Cycling From Southend to Canvey Island Sea Front via London Road and Benfleet (Over 11 miles)

Video sped up 3x
With Commentary
plus mile distance markers.

First time cycling to Canvey in over 10 years but thought I’d do something a bit different.

hello YouTube so another video for the fans so I thought i’ um do not just another cycling video but something a little bit different today and uh I thought I’ll go to Cy isand um so from South that’s just over 11 miles I have cycled to cani before but it’s been a lot of years since I last did it um I don’t usually do these longdistance cycling uh Journeys while I’m like lifting heavy or doing a peak or whatever but I’ve um finished doing my Peak for my deadlift now um I’ve just come off a 2-day fast as well so um I’m just taking it easy this week so um no heavy training at the moment and then when I do resume training it’s just going to be a light restoration block so I thought yeah I’ll do that a bit different and just um get some more cycling in so uh this video is sped up three times and we’re just coming into Westcliff now I was debating whether to go along the sea front and then go past um old Lee and go through Leon C and go that way um but then I’d have to go up here a lot uh to get get towards London Road again and then get into Hadley so I thought well I’ll just go directly along London Road because it’s going to be a long journey as it is and if I’d have gone along the sea fund and gone along Old Leon Leon see and all that it would have just added to the journey and I think it would have made it more I probably will go that way again in the future um apparently there is actually a bit where you can actually cycle past Hadley Castle but um I don’t really know that part very well but I I will look into it CU I would like to actually cycle past Hadley Castle um I like Hadley Castle it’s really nice there um I I’ve cycled to Headley Castle as well before but uh I haven’t done that for a while and then when I did it was um here we are so just cleared the first mile Now 1 mile down 10 miles to go so yeah we’re still in Westcliff at the moment just past haml Court Road and uh coming up for the Palace Theater I’ve only ever been there once in my life really lovely place so uh yeah when I last cycled to Hadley castle that was um via London Road and then I went down Hadley Road and got to it that way so I when I did cycle to tle Castle I came from the top I came from the London Road end but I might try and cycle from the bottom and go to Hadley castle that way um once I learn the route and exactly where I’m going cuz it’s mainly all grass around there so we’re just coming up to chalk wall and uh yeah feeling really good today um um I was debating where where to go um I knew I wanted to do a long trip so um cuz what what when I’m doing heavy lifting I’m not really going to be doing long trips really but um it’s going to be a few weeks before I start back properly I think I’m probably just going to do that restoration phase first so we chalk cor there so I’m not pushing it too hard um I think I’m only doing about 10 miles an hour here I wanted to um yeah just just Pace myself really and uh for those of you that um watch my videos uh a few months ago I did cycle all the way from southen to basam and I think that was nearly 30 miles so uh this journey isn’t quite as long as that although in effect it was though because right I’ve just done two miles just past chalk cor there just coming into Leon C so um in effect this journey is actually longer than the Bardon one reason being is cuz it was nearly 11 and 1 half miles to get to cani but then I had to cycle 4 and a half miles to get off of cany and then get to Ben Fleet Station and then I just got a TR going back to South End again because if I had have cycled there and back it probably would have been about 22 23 miles something like that um luckily for me as well my um Fitbit was showing the correct heart rate so that was good cuz sometimes my um Fitbit gives false readings on the heart rate but I kept checking it constantly and uh fortunately it didn’t right so we uh just coming up to the Elms there so um the fast I did for for those of you that have seen the fasting video I did 41 um hours and I actually dropped £8 in a week so last week I weighed £327 and I’m just under 320 now on 39.9 9 so I lost £8 in one week so normally my average calories are about 4,2 to 4,3 but because I did a 2-day fast for this week my average calories was only 3,400 so three that shows that if I average 3,400 calories I actually lose 8 in a week doing that so obviously I mean 3,400 calories that’s still a lot more than the average man needs but it just goes to show if I consume 3,400 that’s way too low for me I need into the 4,000 which is probably a lot more than most people but last I’m £320 so