Tour of Britain Stage 6 Roll Out in Barrow

Tour of Britain Posters

Sweeping the streets on Thursday getting ready for the Tour of Britain.

The statue in Schneider Square has been decorated in readiness.

Henry Schneider dressed in green. Is he impressed?

Friday arrives and this police man was kept busy directing three lanes of traffic,  his piercing whistle was almost as loud as his shout at dozing motorists to get them moving.  Nearly time for him to move off as the helicopter appears overhead and the other bike marshals power down Roose Road.

  Here comes the main event.

Katusha Alpecin, Dimension Data and Direct Energie

This was the point I realised I hadn't put a sports mode on my camera - so slow, ergh, unlike the whizz of racing bikes heading for the coast road and the racing.

Direct Energie and the other team cars roll on past and we move off the windy corner. 

On the Essex Coast

I inherited a bound set of The War Illustrated from my paternal grandparents. One hundred years after publication I'm exploring its pages to discover the people and their times.

"The Modern Coastguard Goes Awheel"

The caption under the photograph's title continues "The breezy East Coast, so long the rendezvous of holiday enthusiasts, is now the scene of serious military activity.  A German raid upon the shores of |East Anglia is still possible, though highly improbable, but nothing has been left undone to defeat such attempt.  The extremely picturesque study shows a body of |Essex Cycle Scouts riding along one of the coast roads, which they patrol day and night, to give warning of any enemy approach by sea or air" 

I tried to identify where the 'river' and windmill was but despite a virtual roam along the East Anglia coast I could find no post mill that fitted its geographical location but did enjoy some stunning photographs.  The windmill made another appearance in publicity about the Essex Cycling Scouts but this time in a Cycling magazine (and it was this article that gave me another clue)

"The Essex cycling Battalion Guarding Our Coast"

Interestingly the War Illustrated image is from the 1st May 1915 and the Cycling image is from the issue 22nd April 1915. I imagine from this that the photographer enjoyed his day out with the Essex Cycling Scouts. The caption on the Cycling paper continues "It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the work entrusted to the cyclist in the home defence scheme.  The full scope of their duties cannot be disclosed - for obvious reasons - but upon their vigilance and resource much depends.  Our photographs show 1) the special kind of training the new battalions undergo; 2) lookout observation post manned by trained cyclists (yes that is our windmill ladder); and 3) a coast patrol at work,  A glance at the latter photograph enables one to appreciate the hazardous nature of this work at night when, of course, every light is extinguished and the precipitous paths on the cliffs are difficult to negotiate"   and you can also hazily see a windmill.

The story of the Cycling Battalions appears on the BSA and Military Bicycle Museum here.  Who knew there was a BSA museum, well not quite, its a virtual museum but a fascinating resource.  My first bicycle, and the one I learnt to ride on with my father running behind, was a BSA, I vividly remember its badge. Did I love my first bike and I don't remember bothering that it had no gears although I couldn't do without them now!  Money was tight so it was bought at a second hand shop for £5 but the pleasure and freedom to roam was without price.

But enough of my reminiscences, the 'Cycling' article mentioned cliffs so combining that with my search terms meant I stumbled across this

Old Windmill 1908

Yay. Unfortunately the windmill no longer exists but the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club who featured the postcard, built their club house (which opened in July 1920) on the foundations of the old windmill , this is Walton Creek. The windmill location -  Walton on the Naze - was built in 1846 for grinding cereal,by 1892 it was disused

English Heritage say they do not know when the above photograph was taken but point out the costumes are Edwardian but wonder why there was a trip to a disused windmill..  Both the above photograph and the War Illustrated one make it look as though the post mill was on a river or creek.. But everything is in the crop because actually the

Walton Windmill and Boating Lake

view looked like this. The photograph appears on the Walton History Trail page of the 'Visit' site.  The Mill Pond or 'Mere' was converted to a boating lake.  "In its heyday it offered 250 small rowing, sailing and paddle boats".  They go on to say "Mill lane is the site of the former windmill and watermill (tide mill,) grinding locally-grown corn until 1922. Flour was then shipped from Halls Quay dock, and coals from Newcastle arrived on the return journey to supply the foundry and the former gas works near the station".  Other sources say that both the water mill and the windmill ceased working around 1900 and were demolished in 1920, or rather the tidal mill was demolished and the windmill collapsed.

