The night went far too quickly! The Premier Inn was a very decent Motel with a really lovely room and a very decent bed, almost too nice for a sweaty cyclist. The lady at the desk could not have been more helpful. The offer for me to take the bike to the room was amazing. The room was so nice that I was tempted to say that the bike should stay outside!
I was out of bed just after 6am. Breakfast opened at 6:30am, but I firstly had to go for a walk in the pre-dawn to the service station back down the road towards the ferry terminal. I was assured they would have a map for me to use to get myself to London. They certainly did, but the best one which was also the cheapest was a book with pages almost A3 size! I wanted a smaller one for the bike, but the small crowd that was now showing interest in my cause assured me that the large one was the best! I decided to take out the staples and the two pages only that I needed, and folded them. Perfect!
The breakfast was lovely, but I was pre-occupied with the plan for getting myself to Chelmsford by avoiding the one main road which was an ‘A’ level highway but was manic with trucks and traffic in general. I managed to work out a route, which was less direct but hopefully would keep me away from the traffic. The plan worked for only the first part of the morning.
Nervously I pushed away at 9am, which was really 10am Holland time. I had until 3:45pm for dusk, which was effectively an hour less to play with. I was expecting about 80k, which doesn’t sound much, but with the twists and turns of the country roads, I just wasn’t sure whether my map and notes I had made would be sufficient to help me through the maze of small roads, towns and hamlets along the way.
The day was dark and overcast, and it wasn’t long before it started to rain very lightly, which kept up all day. It was wispy rain, but the moisture level in the air was very high. The road was wet, and the puddles gathered. Cars had their wipers working all day.
The minor roads in Harwich were incredibly busy. The roads were narrow and single lane each way. Buses were taking kids to school, cars were busily about their daily business. I had no choice but to go with it, hoping that once I turned away onto the minor B1414, that it would all quiet down. The B road took me through the scenic village route, through such places as Little Oakley then Great Oakley. The traffic thinned, but the wet had set in. The GPS indicated that it was now 2C. It dropped to 1C for most of the day, but it lacked the biting arctic feeling of Rotterdam.
I enjoyed this part of the trip. The road was pleasantly quiet, passing through Stones Green, Tendering Green and heading for Little Bentley. Coincidentally I was following the British cycle Path 25, which was well signed and which gave me a lot more confidence than my hand drawn map based on the printed map I had purchased.
It took me to Little Bentley to finally work out that the distance signs were in ‘miles’ not kilometers. I had seen the sign to Colchester and was rather excited that it was so close until I realized it was in miles! It wasn’t so close after all. Not far after Little Bentley I seemed to have run out of minor roads, and ended up on the A133 all the way to Colchester.
It was now very wet and fairly cold. The traffic was fast and the road was now really busy, but only single lane each way and no apron! I wrestled this all the way to Colchester, which seemed longer given I had my heart in my throat most of the way! Busy is bad enough, but wet and busy is a real challenge.
Colchester is a large city, the ‘Oldest Recorded Town in England’. It was a headache to maneuver my way through, the large round-a-bouts, the river crossing, and the narrow roads and minimal signs. To add to this, I suffered a flat tyre as I passed through this large, busy place. Murphy’s law for touring cyclists declares that only the rear tyre goes flat! It means unloading everything, and removing the wheel with the complication of the chain and the gearing. It was efficiently done however, and I was soon on my way again.
I had to be really careful to get the right road out of Colchester, the B1022 that then ran all the way to Maldon, before turning west to run into Chelmsford. All the way I was on the same kind of road that I came into Colchester – single lane, no apron, and just constant speeding traffic whizzing past me for the almost 50k from Colchester to Chelmsford.
I had to keep stopping to clear my glasses, but otherwise was really hammering the bike along. The roads were no longer flat like Holland. All morning I was cruising strongly, but by midday my tyre was slowly deflating again and I suspect this was now making the work on the bike all that much harder. I was sure I cleared the tyre of any glass or sharp thing, but obviously not.
It was however a great relief to finally run into Chelmsford, and with little difficulty finding my way to 22 High Street Great Baddow, the 17th Century Manor Home ‘Rothmans’. I turned the GPS off at 75k. It was not quite 2pm. I was drenched. The bike was washed by the very wet roads all day. I was glad to finally get off the roads, but still happy in spirit. The tyre was soft, and within no time it was flat. I didn’t have the heart to fix it immediately. I was too intent on a warm shower! I fixed it later, and it held overnight, but it caused more strife on the way to London
The day was a hard day of cycling. It was in fact a great workout, but not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’. The constant traffic, the continuous wet conditions, and the intense cold is not for the faint hearted! The average for the day was 20.6kph, the highest for the whole journey from Frankfurt which is commendable considering the conditions.
No one was home at ‘Rothmans’. I had the code to the door, and let myself in, making my way to the upstairs ‘Regency Room’, a large room beautifully furnished in period furniture, with my own little bathroom. The room was warm, and welcome I must say. I have my own tea making facilities, with complimentary chocolates and free access to the breakfast room fridge. A home away from home!
I feel overwhelmed a little about tomorrow, my final run to London. It is only about 60k to Tower Bridge, but the roads on the map are so blurred together that it is hard to know how I am going to manage it. At least the weather looks to be clearing, and I may have sun to arrive to at Sunbury Court on the Thames River just west of Twickenham. Once I get to Tower Bridge, it could be another 20-30k to Sunbury. A big day ahead.
From my very lovely historic 17th Century Regency Room in the Rothman’s Manor Home, I send my love.
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