Problems have arisen of late with the gas stove left on, hall and
kitchen heating not turned off, taps not turned off, lighting left on
overnight. Unfortunately the Hall is sometimes not used for several days and
therefore fuel bills are high. Thank you for your co-operation.
NEXT COPY DATE – TUESDAY 14th
FEBRUARY
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES by John Evans
Mary and I have recently taken over the role of
Social Secretaries of the Club. In the New Year we hope to arrange a main
feature on the third Tuesday of every month. Other items such as quizzes will
be arranged on some other Tuesday evenings. Leaflets will be issued during the
year.
We hope these will prove interesting to you and
would welcome any further suggestions or ideas that you have for the future.
So, please come along and join us.
TUESDAY 17th
January
½ hour slideshow
“Back & Forth
over the Rockies”
by John &
Beryl.
John & Beryl invite you to join them for an
evening of live Big Band music by
GARRY ALLCOCK & THE ALLSTARS BIG BAND
Playing Frank Sinatra, Ted Heath, Count Basie,
Glen Miller
At David Lloyd Leisure Centre, Shady Lane from
8 to 11pm
On Sunday 22nd January.
Please let us know if you are able to join us and we will try and
arrange seats together. Bar &
coffee available
TUESDAY 21st
February
Pre- Cycle Jumble
Sale
Bring along those old & new bits & pieces you want to sell or
get rid of.
ERDINGTON JUMBLE, Sat 4th
MARCH, 10 to 1pm
LA RONDE PICARDIE, ABERVILLE, by Judy Burnett
FRANCE. 135km. September 2005
8am and a perfect warm day with no wind.
Feeling not as nervous as last year I stood with 1.600 other riders. Then we
were off. Local people in their dressing gowns came out of their houses to
cheer us on. Down the first steep hill with a double bend; several riders sat
on the sides of the road nursing
injuries whilst the ambulance men patched them up again. I went carefully,
through some thick mist and out onto a clear dry road, and up went the speed. I
attached myself to groups of English and French riders who seemed to pull me
along like a magnet. There were many pretty villages. Local farmers wives
directed us on the turns and over crossroads where officials had stopped the
traffic. At the sea, down a steep hill and an immediate turn right. If your
gears are not right it’s a steep walk up. This year I got it right and
struggled over the top. Then 16kms all along by the sea where I found it
difficult not to get off and paddle. The food stop was at 60 miles, but if I
wanted a good time for the ride I had only time to get some more water and pick
up half a banana for my back pocket. Here it was windy so I found a nice French
group to protect me. We rode the next 20 miles overtaking each other, enjoying
speeds of 24mph, pulling each other along.
You meet some lovely people riding around. Then
the last village, the last bend and people along the sides of the road
clapping, amongst them the man I chatted to at the start. Then the mat where my
time was taken; 5 hours 4 mins. It’s a strange feeling of excitement and
disappointment of it all being over, with the satisfaction of pushing yourself
on a wonderful day.
The ride was very well organized, very scenic,
and with some very interesting people around the route. There are bronze,
silver and gold awards.
I have experienced all sorts of lovely rides
since I first started with the Northern
NOSTALGIA by Brian Langdell
Northern News April – June 1951
Ted Nevett took the Easter tour to
Radnorshire, listed as ‘March Madness’ (too true). A 6am start, 9 riders in
capes, through snow showers and all feeling frozen including Fred who was
wearing three pairs of trousers. Lunch was taken in an old cow byre where bacon
was fried on a primus stove. Knighton was the first night stop where they
arrived feeling ‘bonky’ after the long battle against the weather. Next day
included rough stuff over Beacon Hill, fighting a sleeting wind, and they were
lucky to find an old barn to shelter in for lunch. Sleet again on Monday and a
cottager took pity on them and allowed the use of the wash house (next to the
pig) for their lunch stop. Final day was still very cold and around lunchtime
they were lucky to come across some abandoned steam engines that had belonged
to a fair and dined in one of the derelict caravans.
In contrast another ‘Northerner’
wrote up his Easter YHA tour in southern France, starting ‘The day dawned
bright and warm; in the garden could be seen golden oranges and the blossom was
already falling from the almond trees.’ He had several days when he swam in the
sea and got sunburnt. (But he missed out on dining in the byre, barn, wash
house and caravan!)
