Summer Tour 2005

Taunton, 27th - 31st July

As this was our first cycling tour, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We had heard the rumours but decided to brave it anyway…

We finally arrived at the hall after being forced to attempt some 3-bell tower grabbing. (Against our wishes of course!) It was slightly later than planned as it had taken so long to get three bikes into the car. As we sat drinking in the pub, 8 members of the society were ringing a quarter of Somerset Surprise Major at Bishops Lydeard. The beer was good (almost lush!) but we drank the pub dry of the nice beer and had to finish off the night with IPA. After a (very) wobbly cycle ride back to the hall, it was mentioned that it looked like Halfords in the hall due to the lack of space and the wide variety of bikes in there. To this day we don’t know how Ross and Rona got ‘lost’ on the way back from the pub…

A good nights sleep was had by all (we think!) as 2 of our resident snorers hadn’t arrived and Andy seemed to be quiet for once! Long may it last! Breakfast was non-eventful and we set off to the first tower, Lydeard St Lawrence in good time. After a longer cycle ride than expected, some people claimed to have been sunburnt by the non-existent sun, whereas others just admitted they were unfit and looked like tomatoes! Andy blended in with the black and yellow sallies, as he was also bright yellow, wearing a neon jacket. The bells ran well and provided a good tower to start the tour with. The ‘slow’ group left the tower before the end of the ringing to get a head start on everyone else. Although we’d left before the ringing had finished we weren’t that early at tower two, Stogumber. The cycle ride to this tower was slightly more eventful than the first ride, evident by the fact that we were now splattered in mud! After ringing on these typically heavy bells, we made our way to the pub for beer and food. After we had almost recovered from the morning of cycling and ringing it was time to leave for the third tower, Crowcombe. There were some alternative routes planned, but we foolishly decided to follow Ross who took us 2 miles out of our way and up massive hills! The bells were anti-clockwise and raising them proved to be difficult for some and some people had trouble keeping it up... We left for the final tower of the day, Holy Trinity, Ash Priors. Thankfully these were a ground floor ring so no steps had to be climbed! (Well done Ross!) These were a nice comparatively light 6 and the second best tower of the day. We arrived back hungry and satisfied with the day’s achievements, looking forward to a nice swim. A different pub was sampled and the beer was lush! We got back to the hall to find the toilet was blocked. Martyn used his long stick to unblock it and Andy asked if there was movement. I don’t think he meant it as a pun! Sleep wasn’t quite so nourishing as things went bump in the night and we were rudely awakened by Andy having some sort of nightmare. At least he didn’t snore quite as much and provided some amusement!

Friday morning found us feeling slightly achy and hoping that the hills weren’t going to be as big as yesterday. Unfortunately, this was not the case! This was the worst day for hills and many of us found that walking was a very nice way to see the countryside views! The first tower of the day, Wiveliscombe was a nice ring of 8. We rang some nice Yorkshire and Grandsire. After a strenuous journey to Ashbrittle, we were glad to see that this was a ground floor ring. Andy demonstrated what we were all thinking by cycling into the churchyard and collapsing off his bike onto the grass. These bells were unlike the usual Somerset bells and were light and easy to ring. A short cycle ride away found us food and drink, which was very welcome. Some members of the society got slightly wet by water squirted from water bottles and there were a few ‘ride-by-squirtings’ on the way to the third tower of the day. It was this cycle ride that saw the one and only puncture of the tour…… The afternoon took us to Langford Budville, which were an 11cwt 6 where a variety of methods were rung, from call changes to various surprise minor methods. By this time, many people were turning up silently (or extremely audibly in some cases) cursing Ross for putting in so many hills, but he seemed unfazed by this! The final tower of the day was in Milverton. For some people, this was the first cycle ride of the whole two days where they had stayed on their bikes for the whole journey! An achievement! Ice cream was enjoyed by many whilst waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. The bells here were very nice and unfortunately there was some dodgy ringing of Stedman (no pun intended!) in between some good call changes and bob major. There was just enough time to cycle back to the hall and have a swim before heading over to Tim and Kate Payne’s house for a BBQ. The food was fabulous and the 36 pints of beer went down very quickly. Thanks to Tim and Kate for organising that for us. Most people ventured off to the pub in cars whilst one group walked back to the hall, where Minime flashed all the way home and Percy didn’t want to see Daniel’s ‘one eyed monster’. An early night was had by most people as we were now feeling extremely tired!

