Tandem Club - South East London - 2012 EventsAll tandem riders (and bike riders interested in tandem riding) are welcome on any of our rides. Participation in any of these events is entirely at the rider's own risk. The Tandem Club, its officers or representatives can accept no responsibility for any accident, loss, injury or death however caused. We aim to start all rides promptly at the published times. Note: Please contact ride organizer before attending a ride.
Sunday, 22nd January 2012
Eltham
Come and visit the wonderful English Heritage Art Deco Eltham Palace with us. If there are enough of us then we can obtain a 15% discount - please bring cash to give to John so that he can pay for everyone. Prices (before discount) are Adult £9.30, Child £5.60, Concession £8.40, Family £24.20. Ride will start promptly at 10am from Eltham (please contact John for exact location). There are toilets and shelter at the cafe which opens at 8.30am. There's a playground for kids. It will be a very short ride to allow enough time to look around Eltham Palace and gardens. Lunch will be in the Eltham Palace café (though pubs can probably be found in Eltham High Street if you wish). Please contact John & Sue to notify them of your intention of joining us.  
Despite Tricia’s best efforts on the publicity front, only 4 tandems and 1 solo met at Eltham Park for a short ride to Eltham Palace. Mild weather and a fairly flat course with a coffee stop at Greenwich park, made for an enjoyable ride. The art deco styled house built in 1933 was really interesting, contrasting with the Great hall it adjoined, dating from 1470. Congratulations to Christopher who did the ride on his own bike. Report by Evie and John Butcher click here for pictures Sunday, 26th February 2012 The Thames Marathon
We intend to lead a ride I call "The Thames Marathon". Distance 26 miles 385 yds. High point 10m above mean sea level; low point 0.5m above mean sea level; highest climb 7m over the cycle bridge above the A13; longest descent 7m down the other side. Starting at the Thames Barrier (SE18 5NJ, nearest Station Charlton) where there is ample parking (£1.50 for a full day), we will head downstream to Firepower Cafe and have a coffee and bacon buttie while waiting for the Woolwich Ferry to begin. After crossing the river we will continue downstream to London City Airport, then through Beckton Parks to the Greenway. Our lunch stop will be at View Tube overlooking the Olympic Park on the Greenway. After a short stint on the Lea Valley Navigation and the Hertford Union Canal we will enter Victoria Park. From there we will follow the Regent's Canal to the Limehouse Basin. A short section of the Cycle Superhighway 3 will take us to the Thames and King Edward Memorial Park. From there we go around Shadwell Basin and along the Ornamental Canals to St Katherine Dock. Over Tower Bridge and along The Thames Path through Russia Dock, Surrey Docks City Farm - tea stop - The Old Royal Naval College - the O2 arena and back to the Thames Barrier. Google map route (not the actual route through Greenwich) On a glorious springlike day, 7 tandems set out from the Thames Barrier, and a couple of solos, for the Thames Marathon. We were joined by Stephen and Katherine just before they set out on a long distance ride from New Zealand back to the UK! Despite claiming to be open from 10.30am, the Firepower Café was closed at 10.45, so we decided to cross the Thames via the Woolwich Foot Tunnel which has recently undergone a £11.5 million refurbishment. There was little evidence of what Greenwich Council have spent taxpayers' money on, and the new 24 hour lifts were firmly closed so we had to carry our bikes down the steps. After crossing the river we continued downstream to London City Airport, then through the Beckton Parks to the Greenway. Our lunch stop was at View Tube overlooking the Olympic Park. After a short stint on the Lea Valley Navigation and the Hertford Union Canal we entered Victoria Park. From there we followed the Regent's Canal to the Limehouse Basin. A short section of the Cycle Superhighway 3 took us to the Thames and King Edward Memorial Park. From there we went around Shadwell Basin and along the Ornamental Canals to St Katherine Dock. Over Tower Bridge and along The Thames Path to Surrey Docks City Farm where we had an excellent tea stop. Refreshed we continued to The Old Royal Naval College - the O2 arena and back to the Thames Barrier. My GPS made the distance 26 miles and 365 yards, 20 yards short of a marathon, so we cycled once around the car park to make up the missing distance. STATS: Distance 26 miles 385 yds. High point 10m above mean sea level; low point 30m below mean sea level; longest descent 19m vertical descent carrying tandems down the spiral stairwell of the Woolwich Foot Tunnel; highest climb 19m vertical ascent up the other side! Report by Tom click here for pictures Sunday, 25th March 2012 Kemsing, Kent Note: British Summer Time begins today. Time Springs forward one hour.
