Day 74 – Saxmundham to Lowestoft

 

 Date: Sunday 29^th May  2011   Distance: 47.33 Miles

 

We left the Premier Inn at 9 for Saxmundham,  leaving the car in the long stay car park at the station there. With more saddlebags this time we started the cycle ride to Lowestoft.

 

 It was a sunny but fresh start and surprisingly there was a steep hill out of Saxmundham. My coat came off but Bob still felt the cool wind which was against us all the way to Aldburgh. Suffolk is very pretty and the farmers take good care of their fields, colourful this time of year with poppies and then there was the huge splash of blue from the linseed.

 

We liked Aldburgh with its old moot hall, promenade and walled pool for children to sail ships in. Good old fashioned fun and the wind made it quite exciting and energetic for them. There was a memorial to those who have perished at sea – a monumental cockle shell in metal on the pebbly beach. Then the path became confused through several small housing complexes but we found our way by trial and error.

 

At Sizewell we had a coffee and shared our map with other customers. Several people talked to us about tandems. It was off road from here for 4 miles alongside the Power Station and through a nature reserve. The new bit of the power station with its white concrete dome reflecting in the sunlight looked quite impressive. This is all part of the Suffolk Coastal Path which disallows motor bikes and horses. It was certainly difficult to cycle far in one go as the dunes shed sand onto the path for tyres to sink into or there were holes with loose shingle. It’s a wonder we managed to stay upright!

It was beautiful though with plenty of twitchers watching the nesting terns. Around here it smelt very fishy and there was an incredible noise! One lady offered her binoculars so I could spot the escaped flamingo in the shallows.

 

Walking as much as we rode we came out at Dunwich passing a National Trust cafe. We followed a quiet road out of the area past a holiday park with a pub, but a fair distance away off our route so we carried on to the village. The pub there was busy so we cycled on to Dunwich church where there was a flower festival. The cake stall had scones and sausage rolls so we had a naughty snack lunch with drinks in picturesque surroundings next to the ruins of 12th Century church that later became a leper hospital.

 

In the present day church the flowers depicting books of the Bible gave off a wonderful perfume. They must have cost a fortune to do as the local ladies usually used flowers from their gardens. With the unusual dry weather the season had started early and a lot had finished flowering already.

 

There were more than a few climbs today and the roads were still sending up clouds of fine sand. There were more pigs and maybe it was the wind direction but they actually smelt a bit today. We followed a country route through more forest, that reminded me of the New forest, with ponies grazing on heathland between the trees and the road.

 

There were many footpaths and bridleways and quite a lot of people walking. At Blyth we took the nearest bridge over the estuary to take us to Southwold. We could have taken a footpath and crossed by rowing boat but Bob felt it may not have worked for us with the tandem. Passing a mini that had severely crashed into a bollard at the Police station, occupants intact, we cycled through the town which, after everywhere else in Suffolk we had visited, seemed exceedingly busy. We stopped at the Edwardian post office that is run by the daughter of a friend and, as the friend was in town for half term, met her at the Nelson pub, which needless to say was heaving. She must have hardy grand children for they had just been in the sea and were still on the beach. The wind there was tremendous and we needed coats- the coldest spot today!

As soon as we were away from the sea a bit it was warmer and there were lovely lanes between fields, with more than a few cyclists. There were very few houses but the barns were thatched- maybe for holiday accommodation.

 

We took a cycleway into Lowestoft and all of a sudden there were houses even council estates and it was nice to be separate from the cars. It wasn’t pretty here though but Bob loved the fountains sporadically spouting on the promenade and the little boy in him itched to cycle through t

There was a Rock Concert (on behalf of Macmillan Nurses) facing the sea on the Promenade, that was noisy and attended by crowds but it still didn’t feel as busy as Southwold.

 

We cycled along the sea wall past the Maritime Museum with its lighthouse in the trees on the hill looking out to sea. Because sign posts have been turned round we had a bit of trouble finding the A12 where our next night would be spent but after walking up a steep footpath by a single track road we had only a mile or so to the Premier inn.

We met people here who were cycling from here to Aberystwyth via Kings Lynn and the Midlands for Cancer Research. So good luck to them!

 

Our bike went in the laundry room and next morning we cycled to the station where trains were every 2 hours back to Saxmundham and the car. We visited Sutton Hoo before leaving Suffolk which is the site of an Anglo -Saxon royal burial. The site is littered with grassy mounds, some yet to be excavated and there is an exhibition of  historical artifacts found here. A good history lesson!