I headed north today to visit my brother Bill and sister-in-law, Bonk. My nephew Joel is also home. The roads are much (underlined) nicer as you head away from the influence of Stansted airport and London. Quieter, less hectic and back to the nice rural lanes of further west. I passed the wonderfully named Flying Rats, just down the road from Old House. This is one of the closed pubs of Dunmow and the countryside, and is named after the effect of throwing an infected wheat or barley stook into a thresher…
I passed the house that my then friend Joe Proudfoot lived in – he was an only son to a retired Naval Commander and was a couple of years older than me. He was left-handed, but went to a local school that refused to accept anyone was left-handed. As a consequence his course work suffered and he had terrible writing. He was though a bit of genius with electronics and spent much time constructing transmitters – and it was the era of pirate radio stations, and yes we used to broadcast to the locals (who knows if anyone was listening). The Proudfoots also had a television – and Dr Who was a Saturday favourite – complete with sofas to hide behind.
After a bit more pedalling (thanks to Andrew for correcting the spelling of this!), I met up with my sister-in-law Bonk who took me on a slight detour to view some closed pubs… and eventually we arrived in Bury St Edmunds. Total distance today: 68 km, running total: 881 km. Total ascent: 641 m and running total 10187 m. Still no tubs…
Down Memory Lane 