R
Richard Bates
Guest
Day eleven: Day ride from Repps to Lowestoft via Great Yarmouth.
The couple of pints the night before didn't hold us back, and after fitting the pedals to my Peugeot
racer we set off through Martham then along the coast road south. Not marked on my ten year old OS
map was the wind farm at West Somerton. Such pretty things they are: almost silent.
Hemsby was a saddle adjustment stop (I needed to move my saddle forward on its rails) and then on
through Caister-on-Sea to the north end of Great Yarmouth. The wind seemed to blowing exactly south
and the 2 miles along the sea front was amazingly fast but effortless.
Twice during this tour I have cycled over bridges which seemed to cross nothing: I assume they are
relics of railway lines that are no more. The bridge on Jellicoe Road into Gt Yarmouth even has
houses built across the archways!
The town doesn't seem to wake up until 1000: We had arrived there at about quarter to nine, finding
only one place open for breakfast. It was a hotel on the sea front, and the former home to a wax
works museum. There was a chance to take some cheesy photos of each other with the Britannia Pier
and Jim Davidson poster as a back drop. The gaps between adjacent planks on this pier are just
sufficient to swallow up a 20mm tyre which, after the surprise, reminded me of cycling through
Amsterdam and the multitude of tram tracks.
We had a game of crazy golf before departing across the River Yare.
I cannot really describe the ride into Lowestoft other than to say that once again my out of date
map failed to show the new business park. Simon and I navigated mostly by village name, trying to
keep roughly parallel to the A road, and it worked. Lowestoft was reached on the power of a cooked
breakfast and one Maxim energy gel sachet!
The trip back proved that wind farms are generally placed in windy areas. Thankfully, around the
corner, we were shielded from the wind whilst eating freshly picked blackberries.
We arrived back at the campsite and lay down, watching our self-generated heat haze. The kind
gentleman in an adjacent tent who had now departed had left a third of a bottle of wine for us.A
long hot shower revived me enough to put the kettle on.
Food for the evening was from a local pub in Ludham, just next door to Potter Heigham.
And then zzzzz.
Love and legache from Rich x
The couple of pints the night before didn't hold us back, and after fitting the pedals to my Peugeot
racer we set off through Martham then along the coast road south. Not marked on my ten year old OS
map was the wind farm at West Somerton. Such pretty things they are: almost silent.
Hemsby was a saddle adjustment stop (I needed to move my saddle forward on its rails) and then on
through Caister-on-Sea to the north end of Great Yarmouth. The wind seemed to blowing exactly south
and the 2 miles along the sea front was amazingly fast but effortless.
Twice during this tour I have cycled over bridges which seemed to cross nothing: I assume they are
relics of railway lines that are no more. The bridge on Jellicoe Road into Gt Yarmouth even has
houses built across the archways!
The town doesn't seem to wake up until 1000: We had arrived there at about quarter to nine, finding
only one place open for breakfast. It was a hotel on the sea front, and the former home to a wax
works museum. There was a chance to take some cheesy photos of each other with the Britannia Pier
and Jim Davidson poster as a back drop. The gaps between adjacent planks on this pier are just
sufficient to swallow up a 20mm tyre which, after the surprise, reminded me of cycling through
Amsterdam and the multitude of tram tracks.
We had a game of crazy golf before departing across the River Yare.
I cannot really describe the ride into Lowestoft other than to say that once again my out of date
map failed to show the new business park. Simon and I navigated mostly by village name, trying to
keep roughly parallel to the A road, and it worked. Lowestoft was reached on the power of a cooked
breakfast and one Maxim energy gel sachet!
The trip back proved that wind farms are generally placed in windy areas. Thankfully, around the
corner, we were shielded from the wind whilst eating freshly picked blackberries.
We arrived back at the campsite and lay down, watching our self-generated heat haze. The kind
gentleman in an adjacent tent who had now departed had left a third of a bottle of wine for us.A
long hot shower revived me enough to put the kettle on.
Food for the evening was from a local pub in Ludham, just next door to Potter Heigham.
And then zzzzz.
Love and legache from Rich x