being a big guy I need that much more after this B way probably a bit more so uh yeah it was nice the weather was really nice today I did want to do this last week um but it kept raining and I didn’t want to take a chance here we are three miles Leon SE so we’re coming up to Belfair now one of my biggest faces I go out cycling and then it ends up pouring down with rain right in the middle of it but I checked the weather and um according to the weather it was going to be a nice day all day today which it has been so I did this bikewise must have been about 1:00 this afternoon um at the time we recording this video actually now just gone 600 in the evening and it’s still lovely out there so I might go to I think I might go to two tree Islands next for those of you that know the area you’ll know that that’s near Leon SE train station I’ve driven there before but I’ve never Rod there before so that might be something to new to do you know I’m always trying to like find new places to go um just to make the videos a bit interesting and try and cycle to places I’ve never cycled before or try and do them in slightly different ways to try and make it a bit more interesting um cuz I I don’t like walking I find walking boring but then cycling can sometimes be boring if you’re just doing the same route or Journey or whatever so um yeah I thought I’d try and do something a bit different this time and since I’m not lifting heavy I don’t mind going that extra bit further I think um it it only affects your weight training though um if cardio is excessive you know if I was if I was doing this every single day of the week then yeah it probably would interfere with my strength Gams but um if you’re peing for big lift I wouldn’t advise doing this um because in in the past I found that excessive cardio can sometimes uh be detrimental to strength training um I mean this put even that’s 11 miles this probably won’t be because I’m not I’m not really pushing myself um I think my max heart rate was about 151 but for the most part I think my heart rate was around 110 um there were some parts I was taking it easy but even with the parts where I was going fast I wasn’t really pushing myself to the limit so I’m not aerobically fatiguing myself it’s not like I’m going all out and pushing my heart rate up to close to 200 beats a minute if I was doing that then yeah it probably would um impact my um strength training so covered four miles there so we’ve passed H’s drive and there we are there’s the sign for Hadley so we’re just coming into Hadley now I like Hadley Hadley’s a nice place I love Hadley Castle been there many times it’s real beautiful I might um cycle to Hadley Castle as well as I said that’s um somewhere we got um McDonald’s in Headley I try not to eat McDonald’s very much I will be honest I did have it yesterday um I used to have it a lot when I was in my 20s and all that but I it’s quite rare I have McDonald’s now not only is it overpriced but it’s not good for you it’s crap food and it’s just nutritionally void and definitely something to avoid so it’s very um very rare I eat McDonald’s now I’ll try and stay away from fast food wherever I can don’t if you saw there’s thaty cyclist to the right so at least I’m going quicker than someone but then there was another cyclist that passed me about 30 seconds ago look there’s another cyclist that’s just part me but they’re the Avid cyclists they do time trials they do it for Fitness they do it for Speed you know for me that’s not what this is about this is just a leisurely bite quite a time I’m I’m not pushing it I probably still couldn’t beat him even if I did I mean I’m just using a mounting bike so um it probably would at some point I probably might actually um go out of my bike and actually do a preset distance as fast as I can and really try and push myself just to try and gge where my fitness is not too far maybe something that’s like five or six miles just to see how quickly I can do it but really push it instead of the leisurely bike wives that I normally do because the leisurely bike wies that I normally do are usually for uh recovery more than Fitness or weight loss I don’t really do it for Fitness or weight loss although they are some nice side benefits but the main reason is just for active recovery and I do feel good after I’ve done a bike ride it does help loosen me up and all that sometimes I get out of bed and I have aches and pains especially if I have been lifting heavy so these little bike lives do actually make me feel better right so we’re in Hadley now um and we’ve just come up to five miles that bus was ahead of me that 27 bus that goes to canvi and I’ve just passed him I think I actually did get to cany before he did cu the 27 bus goes from South End to cany but the difference is is that he goes straight on at this