mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
News for cyclists using Harwich:
1. One of the boats in 2019 was playing something other than Don't Worry Be Happy as the wake-up call but I can't remember what it was.
2. If you don't mind losing an hour or so potential riding time, the cafe next to the tourist info in the market square of Hook of Holland does a good breakfast deal and opens soon after you'll have got through the port controls.
3. If you're taking the trains in the Netherlands, the ferry arrives at 8am, but you cannot take bikes on the metro to Schiedam before 9am, whereas The Hague's stations are only 12 miles away by a direct route and have trains to more destinations.
4. If you're cycling between Harwich and Ipswich or Bury St Eds, there's a new cycleway recently opened between Brantham/Cattawade and Manningtree station, which improves Manningtree's connection to Suffolk Cycle Route B (and thence to the signed routes network). I've not tried it yet.
5. Although it's a footpath, it looks like the gates/stiles have gone from the mostly-soft-surfaced Essex Way / Ray Lane between Refinery Road Parkeston and B1352 Wrabness Road so it may be cycleable again, cutting a mile off and avoiding the choice between busier roads or the obnoxiously substandard National Route 51 link (exemplified by the unmarked high kerb across it right by the port exit). I've not tried it yet.
1. One of the boats in 2019 was playing something other than Don't Worry Be Happy as the wake-up call but I can't remember what it was.
2. If you don't mind losing an hour or so potential riding time, the cafe next to the tourist info in the market square of Hook of Holland does a good breakfast deal and opens soon after you'll have got through the port controls.
3. If you're taking the trains in the Netherlands, the ferry arrives at 8am, but you cannot take bikes on the metro to Schiedam before 9am, whereas The Hague's stations are only 12 miles away by a direct route and have trains to more destinations.
4. If you're cycling between Harwich and Ipswich or Bury St Eds, there's a new cycleway recently opened between Brantham/Cattawade and Manningtree station, which improves Manningtree's connection to Suffolk Cycle Route B (and thence to the signed routes network). I've not tried it yet.
5. Although it's a footpath, it looks like the gates/stiles have gone from the mostly-soft-surfaced Essex Way / Ray Lane between Refinery Road Parkeston and B1352 Wrabness Road so it may be cycleable again, cutting a mile off and avoiding the choice between busier roads or the obnoxiously substandard National Route 51 link (exemplified by the unmarked high kerb across it right by the port exit). I've not tried it yet.
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