We enjoyed a cooked breakfast in the charming dining room of the quaint Blue Boar in Maldon - like a set for a Dickens novel.

Set off just before 9am. Bit of a slog up to Little Baddow, but on the ridge cycled past mansion after mansion. Clearly a Millionaire’s row/village. Downhill to Chelmsford. We found ourself cycling along Alistair’s old commuting routes. Morning coffee then off through a charming green corridor into the quiet rural countryside where we made our way through villages. Picnic lunch in a churchyard at High Laver and spotted a memorial to John Locke who apparently influenced the founders of the USA.

Then downhill to Old Harlow then along green corridors to Harlow New Town and then out to Roydon.

At Roydon station we joined the tow path for the River Stort Navigation. This leads into Lee Valley park where there are canals, lakes and rivers all the way to the Thames - 26 miles of green corridor.

However, irritatingly, the park admin have created a new well-tarmaced cycle path and chosen to zigzag it steeply up a hill and along a ridge before dropping down and back to the waterways. Adding several miles of needless detour and slog. Anyway back to the River Lee Navigation and along the tow path under the M25 until Enfield Lock and a short ride to a Premier Inn. Out tonight with Ed Dorman.