I hope our Essex Cycle Scouts enjoyed a sail on the Walton Mere (as it was renamed) in more peaceful times.

Walton on the Naze Old Mill Pond 1920

Sources:

More Walton on Naze windmill photographs at Windmill World   

BSA and Military Cycle Museum page - Cyclists Your King and Country Need You

Visit Walton On The Naze site - History Trails. (The cliffs also played more wartime roles in WW2)

Walton and Frinton Yacht Club - History

English Heritage photo on Flickr

Walton Archive (Putnam Photographers) - The Windmill and The Watermill 

Walton on the  Naze Seaside Heritage Project (pdf)
Britain From Above - View of the Walton on the Naze Old Mill Pond and Martello Tower

   

Pearl Izumi Round 6

A beautiful sunny evening and Round 6 of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series around the centre of Barrow however the icy wind made if feel as if it was March rather than May. No wonder the pace was high by the riders here seen in the early stages of the race with Pedal Heaven in the lead and ultimately would lie in third place.

The winner of the sprint finish Team Wiggins rider Chris Lawless with Will Bjergfelt in his sights.

 And a great nights racing was had by all

 As an amateur rider the enthusiastic Will Bjergfelt seemed to take more enjoyment from his second place

than Chris Lawless did by winning it.

So here is Will in action

 Madison Genesis team leaders on the night

O Canada

I inherited a bound set of The War Illustrated from my paternal grandparents. One hundred years after publication I'm exploring its pages to discover the people and their times.

"Signallers of the 1st Mounted Canadian Highlanders at their camp in England after their journey from Plymouth where they disembarked from their transports. The men are of the best physique th Empire can provide, solid specimens of hard muscles and iron sinew"

 

A Canadian bicycle battalion poses for the camera at Pond's Farm on Salisbury Plain where they would undertake training for their eventual journey into war.  I can find nothing about a 1st Mounted Canadian Highlanders and think they would be one of the many voluntary militia battalions who formed the 1st Canadian Division expeditionary force that landed in England in 1914.  The conditions in the Autumn of 1914 were of unpleasant cold and rain but as can be seen the War Illustrated has great confidence in their heritage of Scottish and Canadian genes and of course their nickname was the "Scotties".

 Here they are settling into a wet England with a shudder inducing open air water pump but the War Illustrated of the 31st October 1914 seems intrigued by the fatigue caps which would possibly be a more familiar sight in world war two when this Jaeger pattern from "Essentials for the Forces" was published in the 1940s.  

1940s Patterns to Knit from the Victoria and Albert Museum

   The Patricias shown on the left are one of the three regular infantry regiments in Canada who were originally raised in 1914 and arrived in France on 21st December 1914.  The Scottie cyclists would take a similar journey in 1915 and  the 1st Canadian Regiment would later suffer 50% a casualty rate at Ypres.  The nursing sisters of the Red Cross on the right would run rest homes and hospitals in England.

 

On the outbreak of war Canada had immediately offered 20,000 to 25,000 men of which this page pays tribute, however 630,000 would eventually serve on the 1914-18 battlefields.

Additional

"Canadian Command During the First World War" by Tim Cook - The Canadian Encyclopaedia

"Cyclist Battalion in the The Great War" forum - Canada At War

"Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion" by John McKetny - Canadian Cycling Magazine (from which the photo below is taken)  

 

 

Rolling Through York

Tour de France, Bishopsgate Street, York

Stage 2 of the Tour de France leisurely starting its day through the streets of York with the colours at the front.  The Maillot Jaune being worn by a smiling Marcel Kittel and the legend who is Jens Voigt is in the spotted King of the Mountains jersey. This will be the 17th and last tour for Voigt, his first being way back in 1998.
 

Zoom in on Pearl Izumi

I've just returned home after joining the millions of people who came out to watch the Tour de France  in England and had a marvellous time.  I haven't downloaded any of my pictures yet but I'm sure one or two will make it into the next round of ABC Wednesday. Are you ready for the next round (15) of ABC Wednesday?

For the last letter of Round 14 I am still in cycling mode and my photos are all from the Pearl Izumi Tour Series which brings together nine squads to race over five weeks in town and city centres, battling it out in 12 events and 10 venues for the title of best team in Britain.  For the first time it visited my little town on the coast of Cumbria for Round 2 in May.

