On Sun, 11 May 2008 21:24:59 +0100, SD <salad.dod
...@idnet.com> wrote:
>Details to follow.
Set off at ten, and headed via the M11/25 to the A10.
North, then off to the village of Barkway to get a piccie of the old
Victorian bath-house.
I'd no idea where this would be, but the village was small, and it was
easily located.
Using the B'bird rather than the Wing meant that the GPS sat in the
tank-bag, and I couldn't see the screen through the plastic.
Naturally, I'd forgotten the convoluted start-up technique for the
blootoof headset, so that didn't help. Shading the screen occasionally
by hand had to do.
Off the motorways the roads were surprisingly empty, and I was able to
set into a nice leisurely brisk trundle.
From Barkway, it was a cross-country trip to the little village of
Haslingfield, to get the Millennium sundial - a series of stones set
in the village green, where you stand on the part of a big with the
month marked, and *your* shadow shows the time. Very clever.
From there, back onto the M11, then 14/11, before turning off to go
past Lakenheath AB, through Brandon, and into Weeting to snap the
castle. "Castle" indeed, it's a few stones surrounded by a ditch.
North towards Fakenham from here, along mostly empty roads, to the
village of Stibbard, where the village "sign" is a sculpture of a
ploughman made out of old bits of farm machinery. Quite impressive.
Having uploaded today's track, it varies considerably from the route
proposed on Mapsource - quite often running parallel to the route I
thought I'd be taking. Presumably the preferences/settings aren't
matched.
The next landmark - Strumpshaw Steam Museum - was the other side of
Norwich, and it was on the way there, I realised I'd yet to fill up.
The little orange light came on just as I was skirting Norwich, with
167.6 miles showing on the trip. I wouldn't mind, but I *thought* I
was being quite badly behaved.
In went £21.50's worth of unleaded, and off I went to Strumpshaw.
The museum is probably fine, for those who like that sort of thing, so
I took a picture of it, ate my lunch (sandwich, and drink) had a
ciggie, and set off to the coast.
The A47 was chokka with traffic, and the A12 south from Gt Yarmouth
was no better.
Sixth landmark of the day was the Euroscope at Lowestoft Ness.
Easy. Except for one thing: the battery on the GPS was fading out.
Of course, I have a road atlas, but it's on the bookshelf behind me.
I set it to find Aldeburgh, noted the road numbers, and turned it off
again - this was okay, because I knew the sculpture of the giant
scallop shell was on the beach at Aldeburgh, so once I'd found the
town, I'd find it easily enough. And I did. Well done me.
Back to the A12 for the last landmark, in Essex. Lots of bikes on the
roads round here, including two *immaculate* Z1300s, with a Benelli
Sei in tow. Later on I passed two huge Cadillacs (the ones with the
fins), one of which was tastefully resplendent in Angel Delight Pink.
GPS was not answering the call any more, so after a fruitless foray
off the A120, I asked a bloke in a pub garden, who told me the way to
Rayne.
In the village, I toured around for ten minutes, then asked in a
another pub - where the landlord kindly directed me, via a convoluted
route, to someone's back garden. Ho ho ho.
Another gentleman directed exactly to the old village lock-up, which,
oddly *was* in someone's back garden. :)
A fill up in Braintree, then home via Chelmsford, A12, M25 and A13.
Only out for 9.5 hours, 371 miles.
Still, 9 down, 91 to go.
