I woke up from a decent nights slumber at the Victoria Hotel in Lowestoft by 6am - it seems to be my wake up time when on these bike tours ! Decent breakfast with a bacon sarnie once again made up for my dinner and I was off at 9.15.
I really am not a fan of the flat lands of the Norfolk and Lincolnshire. The roads are a series of long straights with the odd bend and roundabout to break the monotony. I did enjoy watching the fields roll by trying to guess what was being grown.
I stopped at Swaffham for a coffee break and leg stretch. I've been here many years ago on my first Deauville with Rachel when we had a wine tasting weekend present from out lads. We combined it with a visit to Rachels birth place and some houses she lived in before migrating from Essex to Anglesey.
Swaffham is where Kingdom was filmed - a decent series starring Stephen Fry... having read his autobiographies a few times I knew he lived local and saw his house (one of them) as I wizzed past West Bilney on the busy A47.
I stopped at a friends for lunch and a catch up before riding over to Oakham to drop off something at my sisters.
Then it was just under 2 hours to home but I varied the route to take in the bike cafe at Donnington park. I then further varied the route to go off via the A515 from the A50 cutting down to Norbury and on via Ellastone and then further varying the route with a ride back via Ipstones edge to get my views and hills fix starved of me in Norfolk.
All in 845 miles at what the bike tells me was a not to shabby for the roads and the small engined bike (411cc) an average speed of 34mph. The bike now has visited the four corners of the mainland Great Britain as described by the Iron Butt association, a tidy achievement for man and machine.
Got to look for some more challenges now.
It is the case that this year I have cycled from west to east the shortest way in May and motorcycled west to east the longest way in October - a good year for two wheels.
6 comments:
A great write up with some interesting detours. i've always liked the A515, especially between Ashbourne and Buxton. Thanks
Sounds like a good ride Nev. If you ever venture back to Chippy eat at either the Blue Boar or Chequers, admittedly you wouldn't get a free beer in either of them!
Thanks for the comments. I’ve driven the A515 many times when I had responsibilities in Buxton as part of my job, it was always nice to get out up there and started my wanting to live out in the country from being a city boy.
Not sure I’d go back to Chippy, it seemed a nice place and the roads were good. However the peaks the lakes the Yorkshire moors wales and Scotland are where my motorcycling desires lead me. If I do I’ll seek out those recommendations.
We occasionally go to the Victoria for a meal.
Hi Brian, the staff were very friendly and the breakfast excellent I’d stay there again if I was ever that way. How close are you to Lowestoft ?
We are about 4 miles south and 2 miles west of Lowestoft, well you can't be east.
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