Wilsons Cycleshop (Aston Road) was
advertising the Piel pedals, claimed to be used by Fausti Coppi. This pedal had
a plain bronze bush for a bearing instead of the normal ball bearings. One of
the ‘Alternative’ section lads bought a pair and found that periodically they
would unscrew out of the crank catching him unawares. After nearly falling off
his bike several times, he decided they were too dangerous to use. Why did this
happen? The probable explanation is that ball bearings reverse the direction of
any potential rotation of the pedal spindle, i.e. ball bearing pedals when
rotating try to screw the spindle into the crank
The ‘NN’ ran a fictional ‘soap’
story about the problems a young lad had to persuade his parents to a) buy him
a bike, b)join a cycling club, c) stay out ‘late’ on Sunday rides and
clubnights. Members were invited to submit versions for the final episode. It
was well written (a mini drama) and so
impressed the national ‘Bicycle’ magazine that they printed a précis of the
story.
250 people attended the dance
organized by the ‘Northern’.
TALES FROM MILDENHALL by Beryl Bedford
1. Sunday. “Have you got an Anniversary card?”
“No, I’m sorry, the nearest I’ve got is a picture of a wedding.” “Yes, I’ll
have that one, thank you. I bought one for my husband, but forgot to bring it,
and we’re camping this weekend.”
Monday. The lady returns. “You know I bought
that card for our Anniversary today – well, last night I found that I hadn’t
got a pen, so I had to give it to him blank. Never mind, he said, now we can
give it to someone else!”
*******************
WINTER CLUBROOM SLIDESHOWS
Second
Thursday of the month at 7.30pm. Carrs Lane Church Centre, Central Birmingham.
Admission £2-00
THUR 9th
February ‘Where the hell is Hanksville?’
by Reg Elliott
THUR 9th
March ‘Wheels in Warwickshire & Beyond’
by David
Hearn
OTHER EVENTS
Saturday 4th
March NORTHERN SECTION CYCLE JUMBLE
Erdington
Methodist Church Hall, Station Road, Erdington
10am to
1pm. Admission 50p.
Sunday 26th
March DA 50 MILE STANDARD RIDES.
Sunday 23rd April
NORTHERN SECTION AUDAX,
100km, 160km & 213km. Start Shenstone. Details, Geoff Findon.
THE BENCH by
Maurice Purser
As benches go this one isn't all that
remarkable - plain wood, and stoutly constructed, to allow six persons at a
time - three to face due west, t'others due east, back to back, not unlike
those funny little Jaunting Cars over in Killarney's lakes and fells. Over the
years we've often passed by this spot, and been grateful for the way we've been
able to draw up here to put paid to some odd sandwiches unearthed from the
depths of the saddle-bags; even been known to settle that old stove on the
ground and 'drum up' a welcome mug of coffee or two.
On the
bench itself, there's a tiny plaque with a heart-moving quotation from Keat's
Endymion which more or less sets the scene. Those sitting so that they face
west have a front row view of what has been called the most beautiful modern
church in England;- so-called modern churches usually receive short shrift from
the critical visitor, but this one will hold anyone enthralled who has the
least appreciation of craftmanship, art and beauty in stone, wood and metal.
Its gilded clock strikes the hours and half hours with precision. As for the
interior - well it's very likely that most Northern News readers know all about
that already.
Those
friends now sitting on that bench facing due east have a stage setting which
fairly 'takes your breath away.' There's a proscenium arch of five trees of
lime, a rolling valley with a river trickling past a good old English pub and
its scattering of houses, and a backcloth of the remnants of the old forest
where oaks and bracken rise up to the horizon.
As we
cycle away northwards, there's yet another treat waiting just up the road - an
avenue of tall trees, which on this day of September heat cast their cool
chequered shade across the surface of the lane.
A FUNNY SORT OF TOUR by John Bedford
All our previous tours have been of
a sort where we aim to do a good mileage each day with a minimum amount of time
spent sightseeing. Pre-booking accommodation has never been our thing either,
so that we have maximum flexibility to change the route if we feel like it.
