On the move again!
I write this from Harwich seafront, where the sun is shining. In fact despite many pessimistic forecasts I've stayed dry all day. The most rain there's been was the two minutes I spent locking my bike up before heading into a riverside Essex pub to take shelter / have a rest.
Ah yes, 'locking my bike up'. This nearly didn't happen as it turns out I left my lock at the bike shop yesterday. Luckily Haverhill high street contains a bike/TV shop, and a kind security man held my bike while I ventured inside and bought a new lock. Horace also received his first compliment in Haverhill so all in all it served me well despite its low-brow reputation. (Horace is my bike.)
The Cambridgeshire / Essex border is surprisingly hilly. Plus I am very unfit, cycling-wise. Plus Horace is quite loaded right now (two back panniers, a tent, and a handlebar bag). Plus there was a lot of wind. What I'm getting at is: I am definitely a flatland-only kind of cyclist.
My ride today went surprisingly well using the 'follow your nose and know the name of the next village' navigation technique. I hesitate to say this, but despite extremely inadequate (google) mapping I don't think I went wrong once. Though I suppose there's still the possibility between here and the ferry itself... I'm giving big thumbs up to the bar ends so thanks Duncan for that suggestion. Really helps ease my aching shoulders. Also thumbs up to the cycle computer which is fun and tells you your current speed etc as well as how far you've come. Clearly I will either lose this or have it stolen within a week!
So yes, increasingly hilly terrain and increasingly feeble legs. Both stopped at around Colchester, which I confess I ring-roaded. After Colchester was gorgeous - pretty, rural, big-sky country and I was relieved from navigation duty by the impeccably signposted national cycle route 51. Which I *think* is also the route I used to live on at Chesterton and work on at Bottisham. So that feels rather friendly.
Got into Harwich around 5.30 and did a loop of the super promenade. Either the middle-aged denizens of Harwich are very stylish people or there's been some kind of ceremony (funeral?) going on. My ferry doesn't leave till 11 or so, but I left home (actually Vic's home) early to beat the forecast worsening weather, and also to beat the pre-match jitters.
I am tempted to get fish and chips as my last English supper, but for the sake of somewhere warm to wait I think I'd better find a pub instead. Also, if it's a rough crossing, I might really regret fish and chips...
Later: lord help me, I'm in a 'Brewer's Fayre' - but it's warm, there is food, I can see my bike from my table, and there is wifi - so I am posting this now. Wish me a good night's sleep in a windowless cabin! And here's hoping my weather-luck holds. The forecast for Holland tomorrow is really awful... But there will be friendly faces (Khanum, Alle Meije and family) at the end of it!
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Last views of England - the church not looking English at all!
And a seaview of Horace, the handsome devil!
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