Eine kleine Abendmusik
A church in Colchester town centre does free concerts on Wednesday lunchtime and the standard is usually excellent. I decided, seeing the beautiful day outside, to do an extra bit of riding to make a rather pleasant cycle/cultural event.
Lucy Locket wanted to come with me:
Off I set through the wilds of Essex, enjoying the flat roads with far-reaching views.
There was a bit of excitement as I passed the farm on a back road towards Little Bromley. A tractor was coming towards me and it seemed awfully wide. I did a bit of off-roading (not usually convenient on my trike) and it was a good thing I did… look at that beastie, wider than the road!
After Little Bromley and on the way to Little Bentley I have to cross the A120, the dual carriageway to Harwich. What’s nice about this bit of road is that there’s actually not that much traffic so it’s fairly easy to cross…
After a few more country lanes I joined the A133 (main road from Clacton to Colchester) which is a busier dual carriageway but still perfectly comfortable on the trike. The road surface is very good as well so I was trundling along at nearly 20mph (warp speed for me!)
Aha, nearly rejoined civilisation
The advantage of a trike is that you can take photographs whilst on the move (I have a camera on a lanyard round my neck). This is East Hill as you approach the centre of Colchester. I know it doesn’t look very hilly but I end up going up it at 4mph which takes rather a long time.
I arrived at the church and had some lunch that they provide, and then prepared for the concert which was an organ/piano duet. It’s great seeing the organ turned round so you can see how they play it – very complicated!
However the concert was a bit of a disappointment. I knew they were playing Bach but it turned out it was an April Fool and they were playing stuff by a fictional character, P D Q Bach, and it wasn’t too exciting. I hoped they’d give us some real Bach at the end but they didn’t.
Stopped on the way back by Little Bromley church to photograph it:
I’ve never been in it but I go past it all the time. It looks like a lovely little country church.
The temperature hit 20 degrees whilst I was taking these pics, and look at that blue sky!
Just over 30 miles in total with an hour’s break in the middle for lunch/concert. A mixture of open fields and town centre, narrow B roads and dual carriageways. A lovely trip!
I think something has went a bit awry there and I hope it wasn't your knees.
- very friendly, helpful and fit group of riders. An 80 mile ride around deepest darkest and relatively hilly kent, and an average of, wait for it, 18mph by the time i got home
- suffice to say i was quite chuffed with keeping up that pace over that distance, and im now wrecked lol
i still had a great time though and it was quite nice to be beating guys on full carbon with dura ace up some of the hills
all in all a good days riding, the benefits of which will be scuppered some what by celebrating my 18th tomorow
No love...