The last day of cycling finally arrived. After our initial apprehension about the hilliness of the ride, we were pleasantly surprised and found this day the most enjoyable to cycle. Possibly due to lack of sleep, our ringing did not do justice to the good bells at our first tower, West Monkton. However, this gave scope for improvement at North Curry, where some of us took the ‘off-road’ route, almost entering a field with bulls in! Despite this hazardous ride, we thoroughly enjoyed this tower. At this point the rain descended on us and we took refuge in a pub for lunch (and beer).

Driving rain continued on the way to the third tower in Creech St. Michael. Here we had a striking competition. Most of the teams played it safe this year, with only one band ringing something obscure. Two of the teams almost didn’t have enough people to ring as Andy and Sue went on the “nutters route” and turned up at the tower covered in mud and their bikes unrecognisable. They were seen afterwards using watering cans and sticks trying to clean their bikes. At the final tower of the tour, St. John, Staplegrove, the locals greeted us with tea and cake. Ross redeemed himself at this point! Although we were all soaked to the skin some fast ringing warmed us up nicely. We made our way back to the hall, with only one near death experience involving a bike and two cars… After a short lie down and a cup of tea, we wandered to the pub for food and a short meeting. Many pints of alcohol were consumed, probably not a great idea for the band ringing a quarter the next day! Considering the number of empty pint glasses were on the ‘student’ table, the hangovers should have been monumental! I think a few of us were trying to make up for the lack of alcohol the previous few nights. The usual antics occurred, Ross and Percy sat and told very bad jokes, Sarah got very giggly and tied Becky’s shoelaces together and Bridget promised me (Becky) that she would tell my Dad exactly what I had been up to…hmmm! Oh yeah, and Percy decided he couldn’t wait for a toilet so went behind an embankment, after which he decided to run up it back onto the road. Unfortunately for him, there was a ditch with lots of stinging nettles…Ouch! Thankfully for us, he didn’t show us all the places he had been stung… On Sunday morning we got up and had a hearty breakfast (hearty because we added black pudding into the menu!), followed by some Sunday Service ringing. Most of the society went their separate ways, apart from 8 who rang a quarter of Cambridge Major at Ditcheat.

An enjoyable time was had by all, many thanks to Ross for organising such an enjoyable tour, and to the catering officers for providing fuel for cycling.

- Becky Shipley and Jenny Malin
(Webmaster's note: this must be the most prompt report ever published on this site!)

Bishops Lydeard, Somerset. Wed 27 July 2005, 1280 Somerset Surprise Major: Rona M Shaw 1, Karen M Williams 1, C Phillip Hope 3, Ross E Hartley 4, Paul J Lewis 5, Reverend Darren R Moore 6, Stephen W Penney 7, Timothy M Payne (C) 8.

Ditcheat, Somerset. Sun 31 July 2005, 1280 Cambridge Surprise Major: Jennifer Malin 1, Rebecca Shipley 2, Daniel Knight 3, Ross Hartley 4, Martyn Owen 5, James P Mort 6, Roger Grieve 7, Stephen W Penney (C) 8. First on eight: 1 First with the Society: 2.

Photos by Stephen Penney and Rhyan Probert

	'Combe Wood Tower', apparently...		... See!
	A Dog		Squeezing in a pint between towers.
	Some bellringing		Captions please!
	Ross gets them in		Rona (not dead)
	Puff has lunch		Beauty & the Beast (being held by Karen)
	Tim's BBQ (it looked more impressive with more meat!)		People enjoy the food
	Sarah		Jenny, Becky and James
	Karen, Dave & Jessica		Sue gets cleaned up.
	People enjoy lunch		Time for a pint before ringing
	Tim cooks dinner		People enjoy the BBQ
	The striking competition trophy		Waiting to ring.