Easter in Suffolk

Easter weekend, and after the full-on last few months, a welcome break. I headed up to Steve n Ei’s on the Thursday night, and with my next expedition coming up, it was the perfect opportunity to get in some good long rides in the Suffolk countryside as well.

Friday morning was the first ride and it was one of the first times I’m glad that the weather forecasters got it wrong. It isn’t often that they get it right over here anyway, but with the weekend forecast for heavy rain, it was great to have the weather you can see in the pic at the top of this post. The quiet country lanes through forestry, fields, coastline and villages were great despite being 6C. I even managed to go past Framlingham Castle (if you remember that from xmas time).
There was one thing that the forecast got right - the wind 18-30mph winds... Great when it was at your back, but riding into it, just sucked (or is that “blew”...). Still, I got to see some good English wildlife - deer, squirrels, rabbits/hares, farm pigs, birds and even some pheasants.
The countryside and quiet lanes were great though and you do find your mind wandering all over the place, or just tuning into whatever was playing on the ipod - not that there was anyone about to hear me rip out a line or two.
And if you’re wanting to have a look at where I went, google maps the following locations (villages): Melton, Orford, Iken, Snape, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Leiston, Saxmundham, Framlingham then follow the B1438 back to Melton...

Anyway, with just over 77kms clocked up and back at Steve n Ei’s, we headed into Woodbridge and a local cafe for full English breakfasts. It really hit the spot. We followed this with a bit of a stroll around town and then it was back to theirs for a cruisey afternoon. And this was pretty much it for Friday and Saturday as the forecasted heavy rain came in stops and starts...

Sunday, and with most of Suffolk covered in a fog/mist, it was time for another long ride. Again, the forecast for heavy rain didn’t eventuate, but the mist did lift and reveal the pic above. The intention was to do a shorter ride, but thanks to some slightly incorrect navigation and feeling a little more confident than I should have, I ended up doing just over 80kms. Amazing some of the things that you see in the countryside though, and some of the historic old villages do go back several hundred years. Take one of the buildings on the beach road just near Aldeburgh - built in the 1200’s. Also, there’s the sign in the pic here (left), but alas, I saw no frogs or toads - not even flattened ones on the road...
Once back and (late) breakfasted, Steve and I headed down to a few pubs so as to get out of Ei’s way for the afternoon. Quite a good couple of pubs as well as a good way to while away the afternoon - despite Steve’s best efforts to set me up with the barmaid... We did run into Griff Rhys-Jones in one of the pub, but most of you may not know of this English comedian and television personality...

Monday had us down in Grays at the dry-dock marina working on Steve’s new boat for most of the day. Many little jobs to do and it will be quite a lot of work to reach the finished product that Steve has planned, but should turn out well in several months. Actually a bit of a fun day, before having to navigate the restricted public transport to train and bus it home.

Hope you had a good Easter!