Our recent tour, flying into Los
Angeles via Dublin, was slightly different. First, my sister wanted me to
deliver some money to an American friend of hers to pay for a cruise they were
taking in the spring down the Mexican coast. As this transfer of money was to
take place part-way into the tour and a particular night specified, this acted
as a form of constraint. Secondly, we had been invited to stay with two lady cyclists
we had got chatting to at a café on a previous tour, and thirdly, having been
to the LA-San Diego area twice before we made use of public transport to avoid
cycling some of the same roads and some town areas.
We’ve a lot to learn about the use of
public transport and cycles in this country. On our September trip we used the
train for 40 miles to get from San Francisco airport south, away from the
built-up area. The special carriage was able to accommodate 38 bikes!! At each
station there was a steady stream of cyclists leaving or joining the train. On
this latest trip we also used the train along the coast from Oceanside to San
Diego to avoid a road we had already cycled, and upon leaving SD we took the
metro for about an hour to get us into the countryside. Finally, there was
another built-up area near Long Beach (of Queen Mary ship fame) where we used
the bus. Virtually every bus in California has a 2-bike rack on the front. Why
we don’t do that over here I don’t know.
We made use of three paved cycle
tracks, one along the San Gabriel River (for 20 miles), one along the Santa Ana
River (30 miles), and one along the San Luis Rey River (7 mls). On the latter
we came within a few feet of a coyote and were able to take a photograph. There
were also a large number of different birds that we were unfamiliar with.
One of the highlights was in
Temecula where we were told that there was to be a ‘Holiday Lights’ parade at
7.30pm, albeit about 2 miles away at the other end of town. What a parade!
Groups had come in from miles around, and included church and youth
organizations, school bands, local dignitaries, horse riders and even llamas
pulling decorated coaches. There were 4,000 in the parade and 20,000 watching
(or was it 2,000 in the parade and 40,000 watching?)
The other highlight was to wander
round Balboa Island one balmy evening and look at the houses decorated for
Christmas. What magnificent houses and decorations. Makes some of our local
examples look very amateurish. We finished the evening with a very nice slice
of pizza for our evening meal.
I’m surprised more touring cyclists
don’t take advantage of the wall-to-wall winter sunshine in California, While
we saw many local cyclists on their stripped down bikes, we didn’t see any
other touring cyclists during the fortnight. If anybody would like help with
planning such a tour please contact me. It would make quite a change from UK or
Europe. I’m already well into planning for California again at the end of this
year.
MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS. by
Jean Bolton
The weather forecast is
that the coming winter will be very severe. Earlier this year whilst staying
with my son and his family, who live in a sixteenth century farm cottage in
Derbyshire, I came across the local free newspaper, Peak Advertiser, and read
an article called, ''Recollections of the winter of 1947." This article
describes the extreme hardships endured because of the heavy snowfalls, bearing
in mind telephones were not in general use, there were no four-wheel drive
vehicles and food was still rationed.
It reminded me of a weekend I spent
with the Northern in March 1947 in Derbyshire. I had been riding with the
Northern for about two years. At that time there were about three groups in the
Section, the Hardriders, the Social
Section and the Potterers who were the family members with trailers and babies.
It was the custom for the Hardriders and the Social Section to have weekends
away at Youth Hostels and sometimes Bed and Breakfast establishments.
In March 1947 a weekend
had been arranged for the Hardriders to go to Hartington YH and the Social
Section to Ilam YH. I rode with the Social Section usually. .Anyway, we were
all impatiently waiting for the snow to clear and as we had not had a fall for
some days, even though the snow still lay around the Social Section set off. I
believe the Hardriders also set off, but that is another story. Well, I do not
remember much of the ride except it was very tough, and after tea in Ashbourne
the snow began to fall again so we were very glad to reach Ilam Hall,
optimistically hoping the snow might go away by morning!
After snowing all night
everywhere looked beautiful, but we decided to visit Dovedale as we were close
by. Oh! A problem! My Sturmey Archer three speed hub had frozen in the night,
but a couple of the lads set to to rectify the problem. I think they used
paraffin obtained from the YH Warden to defreeze the hub. We visited Dovedale.
Of course we had it all to ourselves! Then we set off on the interminible ride
home. I vaguely remember we went to the Dog & Partridge in Thorpe for some
lunch. As we rode the snow was piling up against the hedges and we slithered
and slid through the deep snow on the roads. Tea had been booked at Marsh Barn
Farm, Armitage, but it was grim setting out again after tea.
