The Great Escape Part 2, or "Shit mate thats salty!"

                                                    Our humble camp at the start of day 2

 Part 1 left me and Jeff fairly satisfied with our pub meal after being saturated on the ride back from the coast, although I was later to be quite queasy and it wasn't the beer it was the fried fish. Oh well. The 11th commandment should be "Thou shalt never eat fish and chips from a pub, for though shalt be sorely afflicted yea verily I say unto you".

Next morning after I had slept on what felt like a pile of golf ball sized cubes, with bruises everywhere, we had a hearty breakfast and eyed the weather, which was variable. We paid the owner a tenner for a load of wood for a fire, which turned out to be excellent value. After yesterdays exertions a lesser ride was in order and it was decided to go to Aldeburgh for cultural reasons (Ok I had heard Benjamin Britten hung out there) and the plan was for a very relaxed ride there. Followed by a chill out in a café with cake or something similar. The route was to be something simple, so just the most direct route from Laxfield, so including the A12. Boring but effective. 

It was a slow slow start, so I think we left base camp at about 11AM and headed down to the A1120 in light rain, then down the A12, then at the A1094 along to Aldeburgh. It was not all that exciting, the rain literally dampened enthusiasm, and everything was a bit grey. 

We got to Aldeburgh and the weather improved in time to find the place absolutely packed out. There were queues to get in a queue!!! Everyone was eating ice cream, in a coffee shop, tea shop, café or pub. The traffic was mental. Jeff was in the lead, and eventually we ended up at a car park at the end of the road where there were a few other bikes. After chatting to the other riders for a bit we went for a wander down the spit to the Martello Tower, which was I have to say very impressive. I thought these things were supposed to be a standard size,  but this was the biggest and most impressive I have ever seen. It appears to be available for holiday letting, which would be pretty cool.

 

  It was briefly considered there would be a walk to Orford Ness which is steeped in WW2 and Cold War history, but looking at a map it was decided to be "too bloody far in all this kit" - which was probably true. Apart from the Tower, Aldeburgh...I can't see the attraction. 

We started back and the idea was formed that we would have a BBQ and cook stuff over the fire. Turned out to be a fine idea. Too bad about the execution. Meat, wine, etc. were obtained in a CoOp just outside Aldeburgh. We got some pork medallions, and some chicken breast fillets, skinless. And some other stuff (we had cheese and crackers from yesterday). There would be a need for some sort of seasoning  on the meat obviously, so we bought some kind of seasoning. I can't remember what flavour it was, but it sounded good. All this went into the top box on the Norge. I don't like top boxes, but it was very useful on this trip. With 30L each panniers and the topbox, the Norge can haul a fair load. 

The ride back was pretty dry and the weather was definably improving. Back at Laxfield we called in at "the Other Pub" before going back to the camp site. The setup was pretty COVID compliant; you ordered the drinks by text and they called your name to collect - no indoor seating but a big marquee out the back. The beer was good. I think the pub is called The Low House. Could have spent hours there, but about 6 we headed back to base (about 3/4 mile away).

When we got back we found the owner had dumped a fairly big load of wood at the campsite, so we started a fire and go to preparing dinner. The wine was opened and tasted; the meat was liberally spread with the seasoning - the more the better we thought! The chicken was roasted over the fire on skewers stuck into a log, which was idea and worked pretty well. Then we tried the chicken.......it was like eating a spoonful of salt!! Both of us screwed up out faces at the same time in the same way, and started laughing...Oh dearie me. We tried cheese with it wine with it, ANYTHING with it to calm it down, but not much worked. Then we realised the pork cooking in the pan was also liberally covered with the stuff. Tried pouring wine on it. That helped a little. Cheese with it took our mind off the salt; Ok no it didn’t but we pretended it did. Much more wine was consumed, including Yellowtail Jammy Red Roo which is becoming a favourite camping wine. The fire was built up, the stars were even out, and the craic was good. Including the crack when the free table we were using collapsed when I was sitting on it, providing a lot of  laughs for Jeff. It was a good night.

After a sleep slightly improved by moving 2 feet to the left, the morning found us packing up our big bell tent and getting ready for the long slogs home to Newcastle and Plymouth. No breakfast, just black coffees.  A ride through a few villages in the rain on the A1120 saw us say our farewells at Earl Stonham. Then onto the A14 and a very bring, but very straight forwards route was taken home via A12, M25, M3, A303, A30 and the A38. All very blah blah blah. Rain on and off most of the way.

Conclusions? I WOULD go back to the same campsite and the same area of England, but only when museums, and such like things are fully open, as the scenery does not do a lot for me as a bike rider. The roads are OK, not special. I live at the seaside, so that's not a novelty.

 

Give me mountains!!!!!!!