We will be starting in Kemsing, Kent, where there are toilets, and the ride will all be on roads on the north west corner of OS Map 188. The ride will be hilly and 35 to 40 miles. Contact the ride leaders for the exact start location. It was a bit misty and cold to start with but it soon brightened up. The coffee stop at Bough Beech Reservoir was excellent – volunteers were catching and ringing / checking birds and showing them to people really close-up which was very interesting. The Papermakers Arms at Plaxtol was a good choice as the pub was very welcoming and served excellent food. We did veer off Murray and Angela's planned route in the afternoon – we thought the ride might be a bit short so, as it was nice weather and the daylight hours were longer, we detoured through Offham and Trottiscliffe. We even persuaded Jake to go up Vigo Hill whilst we took the Pilgrims' Way route along the bottom to Wrotham and he still beat us all! With that extra bit added on it made 38 miles and we were back by about 4:00pm which was fine. Unfortunately the ride leaders were unable to be with us due to illness, but 5 tandems and 2 solos had an excellent time. Report by Caroline Hobbs and Liz Gates click here for pictures Saturday, 5th May to Monday, 7th May 2012 Suffolk Camping Weekend Nayland, Suffolk
Back to basics camping weekend. Please contact Alan and Wendy by email ASAP if you'd like to join us for this weekend. Wendy & Alan inspected our booked campsite by the River Stour at Rushbanks Farm on Thursday 26th April and pronounced it fine for camping over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend. The unceasing rainfall and their own flooded garden not far away in Essex made them go and have another look on Sunday 29th April and they found a very changed picture: the River Stour had taken over the campsite which was under 3 inches of water; there would be no camping there that weekend. After many e-mails and phone calls trying to find alternative venues and actually deciding the tandem weekend would have to be called off, Liz & Ken came up trumps by finding a new campsite with dry ground at the top of a hill in Assington, Suffolk. The jovial farmer had 26 units in his rally field and we filled up his 5-van field, so he had good reason to be happy! On Friday evening 4 vans were in position on a nice dry field and it wasn't raining! Leon (7) and Enay (4) enjoyed running around and checking out the small-holding animals - 2 Dexter cows, Twinkle and Starburst; 3 rheas, Rihanna and Sheryl were the girls; a goat; a brown turkey; 3 white geese. Liz & Mark rang to say that their car's alternator had failed but they'd got it into a garage and there was a chance it might be fixed tomorrow. After tea, chat and supper several of us walked to the village pub and on our return Cliff & Pauline had pitched their tent and were asleep. Saturday was cloudy with a cool wind but stayed dry. At 9.15am Wendy & Alan arrived in our field on their tandem to rally everyone for a 9.30am start. It was a good turnout with 2 couples from Tiptree and 1 couple from Colchester arriving by car and Phil & Verna cycled up from their B&B in Nayland, making 8 tandems and 1 solo. Alan & Wendy led them off to the Dutch Nursery garden centre at Coggeshall for a coffee stop then on to Tom's Farm Shop near Tiptree for lunch, finishing with tea at Stanway Garden Centre. 54 miles ridden for the main group. Dave, Leon (on kiddicranks) & Enay (in childseat) and Lana on her solo rode 30 miles which was the furthest they'd done as a family. Phone calls and texts had been exchanged during the day about the Noble's car and they were left in no doubt that, as it had been fixed, they would be considered "lightweights" if they didn't get themselves up to Assington - so they arrived at 5.30pm, got their tent up and sorted out and had tea in Tricia's van. Unfortunately Jake had given up on the car being ready and taken himself off to his Nan's, leaving Tricia "captain-less". That evening 17 of us enjoyed a good meal at The Lion in Leavenheath. Sunday was dull and drizzle turned to more persistent rain. 10 tandems and 2 solos reported for the 9am start: David, Caroline & Christopher drove up from Redhill for the day. Lana and the boys had done enough riding on Saturday so Dave M captained Tricia's Cannondale to lunch. Coffee stop was at Buckley's Tea Rooms in Hedingham Castle where we spotted 2 rotund medieval monks and found out there was a Re-enactment Day going on at Hedingham Castle Keep. Lana was informed and drove there with the boys. The main group of riders went on to Finchingfield where we split up for lunch. Dave & Tricia were collected by Lana and returned to Hedingham Castle in time to see the end of a battle and some owl and vulture flying. The main group went on to Specialities Tea Rooms at Stisted for tea and cake: they arrived back at the campsite in 2 groups as Cliff & Pauline had a puncture - it didn't help that Cliff missed the hole when he put the patch on the inner tube! 53 miles ridden. Liz & Mark packed up and drove back home so Liz could be at work on Monday. Monday was sunny and warm to start with so it was a shame there were only 4 tandems set out. They rode to Hall Farm Cafe at Stratford St Mary where gigantic cakes and scones were enjoyed, then on to Fillpots Nursery at Boxted for lunch where they were joined by Les & Gill trying out their tandem trike, then back for tea at our campsite cafe, having ridden 36 miles. Congratulations and thanks to Wendy & Alan for soldiering on despite the weather's and "other forces'" best efforts to spoil our planned weekend. Next year we're planning to go over to the other side of the country to Pewsey, Wiltshire.
Report by Tricia Anderson-Frost
Sunday, 24th June 2012 Wrotham, Kent
Morning tea will be at Shoreham Station tea rooms, lunch at The Snail, Stone Street, and afternoon tea at Manor Park country park Sunday, 22nd July 2012
Saturday, 28th to Sunday 29th July 2012 Olympic Road Race Camping Weekend Joint with Surrey and Sussex and Kent regions
August No ride due to clash with National Rally in Kettering Sunday, 23rd September 2012 TBA
Sunday, 28th October 2012 TBA
Sunday, 25th November 2012 TBA
Sunday, 2nd December 2012 Possible South East England Joint 3 Region Christmas Ride and Lunch
Our Christmas lunch may be a joint affair with Kent and Surrey & Sussex Regions.
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