When we reached Streetly
and Kingstanding, we had further obstacles to cope with because the local
traffic, buses, etc, had churned up the snow and there were deep snow ruts in
the road. I came off in Perry Barr but it was a soft landing so I was not hurt
and there was not much traffic then, petrol being rationed. I then lived in
Hockley. My mother burst out laughing when I walked, no staggered, into the
house because I must have looked a sorry sight. I burst out crying as I was so
exhausted.
Next day in the office a
colleague who had always been interested in where I had been on my bike, said,
"I don't suppose you went out yesterday Jean." I said, "Oh, yes
I did. I went down Dovedale.” The look on his face was a picture. He never
asked me again where I had been. He obviously thought I was a big fibber. I
think until then he had thought me quite a nice girl!
The thing is, If we had
not cycled home when we did, we would have had to stay at Ilam for six weeks,
because that is how long Derbyshire was cut off. Planes were being used to drop
food supplies to the marooned communities.
Needless to say, I have
not done anything quite like that again, but it is interesting to read what the
people in Derbyshire had to contend with while I was safely back home.
The following is a copy of the article from the Peak Advertiser, March
2005.
Recollections of the
Winter of 1947
Our milking herd
consisted of about twenty-five to thirty Shorthorn cows which fortunately were
mainly spring calving. Thus at the time of the blizzard our milk production was
at its lowest ebb. For a few days our stock of spare churns were used and left
outside to freeze in the snow. Bearing in mind our isolated position this was
not an abnormal situation but in 1947 the excessive amount of the snowfall and
the fact that the thaw did not come as it had in previous years meant an
alternative strategy was called for. Today one would pick up the phone .and
persuade the Council to send a JCB to clear the road. In 1947 none of the farms
had a phone and the Council relied on gangs of laid-off quarry workers and the
like to clear snow with shovels. With major roads to clear and whole towns and
villages to relieve the chances of our little lane being cleared were minimal.
Although the area around
the farm was little affected by drifting snow the depth of level snow meant
that our pneumatic-tyred car was impractical. The obvious answer was a horse-drawn
sledge and a stout one about 4 feet by 6 feet was constructed. Since the lane
to Hartington was impossible (the snow was about twenty feet deep at the end of
the cornice mentioned earlier) we had to follow the track down to the River
Dove at Beresford Dale where there is a ford with a foot-bridge alongside.
In order to take the
milk it was necessary to secure the chums on the sledge and proceed carefully
down the track to the river, one person leading the horse while the rest of the
party did their best to ensure that the loaded sledge did not gain too much
speed since the track is quite steep. Having successfully reached the river we
had to unload the sledge, manhandling the churns over the footbridge. The horse
was mounted, and the sledge floated behind her as she crossed the ford. It is a
pity none of this was photographed. Having crossed the river the sledge was
reloaded and. the journey continued through the woods behind Beresford Cottage
on to its long drive through the fields to the road at the Raikes. This route
encountered no drifts since the only fences were posts and wire, allowing any
windblown snow to continue without drifting.
Our neighbours at The
Whim also resorted to a sledge and by making a gap in one field wall and minor
snow clearance they were able to reach Wolfscote via the fields and the new
milk run became a combined effort. Because this extra isolation lasted for many
weeks it was also necessary to bring back cattle cake from Silcock's depot at
Hartington with the same hazardous crossing of the river.
We had some outwintered
young stock which when the snow came were fed in the corner of a field near the
road under the shelter of Wolfscote Hill. They spent the next weeks in the same
comer of the field and bales of oat straw were taken to them daily, suspended
pannier fashion over the saddle of our faithful horse. When the snow finally
melted we had to clean up the excessive amount of dung and left-over straw from
the field corner to permit normal grass growth.
In 1947 food was still
rationed and we were registered with an old firm of grocers, Smedley Bros and
Mellor from Ashbourne for our groceries. The system was that our order was
collected monthly and delivered a day or two later by their van. My eldest
brother, who had married in the thirties, farmed at Biggin and also had
groceries from Smedleys. For the period of our isolation Smedleys repeated our
previous order and delivered it to Biggin. My eldest brother .and my sister's
boyfriend, who also lived at Biggin, then carried the groceries in sacks to
Wolfscote. The problems were even worse for the farmer at Brighton Farm. The
snow completely filled his farmyard. He had to come out of the house by the
front door, go round the buildings into the farmyard and dig down through the
snow to the doors of his sheds. Since his normal practice was to turn his cows
out daily to drink at a pond two fields away, I don't know how he managed to
keep them fed and watered or, for that matter, how he managed to get water for
his family.
