May 16, 2014

We’re in a relaxed mood and take our time to get going this morning.  We have a quick look at Ely Cathedral – very impressive – and I chat to a fellow cycle tourist whilst Ken gets his hair cut.  Eventually, we start out on the route hoping for a better day than yesterday.  We have warm, hazy sunshine, it is definitely getting warmer each day.  We vaguely remember the route as we are rejoining the road we travelled last time we went to catch the ferry from Harwich.  It does not disappoint – little country lanes with lots of junctions to navigate, but today we have signposts, gently undulating hills and ancient woodland, loads of pretty villages with pastel painted thatched cottages or traditional flint walled houses, little stone churches –  a typical English landscape.

On three different occasions throughout the day we meet barriers across the road saying that the road is closed ahead, but today we’re feeling lucky, so we ignore them and hope we can get through.  On the first occasion we reach a bridge where road menders are laying new tarmac but they let us walk the bikes across the hot, steaming surface to the other side – thanks guys, you saved us a long diversion.  We were equally fortunate with the other road closures – even better was that we had several miles of traffic-free road to ourselves.

After a trouble-free day we arrive in Stowmarket and stay in a guest house with a slightly eccentric owner – we find it hard to keep a straight face when he explains how the light switch works!