(Written retrospectively)
Day Thirteen: Breakfast in Wroxham
Simon was due to go home today and decided to pack up his tent in the morning before going for out
quick ride. I also packed up my tent, stashed my panniers in his car.
Having slept in a tent for twelve consecutive nights I thought I would seek out some indoor
accomodation for my final night.
We pedalled a fairly effortless 8 miles to Wroxham, taking a short detour off the main road to visit
the duck crossing at Ludham.
A rather large cooked breakfast refuelled us and I checked in to the Kings Arms Hotel. They very
kindly offered accomodation for my bike in their freezer room.
The ride back was also fairly effortless. Now came the difficult bit: Loading up my tourer and
becoming accustomed again to driving what felt like a tank. Setting off and leaving the campsite was
a little depressing. Simon had sped off in his car, and I was lumbering along, knowing that the
journey back to Wroxham would take at least twice as long as it had this morning on fast bikes.
It was lovely to have STI levers again though, and I soon found a nice pace. The hotel arrived very
quickly, and the powerful shower was most welcome. The leftover food (a few bread rolls, margarine,
cup-a-soup, and a few biscuits) went down very nicely with a cup of coffee, and I took the
oppurtunity of having a large space to completely unpack my four panniers and repack them
efficiently ready for going home.
I didn't eat at the hotel in the evening since their vegetarian choice was not very good. Instead I
had a pretty decent curry from the restaurant across the road, washed down with a pint of Cobra.
I set off home tomorrow, catching a train from around the corner, with a change of service
at Norwich.
Love and power-showers from Rich x
Day 14: Anglia Railways 1, Central Trains 0.
The train service from Wroxham to Norwich is very clean, with plenty of cycle storage space. There
is space for 4 unloaded cycles to hang from their front wheels, with a supporting channel for the
rear wheel and a securing strap to prevent rotation around a vertical axis. There is also a space
opposite long enough to hold a couple of bikes, with a notice stating that passengers may only place
luggage here if it is not required by wheelchair users or cyclists. Ten out of ten.
At Norwich, I pedalled into the city centre, navigating easily by following the shuttlebus. At the
traffic lights I chatted briefly with the cycle paramedic about his job. It sounds like something I
would quite enjoy. Unfortunately he didn't know of a fast-track route into the ambulance service for
nurses, so it would mean another 3 years training and a significant drop in pay in the meantime.
I stopped off around "The Forum" to take a few photos and popped into the cafe for a coffee.
Getting slightly lost on my way back to the station, I discovered that the centre of Norwich is
bigger than I thought. I retraced my steps, pushing my bike along the pavement to circumvent the one
way system, and looked for signposts to the train station. Finding none, I continued to cycle back
the way I had come, and my location became familiar again.
At the station, after a quick visit to the cash point, I boarded the train to Ely. Central trains,
once again, provided a little cupboard for my bike. Once again the cupboard was far to narrow to
accept panniers.
The connecting service from Ely to Birmingham was busy, and the cycle storage area was of the
sensible sort: a large area with flip-down seats, just perfect for shoving suitcases!
With the train about to leave it was pointless asking people to move their cases so I ran down to
the next door and just hoped there would be a space to accept a bicycle. There was just about room
but I couldn't lean it against anything. I had to hold it up manually for about 20 minutes until
somebody got off at the next station. Then I was able to lean it diagonally against the door on the
non-platform side.
Fortunately, as trains travel on the left just like cars, the door on the far side was rarely used.
On just on occasion I had to move my bike out of the way and actually get off myself to allow
passengers to get on and off. The rear wheel of my bike was still inside the train: I and my front
wheel were on the platform. One man didn;t quite get the idea that passengers were quite painlessly
boarding the train on the unblocked side of the door and asked me to move out of his way. I sugested
that it would be easier for both him and me if he boarded on the other side. He ignored me and asked
me to move again. I *did* move, but only because the door-closing signal had started and I needed to
get back on. He was still looking very confused on the platform as the train pulled away.
Feeling a little guilty that I was in the way, and wishing to inform my fellow passengers that I
wasn't being awkward by choice, I asked the conductor if the bike area was still blocked with
suitcases. He replied that it was. I suggested that if he let me know when it became vacant then I
would quite happily move at the next station. His only understanding of the word vacant was in his
facial expression.
I cannot describe how happy I was that at Birmingham New Street station, the platform was on *my*
side of the train!
Finally, the local train service arrived to take me to Sutton Coldfield. As I boarded, there were
three people sitting on the flip-down seats in the cycle area. Two of them moved straight away as
soon as they saw me bringing a bike through the door. The thrid lady just looked away. I asked her
if I could put my bike where she was sitting, to which she replied, "There's nowhere else to sit". I
looked left and right and saw plenty of seats. I told her my findings and informed her that she was
sitting in the cycle storage area. She ignored me and so I informed her that my bike was very heavy
and very dirty. She reluctanly moved and sat in one of the seats that didn't exist.
And that was the end of my journey.
A few campsite recommendations:
Delph Bank Adults Only Touring Park, Fleet Hargate (TF395247)
Camping and Caravanning Club sites at Sandringham (TF685273) and Lakenham (South of Norwich)
(TG237062)
Love and holidays from Rich x
--
If ingnorance is bliss then I am the erm er luckiest thingy in the whatchamacallit. To mail me,
change the obvious bit to richard