this is the roundabout at Hadley so I’m going to turn left which I’m doing now whereas that bus will go straight on and that bus will go down bread and cheese hill and turn left at tarots I think and go to cvy that way whereas I’m going a different way than the bus does it’s been a lot of years since I’ve actually cycled down this road so at the end of this road you’ve got vicarage Hill and there’s some really lovely um houses down there very steep as well um but vicory sh is straight on but I’m going to turn left as the road bends around and I’m going to go down a road called Essex Way and it’s a very steep hill and it takes you literally all the way down into benfleet towards benfleet train station now in about 2017 I cycled down Essex Way and I achieved the highest speed that I’ve ever achieved on a bike before and that was 44 mph that’s the fastest I ever cycled a bike so I didn’t intend to beat that today but I thought well you know it’s been a lot of years I’m cycling down seex way for probably the first time in 17 years so I thought well you know it’ll be interesting to see um what kind of speed I can do down there today so we’re getting uh real close to it now I think we’re just coming up to the Six Mile Mark yeah there we are six miles so we are just over halfway towards cany SE front now so about another 5 and A4 miles to go so see that where that little church is in the distance that’s where the road splits to the right takes you to Vicor Hill and but I’m going to Bear left and go down Essex way they are both very steep hills can be quite dangerous as well so you got to make sure you got good breakes on your bike for this one which fortunately I have so here we go 6 miles hour going that 12 16 20 24 so my actual speed is now 28 M hour but because I’ve sped the uh video up three times it gives the illusion I’m going like 80 M hour but I’m not really I’m doing 28 mil hour so that’s as fast as I got to by now I think I dropped about 25 I probably could have gone in excess of 30 m an hour but the reason I didn’t do that is because it was very windy especially coming to the side and I did get a bit nervous and the wind really did pick up I mean when you go um at that speed you will create a lot of wind um but when I did the 44 milph when I did that back in 2007 there was no wind and if there was wind it was uh pushing me down it was coming from my back whereas this wind was coming to the side and I just got a bit nervous I was I had to keep constantly touching the brakes to stop me going any faster I’ve got to 28 mil an hour but that’s about as fast as I D to go because I was I was a little bit nervous I might come off my bike because at at that speed if you come off your bike at that speed it’s going to hurt even so like me and um it’s literally one false move and you’re off your bike so um I just I just kep my hands on the bikes so 7 and 1 half miles there so we have crossed the bridge and we are now officially into Cy we’re on the island so yeah um I mean I knew I wasn’t going to beat 44 milph that wasn’t the point but I did expect to go in excess of 30 mph and if the wind had been in the right direction or if there had have been very little wind then I probably would have yeah I probably would have just gone 30 mil an hour but the wind was in the wrong direction it was quite strong and I was worried I was going to come off my bike so I pussied out and just kept my hands on the bike and kept it at 28 mil hour so we’re coming up to W side now I don’t know if you can see it but if you look to your left you got the miniature trains at w side and I went on them a couple years ago and they’re really lovely so if anyone wants me of trains there there on CY Island they only operate oh here we are 8 miles now yep Cy Island they only operate 6 months of the year though between April and October so obviously they’re not open during the winter but yeah it’s really nice and um the price is reasonable might go back there again this summer so uh we’re about just over three quarters of the way there now we’re onon the 20 number 2227 bus route coming towards Link Road now uh the difference is the 22 bus goes from bason to cany whereas the 27 bus goes from South End to cany so they both go to cvy libec uh the only difference is 22 ghost comes from basard and 27 comes from saim it’s been a lot of years since I cycled on canvi I when I last cycled onto canvi I think that was about 2013 um but I think I went a different way I didn’t come along this way I instead of turning left and coming down water side I think I carried on and went down long road and uh went that way whereas this part on cany this is uh Link Road and this takes you to long road as well uh so I’m I’m still going the same way towards long road but I’m just coming out from a different angle I’m basically just following