Touring with the Wows

We had a bit of unfinished business to do with touring with our friends Peter and Janet, aka the Wowbaggers.

We planned to do a weekend tour and were looking for a place to go. Last weekend Peli and Mr. Wow were out pootling and spotted a nice site for a bit of camping. So plans were afoot, and we had two nights booked at Rushbanks Farm campsite and two days of exploring the local cake stops and pubs.

17.06.2011

The weather was just not sure of itself: were April showers late, or had Wimbledon started early? Whichever it was, we were sure that waterproofs were on the agenda.

After a quick dash home from work, we packed the bikes and sped over to Liverpool Street, where Peli had to do the secret handshake with the staff at the ticket office to get the best priced tickets, saving over 30 GBP on the price offered by the ticket machine. Why on earth is buying train tickets such a black art in the UK?

At the other end we had seven miles in the very wet rain to the pub where we would have dinner with the Wows.

We enjoyed a good natter and yummy food, while all the time casting a wary eye at the inclement weather outside. We finally plucked up courage to leave the warm pub and headed in the dark mizzle to the campsite, just as the worst of the rain died down. The Wows had arrived early and pitched their tent in a great spot (as we were to discover in the morning) overlooking the river, and they did a sterling job providing flood lighting to aid our erection.

18.06.2011

Our good night’s sleep was only disturbed a few times by heavy rain showers. We arose to find a stunning but wet campsite right next to the River Stour and a herd of chocolate-coloured cows (and one massive bull) on the other bank. The pretty river was graced with water lilies and, according to the information board, otters too.

Since I had a hard week’s work with lots of mileage I requested a short ride with a pub lunch on Saturday, and didn’t meet with much resistance as we planned the rest of the day.

We pootled our way through the country lanes of Suffolk to Boxdon where we enjoyed our early pub lunch of delicious panini and hand-cut chips. Timing was on our side as the rain was falling hard while we ate, then cleared up as we headed back outside to unlock the bikes.

We headed back the same way and had our tea-and-cake stop only two miles down the road. Yup, touring is such hard work! Tea in delightful china cups and ever-so-yummy cakes were enjoyed in the farm tearoom while we looked at their resident mini cows and emus. Just as we were heading out a rather heavy downpour arrived, which battered loudly on the metal roof of the barn which housed the tearoom. The lady kindly let us shelter even though it was time for her to close up shop.

Back at the campsite the sun again peeked out from behind the deep grey clouds and made the temptation of the shimmering river and its inviting rope swing too much for me. My decency advisor stressed that as there were lots of families on the campsite, going for “full exposure” would not be recommended. So, I stripped down to my cycling shorts, swung high on the rope swing (after an initial test to make sure it would hold this Great Dane), and jumped in! It wasn’t too cold, but deep, and great fun. When crawling out of the river I shivered rather a lot as the wind picked up, and Mr Wow (usually the first to strip off at the very sniff of open water) decided he was content with his decision to remain high and dry on this occasion.

19.06.2011

We woke up to the rain hitting our tent at around 7am which is a wee bit too early for us. So, we had an hour’s extra snooze before we got up to a dry and pretty morning though the wind was a bit cold.

We clearly have our morning routine down to a fine art as we were packed and ready before our friends. So I had time to play with my little kite, though it only likes continuous strong wind, so not much success. Time for me to find another kite. I might have to up my budget to £3 instead of £1.99.

We headed out on a 35 miles’ish ride around the very pretty Suffolk and Essex countryside. It was clearly Fathers’ Day since there were plenty of cyclists out and about. The first miles we didn’t see any cars about, only cyclists who enjoyed the tail wind that we were cycling into. One roadie passing in the other direction exclaimed “Respect!” as he clocked the Wows on their fully-loaded tandem, battling into the wind.

Pink seemed to be the “in” colour in the villages we went through. We even had a lunch at a pub called the Pinkuah Arms where we had a splendid two and a half hour feast/rest. We simply had to since if you ordered a starter and main course you got a dessert for free. What cycling tourist could refuse such an offer?

The afternoon our guide Mr Wow and our GPSs planned a very nice route and we nearly avoided the strong wind that we endured in the morning. And we were also very lucky since we did see some rather wet clouds hanging around and some wet roads but it never rained on us other than a slight spit as we pegged it to the train in Marks Tey.

We arrived home around 8pm and were rather shattered and really felt that we had spend our weekend the right way and in very good company.

Plenty of photos to see here if you just click this link 🙂