At the time of the
blizzard there were a total of 15 people living at the three farms. Now only
three are still alive - my elder sister, the eldest son of the farmer at
Brighton and myself, all seventy plus. I spoke recently to the man who in 1947
was a schoolboy at Brighton. He told me that he and his father went to their
barn about half a mile from home to tend some animals and had great difficulty
getting home against the wind in the white-out conditions. I asked him about
drinking water and he said that for days they drank only milk, or for variety
cocoa made with milk. His description of that time was that "it was a grim
existence."
Now, nearly sixty years
on, only one of the three remains a working farm. My nephew lives at Wolfscote
and farms most of the land that constituted three farms in 1947. He does not
produce milk and employs no full-time workers, relying on contractors and
part-time help at busy times. The sheds which housed our cows in 1947 are now
holiday cottages and his animals are housed in modem buildings. Wolfscote now
has mains electricity, water and telephone as have the other two farms which
are now desirable dwellings for people only.
SOME FAMILY TRAILS
by John
Bedford
SUTTON PARK. Local. Café and Visitor Centre at Town Gate.
Car park charge Sundays during the summer. Some tarmac roads.
KINGSBURY WATER PARK. Car park charge. Alternatively use
free car park in Kingsbury village. Then enter park by steps at back of Church.
Café, toilets and Visitor Centre. Also Broomey Croft Children’s Farm (charge)
with café.
There are
two circular way-marked routes. 1) A 3 mile off-road route (for mountain
bikes). 2) An easy 4 mile route along surfaced paths and roads. Guide and map
from Visitor Centre 30p.
SANDWELL VALLEY. Parking at Farm/Café. Farm & exhibition
(charge at weekends). Various routes to pools on other side of Motorway. Part
of Sustrans route so can go north towards Walsall or east to Birmingham.
CHASEWATER COUNTRY PARK. Car park just off A5. Refreshment
kiosk and Ranger’s Office. Route goes over the dam and round the pool. Approx 3
miles. Short detour to Anglesey Branch Canal Basin possible. This leads to
Brownhills if a longer ride required.
MEASHAM-SPRING COTTAGE. Old railway line approx 3 miles
long. Car park at Measham on left hand side of B5006 (Tamworth to Ashby).
Toilets. Offshoot to Moira Furnace (admission charge), the remains of 19th
century blast furnace and its setting beside the Ashby Canal. Furnace open
Wednesday – Friday 1pm – 4pm, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays, 10am – 4pm.
Tel 01283 22 4667.
Moira
Furnace Tea Room open Wednesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm.
Tel; 01283
224667
Measham
Museum on High Street. Open Tuesdays 10am–12noon, 2pm- 5pm. Saturday 10am –
12noon. Closed mid Dec to mid Jan.
Tel 01530
273 956
THE GREENWAY – STAFFORD. This runs from Stafford to
Newport
along a disused railway line. A short stretch between
Gnossal and
Haughton may not be passable.
MANIFOLD VALLEY, Starts at Waterhouses, a few miles west of
Ashbourne on the way to Leek. Parking charge about £3 per day at the Peak Park
site. Toilets. Old railway track is tarmac. Short stretch of road. About 9
miles long. Wetton Mill café about 4 miles along track. Finishes at Hulme End.
Visitor Centre here, toilets and village shop that sells tea & coffee, also
a pub.
TISSINGTON TRAIL. Starts Ashbourne. A number of other access
points. Pay for parking. Gravel surface. Can get very crowded on
summer
weekends.
HIGH PEAK TRAIL. Can access from Cromford, near Matlock, or
from Tissington Trail. Can be exposed in parts. Gravel surface.
CANNOCK CHASE. Nine mile Family Trail starts from Visitor
Centre, Marquis Drive. Café, toilets, carpark.
Any updated
information welcome.
“Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up?”
“Because it was two tyred.”