the 22 27 bus route the 21 bus goes from Southend to can and all but I’m not sure the rout of that one I think that one actually does go along long long road and go the other way but not sure about that so if anyone ever asks me if I’ve been on an island before I can say yeah cany Island 9 miles there once I got to this point I knew that I only had a couple of miles or just over a couple of miles left to go my hand was start my left hand was starting to get a bit numb where I’ve been holding on to the handle bar for so long and my bottom was oh here we are the 27’s just pass me so I did actually get from Hadley to to this point before the bus and now I’ve overtaken him again so sort of a little race there I think he did get ahead of me yeah there he always got ahead of me again later on and I don’t think I caught him up after that he managed to get to the to um Cy tent before I did but yeah my bottom was a little bit sore as well um the thing is I’m I’m a strength guy I’m not really an endurance guy so long endurance stuff like this um you know it’s going to take a while for me to get used to I mean it’s not something I’m going to do regularly and all that but it’s just something just to do something a little bit differently I’m not going to be doing any big lifts at the moment so um I thought i’ do this something different and then the plan is I will do I’m going to do my six week um regeneration restoration block then I’ll do an accumulation block and basically just uh work on learning log press again because I do want 150 kilo log press that is one of my goals so this is um long road now I do believe and um we are heading towards Cy Town Center this stretch of road literally takes you into cany toan Center and I think that’s FY Bay Road so if you turn right and go down that road that takes you to forny Bay Caravan Park I haven’t been there in a lot of years so we’re coming up for the 10 Mile Mark there there we are 10 miles and and um yeah I I will be honest at this point at this point I did want to stop um not just getting a little bit tired but like I said my bottom was sore and I just I just wanted to stop and take a break but I thought to myself look you know what I’ve only got what about a mile maybe a mile and a half and in I’ll get to the SE front find a seat sit down I was contemplating on getting some chips but I thought better of it I thought no I’ve had McDonald’s yesterday I’m not having another cheap meal I’m going to try and be good I’m trying to like drop weight but I’m trying to do it very very gradually so it doesn’t feel like I’m dieting it would be nice if if I could log press 150 but only weigh about 130 or 140 that that that would be good I’d like that but yeah 15 L press is something I’m definitely going to do at some point I just need to make sure that I weigh under 150 kilos when I do it cuz I want to be able to lift more than my body weight overhead in my life that’s something I’ve never that I’ve never accomplished and that is a goal that I would like to tick off and 180 kilo bch press would be nice right here we are so we’re coming into the Town Center see you got the H stack Pub on the left Island calf so we are now in um cvy Island Town Center um so I’ve turned right and I’m heading towards the SE front I think this is furtherwick road now so I I can see the SE front now I know I’m close so even though I’m tired and I want to stop and have a break I’ll just soldiering on because I know that it that the end is near and then I can just sit have a break I did have a little satel with me and I had two 500 M bottles of water aside a liter of water as well cuz I knew that when I got there I was going to want to have a drink but I’ve literally gone from South ENT to Cy nonstop I didn’t stop off at all along the way here we are 11 miles so it literally was s Cy non-stop I really wanted to do it non-stop wasn’t really worried too much on the way back about stopping or not but I just wanted to do the journey non-stop so I can say that I’ve gone from South End Town to cvy se front Non-Stop and I’ve now done that when I last went to when I last cycled to cany about 11 years ago I didn’t cycle to the Sea front so uh this is her first I think yeah and here we are cany say see can Island see from nearly there I think this yeah this was 11.2 miles at this point so 11 and a/4 miles and to the right you can’t quite see it but there’s the water over over that wall we’re literally at the sea wall now there we are now now we can see the water so yeah 11.4 miles job done 11.4 miles 1 hour 18 minutes max heart rate 151 average heart rate 131 1277 calories wow all right time for a little water break there love [Music] so uh I dropped eight pounds in a week for fasting after doing this journey by this time next week I probably would have dropped another 8 for