They zipped around the town centre which turned out to be a technical, but fast circuit with an average speed of 43 kph. I even managed by chance to get a perfectly placed letter Z in this photo as two riders pass the safety barrier at the Town Hall.

The event drew an enthusiastic crowd of about 10,000 and of course some were taking photographs

like this girl standing on a piece of street furniture with her zoom lens. This photo shows in the lead Graham Briggs (the winner on the night) riding for the Rapha Condor JLT team who would collect the overall best team prize after the last race took place on the island of Jersey in June.  Following him is Tom Scully who came second (his team Madison Genesis were team winners on the night). 

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week reaching the last letter Z here 

      

Village Views

The Over Kellet Village Post Office in Lancashire is a family concern and supplies the usual eclectic mix typical of village shops,  although at the time all I was buying was ice cream and a newspaper.  On our way here we had passed by

the chimney and bell tower of the

  old village school, now converted into a private dwelling and at the time up for sale.

Walking up the hill was this group of buildings which I imagine would at one time have been a old farm house and attached workers cottage typical of the area.  The meaning of 'Kellet' in Over Kellet means 'spring' and probably refers to this and the neighbouring village of Near Kellet's water springs on different parts of the hill, one of which runs to the village well.  In the 18th century this provided drinking water for the horse troughs.  But no horses to take the strain here

as a little group on a training run cycles up the hill. It was a lovely day for doing just that

with clear views over the valley and perhaps they took a route past this

farm weather vane in Near Kellet. 

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet sojourning this week at -  V 

Tour of Britain Stage Two

Timing a rolling road block relies on communication and here is one of the police bikes waiting for the next team member to take over. This means that our wait is about over to see the Tour of Britain Riders 

 The first to arrive were the breakaway here led by the An Post rider Sean Downey.  The spectators are well wrapped against the weather which had been only showery until the riders approached and then it became a deluge and it looked as though they would have their own personal rain cloud throughout the day.

This next highlight of Stage Two of the Tour of Britain in September was indicated by a rather jolly Peleton Safety official bantering with the crowd jumping off the bike to run to the junction

to indicate the direction to the peleton powering up the hill out of Whitehaven 

Bernard Eisel leading the Sky Team and his expression and rhythmic determination to hunt down the breakaway did not alter throughout the stage. 

Mark Cavendish, the Manx Missile tucked away in the middle of the peleton. Hills are not his metier but give him a nice flat finish line to aim for and whoosh.

The events marshal rides up the A595 as the last of the bunch cross the road ahead turn left,  81 of the 186 miles done but lots to come on this trip from Carlisle to Kendal down the coast and across the Lake District.

The Australian rider Steele Von Hoff must have had some mechanical problem as he was the last rider and out of contact, he danced on the peddles trying to regain the peleton.  My camera was nicely steaming up at this point. The breakaway would lead for much of the stage until they hit Honister Pass which was a popular place to watch the tour, but one that produced the worst of the Lakeland weather so its 1 in 4 gradient was also part stream.  I watched that part of the race on the TV, not outside on the big screen in Workington but gradually drying out in the comfort of a pub.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at T

ABC Wednesday - V'eol

Flags volant on vertical poles in the city of Caen in north west of France. Two flags of France and two of Normandy with their two lions.  But enough of this vacillation, on to the main word...

V'eol. The name of the bike loan scheme in the city which was started in March 2008.  There are 350 bikes and 40 stations. Pay an annual subscription of €15 or rent by the half hour, getting the code to unlock (or as they put it the Liberté formula), by wap phone, SMS text or website and even from that old fashioned thing a phone line number. The user card has a radio frequency so it can be used without even leaving your pocket, use the code and voilà the bike or velo is yours to ride and venture around the city.  The biker message boards give it a thumbs up but say the shaft drive mechanism was 'interesting', no idea what that means as we were not in Caen long enough to take advantage of the scheme.  There are quite a few of these loan schemes around the world but wouldn't it be marvellous if more places had them. As you may be able to tell I am a bit of a bike enthusiast so of course when I saw these I was almost as excited by the racks as the Gothic church

they were stood by.  Added value to my day was to see them being towed vaward by a van across the city.

Once used and finished with left at the nearest station so I imagine they may pile up at one destination.

possibly after taking the victuals  out of the basket, leaving the vehicle and paying a visit to a local café.

Vroom across to ABC Wednesday for more words starting with the letter V