Harwich - Oakington

I was under way before 7am this morning. I take no credit for that; Stena start to kick you out onto the dockside at 6:30. I'd have been happy to stay on board for much longer, given my ticket had included 9 quid for an all-you-can-eat breakfast, and I hadn't eaten nearly as much as I could by then. However, all good things come to an end, and at last they managed to prise my whitened knuckles away from the fried-egg tray and eject me out of the front of the boat.

With the three relevant pages ripped from yesterday's Trucker's Atlas of Britain, I spent just a couple of miles on the A road out of Harwich, being passed only by other passengers picking bits of bacon from between their teeth. Then I headed off on a B-road to Manningtree.

I must say that the day overall was much more enjoyable than I had expected. I really hadn't been at all looking forward to sharing the road wih lots of other traffic, but the route I chose (and, as always, that 'chose' should be taken as only the illusion of free will as I haplessly zigzagged in the vague direction of me destination) kept me away from the biggest roads, and the Manningtree stretch in particular was quiet - I think no more than a couple of cars in either direction, though of course it still wasn't 8am even when I got there.

From there, via a few villages (which I did get right) to Sudbury. Here I explored the countryside on the opposite direction to that in which I wanted to go for a mile or so before turning back and having another go. I was sad to miss Long Melford, which has I think my favourite parish church in the country, but a turn off just before there saved me a couple of miles, and I wasn't about to turn that down.

Through Clare, Cavendish etc and I was dipping in and out of Suffolk and Essex. I hope that's down to the quirky county borders rather than my navigation skills.

Then I hit an A-road just before Haverhill, the A1307 I think, which was a little less pleasant. Not so much because of the traffic (thaough that did start to pick up, it never felt threatening) but because the wind really started to get into gear. There'd been a bit of a breeze all the way, but about Haverhill it started to get really strong and gusting. A headwind was bad enough, but a sidewind was worse, because I had to watch out I wasn't pushed sideways.

Just after Linton, I turned off onto a minor road towards Abington, and from then on it was quieter roads to Cambridge, where I followed the river to Baitsbite Lock and then through Milton and Histon home.

Weather: I think I got this just right, though it must have been close. For the first half the road surface was generally quite wet, with lots of puddles indicating that the rain had only just stopped, but apart from a few spots I didn't register any rain. After about halfway, things were completely dry, and because of the wind I had to wear the sunglasses against the dust which probbaly made me look a bit of a dork. Not as much of a dork though as you look pulled into a layby appparently weeping into your hands.

I was surprised at the mileage, because mapquest.com gives a distance of 94 miles using motorways, and 84 without, whereas I made it in 83, even with the Sudbury detour and other slightly dubious bits of route planning. Not that I was about to complain. I was fine until I got in, then about half an hour later I was completely zonked, much more so than on any other day. I don't think that's just because th conditions were hard, it's just my body saying 'Right, i've done what you wanted, now that's it for me for a few days.' Which it probably is.

Pictures

Updated 2 June 2010