09.04.2016

Well……. it should have been three ferries!

We set out in the rain and a headwind from Beccles after a lovely 2 day  stay with Nicky and Graham and headed for the first of two foot ferries to reach Harwich.

On the way we passed an amazing shop front in Halesworth carved out of solid wood.

Arriving in good time at the Felixstowe Ferry in the pouring rain we hailed our ferry by waving a big bat at the opposite shore.

The ferry duly arrived to pick us up plus tandem and luggage and once on the Felixstowe side we rang the Felixstowe/Harwich foot ferry to check all was well.

It wasn’t!………..

Mechanical breakdown meant that the ferry wasn’t operating till the following day…….. ho hum!

We had a choice of a further 35 miles down the estuary and then back up to Harwich….. or the train. Train it was because we had already cycled 53 mikes from Beccles! So we dismantled our tandem to catch a train to Ipswich…… then to Manningtree …. then to Harwich International. Our journey that by foot ferry would have taken 1/2 hour took us around 3 hours by train – at least we didn’t have to pedal!

We had a bit of an audience as we re-assembled our tandem in the passenger terminal before we boarded what should have been our third ferry of the day. After eating our dinner out of our travelling pots we settled down for a good night’s sleep in our cabin.

Nerds Corner…

Barsham  to Harwich ….54miles cycling …..plus  around 40 miles by train. 415mtr climb.

07.04.2016

Neil and Ann were great hosts for us through  Warmshowers   and provided us with a very welcome meal on our arrival.

Neil is an intrepid bike tourer, and following his early retirement he cycled from the Northernmost point of Alaska to the Southernmost point of Argentina – some 16,000 miles! Puts our 2,500 miles to Istanbul into some insignificance!

He and Anne got married in Shelton’s St. Mary’s Church just 1 mile away and we went to see it for ourselves. A very pretty country church with an interesting connection to Anne Boleyn.  Apparently Princess Elizabeth (Later Queen Elizabeth 1) was sheltered in the church tower to keep her safe from those who wished her harm.

Today was a short ride into Suffolk to meet up with our good friends Nicky and Graham who live in Barsham near Beccles. We were pleased to see their daughter Tamsin who we had not seen for some time before she set off in her van to Oxford to play with her band Solana .

Staying here two nights before we pedal through “bootiful” Suffolk countryside to rendevous with two foot ferries to reach Harwich and our ferry to the Netherlands.

06.04.2016

We stayed with Linda Foord, Diana’s cousin in Little Downham, some 3 miles from Ely. Unfortunately her partner Jackie was working nights when we stayed so we didn’t get to meet up with her again, but we were able to enjoy their recently rebuilt home with an amazing central feature in the living room/kitchen area – a woodburner that you could rotate so the glass fire door could be seen from any direction!

After a very hospitable stay with Linda, we set off in the rain with a very strong wind against us; but thankfully that didn’t last long as we turned eastwards with the wind at our back.

We continued our journey on very straight fens roads, many of which were undulating due to subsidence. The soil then started to change from a dark, dark peaty brown to a much lighter looking soil as we moved away from the fens.

And we started to find a few small hills!

We found this very useful sign as we again found ourselves on some quite rough tracks – but they led us to some very lovely quiet roads.

For lunch we were able to make use of a very convenient verandah attached to a community centre under shelter in a small village in the middle of Thetford forest.

Shortly after we rode across a small bridge where we were able to play poohsticks – Simon won!

We were very grateful to reach our Warmshowers hosts Alan and Ann in a tiny Norfolk village called Hardwick – our 52 mile ride turned out to be 59, our longest day so far.

05.04.2016

Having been soaked the previous evening, we set off in bright sunshine towards Ely – gloves still wet clipped to the luggage to dry. We passed through Peterbrough and more pretty villages.

The ride was mostly flat as we rode into the fens. For quite a distance we cruised at 25 mph, with the wind behind us!

As we got into the fens, the roads became very straight and also showed plenty of signs of subsidence due to the underlying unstable peaty soil – we saw cars and vans bouncing along the undulations like a rollercoaster ride but on our tandem it was fine. However when  turning at right angles as the roads here tend to do it gave us a strong side wind buffeting us a bit. We were glad for the most part the wind was from behind us.

We went through Whittlesea, home of the Whittlesea Strawbear Festival, a Morris and Molly dancing Festival in January.

We also found a road that turned into a track – with a gate! Once again we had to remove all the bags to get the tandem round the gate.

Note to self…. always check out the detail that Googlemaps comes up with to show “a cycle route”!

We arrived at my (Diana) cousin’s house in Little Downham to a warm welcome and good food.

04.04.2016

Setting out from our riverside stop on the Trent we passed through quiet country lanes in four counties (Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire) to reach our next overnight stop in Stamford.

We pedalled through a small village called Quorn in Leicestershire which we discovered had lent it’s name for the eponymously branded food for some reason.

Passing through Loughborough we had a refuelling stop mid-morning at a nice cafe named the Two Monkeys Cafe (what we thought was rather an appropriate name for tandemists!)

Lots of quiet and attractive countryside quiet lanes took us into Rutland, the smallest county in England where we cycled along the shore of  Rutland Water a nature reserve and one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe. Finished in 1976 it is the largest reservoir by surface area in England (surpassed in capacity by Kielder Water in Northumberland). Managed by Anglian Water it holds water to supply the population in one of the driest parts of the UK.

Ironically from the reservoir it started to rain, 1/2 hour of which was torrential. So we arrived in Stamford like drowned rats – perhaps I should find some wiper-blade gadget for my spectacles! Described by Sir Walter Scott as the “finest stone town in England” we could quite see what he meant.

We were welcomed by Johanna and Neville our Airbnb hosts for the night, living in a lovely old (stone!) town house near the town centre. We were lucky to have fine sunny weather to explore this beautiful town the next day.

03.04.2016

Thanks to Warmshowers and Luke we were able to stay on his narrow boat which he is in the process of fitting out. Currently moored on the River Trent near Long Eaton it provided an interesting and welcome stay for the night.

Nearby was the Trent Lock Inn which provided a good meal for us hungry tandemists.

We had a lovely ride into and out of Derby, mostly by traffic free routes. We have passed by Derby many times in the car to visit friends over in Suffolk – but passing through the slow way you get a really different impression of the city which proved it was surprisingly attractive! Continue reading A night on a canal boat on the Trent →

02.04.2016

Set out from Mobberly in the rain, arrived in Leek for lunch with blue sky ahead.

There were no leeks on the menu, so we settled for having a leak!

Leek is a lovely market town that it would be pleasant to return to and spend more time looking round.

An important industry years ago was spinning and weaving silk. There was also a big button manufacturing industry.

William Morris lived there in the 1870’s and was an influence on the person who designed the building in the picture.

Leek is renowned for there being a double sunset at the summer solstice, due to the local topography.

After Leek we were negotiating steep and long hills into Derbyshire – often pushing on the way up but whizzing on the way down. Scenery was lovely.

Nerds Corner

Mobberley to Ashbourne: 38 miles . 767 mtrs total climb

Journey so far: 73 miles