{"id":127,"date":"2006-10-04T23:18:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-04T23:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/?p=127"},"modified":"2024-01-29T11:33:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T11:33:53","slug":"estuary-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"Estuary Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted on 4 October 2006<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Wow was Bromptoning to her yoga class this morning. The weather was beautiful: sunny, crisp and with a light breeze, so I thought I would keep her company and then take the scenic route back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is quite a wide choice of rides out, and we selected one involving Leigh Broadway. I think, with hindsight, that this is a mistake at half past nine in the morning as convoys of 4*4s are returning to barracks after active duty on The School Run. I became involved in an altercation with a VW driver, whose idea it was to overtake Mrs. Wow and then immediately stop dead. At the next bottleneck, I overtook the VW and then stopped dead and gave her a piece of my mind. Since I am in the process of losing it, there wasn\u2019t a lot left over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Mrs Wow safely(ish) ensconced in her Yoga class, I headed west to Marine Parade, where the views across the Thames are at their finest. Here are a few:-
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Looking towards Two Tree Island.
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The Sun was shining on the sea\u2026
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Municipal Gardens
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Who left that bike there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shortly I reached the borough boundary and gazed into the Badlands beyond\u2026
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All of the land in the foreground belongs to the Salvation Army and just beyond Hadleigh Castle they run an open farm. There\u2019s a restaurant where adults with learning difficulties (residents at the farm) act as waiters & waitresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the ridge leading up to the castle is Canvey Island, with the white tanks on the horizon evidence of the petroleum industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0Here a C2C train from Shoeburyness to Fenchurch Street can be seen.
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And this zoomed shot shows the Castle in more detail and part of the Sally Army Beef Herd. Benfleet Yacht Harbour can be seen in the middle distance.
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Moving swiftly on (i.e. pretending that Hadleigh doesn\u2019t exist) we see the start of a recenty refurbished bridleway which is now quite pleasant to cycle. Locally known as \u201cNutty\u2019s Bane\u201d* it remains to be seen whether it was money well spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can actually pretend you are in a pleasant part of the country when riding along here.
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There\u2019s the occasional dez. rez.
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and the odd Nice Little Pad\u2026
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\u2026and some houses so exclusive that they are invisible.
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All too soon the Borough of Southend reappears.
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It\u2019s then a fairly easy run home along Manchester Drive.
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I turn right here\u2026
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and go straight on here.
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Shortly afterwards, I arrive home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted on 4 October 2006 Mrs. Wow was Bromptoning to her yoga class this morning. The weather was beautiful: sunny, crisp and with a light breeze, so I thought I would keep her company and then take the scenic route back. There is quite a wide choice of rides out, and we selected one involving Leigh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gentlemancyclist.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}