| 1. This is the route me and my friend Ben had to work out when we mistakenly took a wrong turn on the Tour de Tendering. Much more than the intended 20 miles but less than the official alternative 50. Funny as .... though
Follow the usual Tour de Tendering(TDT) route out of Harwich and down Church Hill, over to and through Ramsey.
Follow the road through and up the first killer hill to Bradfield.
Turn left at the Strangers Inn pub (open early especially for the TDT) and continue under the A120 and up through Wix.
At the top of this next series of gentle hills is the 20/50 turn off (20 left and 50 right). We planned on doing the 20 but completely missed the turn?????
DON'T PANIC
We continued onto Bromley until we realised our mistake!!!
We asked a Marshall who said she didn't know where she was and her only responsibility was pointing(she was actually quite good at this). But she had heard about the two lost souls (us)(probably from the marshall at the 20/50 junction too busy laughing and pointing to call after us and "point" us in the right direction).Oh well.
DON'T PANIC.
Dismissing the shameful "going back on our tracks" against the flow of on coming riders and "phoning the missus" to come and get us in the people carrier. We decided to continue on the 50 along Frating Road, B1029, to Frating Green.
Turning left here along Colchester Road, A133, through Frating and across the roundabout to Weeley. (We are now in "no man's land" trying to rejoin the twenty at Beaumont). This road is a little busier than most cycle routes but is wide with a generous, white lined, hard verge so feels pretty safe.
Go past Wheeley Crematorium towards Thorpe and take the first left sign posted Tedering, Harwich.
Turn right at the T junction onto the B1035, then take a left towards Beaumont.
At Beaumont join the Harwich Road, B1414, and your fellow cyclists.
Follow this road all the way back to the start position, relieved and triumphant and don't buy a drink for the rest of the day telling the hillarious story of how you cycled 38 miles through Weeley on your 20 mile "Tour de Tendering".
(Please post this route as it is the start of my mate Ben's and my cycling career and will be genuinely useful to anyone else making the same mistake) Thanks Graham. |