totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
This is the third year running we have toured the above and once again we were using Vrienden op de Fiets the brilliant organisation where you stay with ordinary people and families. The way I plan the trip is to look at places we want to see, choose the ones between 60 and 80 miles apart and make sure there is a place to go out and eat within walking distance, this time the plan was to do a lot more of Belgium. Of course I look at the route and write out on a card [cardmin as opposed to garmin] noting villages and towns enroute. From past experience we know that the difficult bits are entering and leaving larger towns and cities where we are staying the night so for these I write in much more detail using street names and every turn with distances.
Getting to Harwich was by a tried and trusted route, I knew most of the roads anyway from leading rides when we were in Cambridge CC. Thanks to my geese inconveniently producing baby goslings the tour was only going to be 12 days including the 2 days on this side.
The morning dawned fine with 22 - 23C predicted and for once the train to Cambridge from Oakham was more or less on time.
Cambridge station was manic and we were glad to be away and not long before we were into familiar Suffolk territory which is surprisingly hilly when loaded up with panniers.
Funny how the camera flattens out hills! This wasn't the hardest by any means.
Our first stop was the cafe I always knew as the "Hard Times" cafe which has changed hands a few times since then, it can be found near to Stradishall and if you are ever in the area do give it a try, very friendly folk. In fact when we told the woman who was working there where we were going she gave us a couple of blueberry muffins for free!
The next brief stop to snap a quick photo was at Hartest, if anyone knows the area they will also know the steepest hill leads from the village up to the vineyard, I had completely forgotten about that one
Hartest
Following our route from last year sandwiches were consumed in a busy Lavenham before ploughing on to Hadleigh for a soft drink and toilet stop. Next stop Manningtree, we always feel like the holiday has truly started when we get there, partly because it is the first sight of the sea and partly because from there it is only 11 miles to Harwich.
Once there we got our fish and chips and plonked ourselves on a bench in the park we always use to eat.
Because food and drink on ship is always expensive we buy our breakfast in Morrisons, not to mention a couple of mini bottles of red wine.
The queueing to get on board was the usual nonsense, in that they always let the cars on before the bikes which means we stand around getting cold and then when we do eventually board we have to navigate around all the vehicles to the bike area which on this occasion was going to be oversubscribed as I had counted about 50 cyclists.
Luckily no one climbed the ramp as quick as us so we got our bikes parked in the best spot.
I guess we were fortunate to get a berth at all as the ship was full due to the madness in Calais.
Not an early night, but then it never is on the ship. Tomorrow was to be testing to say the least.
Getting to Harwich was by a tried and trusted route, I knew most of the roads anyway from leading rides when we were in Cambridge CC. Thanks to my geese inconveniently producing baby goslings the tour was only going to be 12 days including the 2 days on this side.
The morning dawned fine with 22 - 23C predicted and for once the train to Cambridge from Oakham was more or less on time.
Cambridge station was manic and we were glad to be away and not long before we were into familiar Suffolk territory which is surprisingly hilly when loaded up with panniers.
Funny how the camera flattens out hills! This wasn't the hardest by any means.
Our first stop was the cafe I always knew as the "Hard Times" cafe which has changed hands a few times since then, it can be found near to Stradishall and if you are ever in the area do give it a try, very friendly folk. In fact when we told the woman who was working there where we were going she gave us a couple of blueberry muffins for free!
The next brief stop to snap a quick photo was at Hartest, if anyone knows the area they will also know the steepest hill leads from the village up to the vineyard, I had completely forgotten about that one
Hartest
Following our route from last year sandwiches were consumed in a busy Lavenham before ploughing on to Hadleigh for a soft drink and toilet stop. Next stop Manningtree, we always feel like the holiday has truly started when we get there, partly because it is the first sight of the sea and partly because from there it is only 11 miles to Harwich.
Once there we got our fish and chips and plonked ourselves on a bench in the park we always use to eat.
Because food and drink on ship is always expensive we buy our breakfast in Morrisons, not to mention a couple of mini bottles of red wine.
The queueing to get on board was the usual nonsense, in that they always let the cars on before the bikes which means we stand around getting cold and then when we do eventually board we have to navigate around all the vehicles to the bike area which on this occasion was going to be oversubscribed as I had counted about 50 cyclists.
Luckily no one climbed the ramp as quick as us so we got our bikes parked in the best spot.
I guess we were fortunate to get a berth at all as the ship was full due to the madness in Calais.
Not an early night, but then it never is on the ship. Tomorrow was to be testing to say the least.