We walked up to that concrete structure you see Troods stop at. If I remember rightly we arrived in GH about 12.30pm. We planned to have lunch in the Chequers which we did and after that the weather had changed and was drizzling and looked like heavy rain so we didn't explore the routes.
I don't believe JB took any of the routes to covertly travel to and from WHF to murder his family.
The whole idea of the bike is ludicrous imo. There's simply no way to exit Bourtree Cottage/GH without passing a number of properties and whilst I accept most people are sleeping during the early hours not all are. It was the height of the holiday season. Teenage children off school and uni students home both tend to keep strange hours in the absence of any responsibilities. People leaving for and returning in the early hours from airports. Only one person would need to observe an individual on a sit up and beg bike in such a small community at an odd hour and it would pretty much be game over. It's easy for a person to disguise him/herself in the dark of night not so easy to do with a bike. I can't see any advantages to the bike. It wasn't an off road bike but a ladies sit up and beg type. Easier and faster to run across the fields. The longest route is only some 4 miles.
The bike was forensically analysed for blood and soil and nothing incriminating was found. Just because RWB had a theory about it doesn't make it so.
It wasn't just RWB's theory, but JB told JM that he'd use a bike, unless you believe there were clandestine phone calls/meetings between RWB and JM.
If JB used the BLUE Sea Wall route there was nothing to stop him leaving unseen by the long garden at the back of his cottage, across the field down to Thistley Close (if it existed in '85), then finding a way through to the start of the Sea Wall and a long, unlit journey to WHF. Followed by a return trip along the same route.
If he used a car, as scipio thinks, then the only option was the the second-longest GREEN route, but this would also be the quickest knowing his alleged boy-racer tendencies. As he approached the cottage he could have turned the engine off and freewheeled to a halt directly under his front window, to avoid awakening people in 7, 11, and 10 across the road. But would any of those three neighbours have been alerted by an engine starting up when he left earlier on?
I think though that he plumped for the shortest RED route of less than 3 miles, sneaking past Hyde Farm well-hidden to avoid any barking guard dogs. Having grown up a farmer's son, he'd know the pathways to and from neighbouring farms. In my experience they're noted for borrowing tools/machinery, and subcontracting work from each other.
We're talking about a sleepy, sparsely-populated hamlet in 1985 between say midnight and 3am. Next time you visit Goldhanger in early August, have a walk, run or bike ride along the RED route during the night and see if you're spotted. If a car comes by, you can always nip behind a hedge and pretend you're having a p...
