Our Autumn Ride to the Seaside – Report By Tony Fuller

On a dull Thursday morning seven group members met up at Bungay Golf Club Car Park for our ride to Southwold.

George led us out of Bungay via a network of quiet lanes eastwards towards our destination. This area known as ‘The Sandlings’ is largely agricultural and particularly noted for growing onions, carrots, potatoes & other root vegetables that thrive in the sandy soil. Hence large Tractors (taking up most of the road) were the most imposing vehicles that we met along the way.

It was noted how much better maintained the byroads were in this part of Suffolk.

With flat roads & a light wind we arrived in good time at Southwold and parked our bikes adjacent to our Coffee Stop, The Boardwalk Café, on Southwold Pier. It was quite pleasant to look out onto the sea and beach and to watch other visitors viewing the ‘quirky’ exhibits on the Pier. We were joined for Coffee by two of Janice’s friends visiting from Dubai.

 

Taking Refreshments in The Board walk Café

 

With our coffee stop over there was just time for a Group Photo of everyone in front of the famous ‘Water Clock’ on the pier before heading northwards towards our lunch stop at Gillingham.

 

Under The Famous Water Clock on Southwold Pier

 

We rode out on the B1127 via Wrentham to the outskirts of Beccles. George thought this would be a quiet ‘B’ road, but during the week it proved to be quite busy with local traffic and large ‘agricultural bulkers’ heading for the big Grain Store at Ellough, so it was single file for much of the way.

We passed the large industrial area now built on the old Wartime Airfield and skirted Beccles to arrive at our Lunch Stop, ‘The Swan’ at Gillingham. The pub was not very busy and they quickly served up our ‘sandwiches & beer’.

We were soon on our way again heading on quiet roads across the marshes of this part of the Waveney valley. This was of course very flat with big Norfolk Skies, drainage ditches and grazing cattle, which typify this part of the Suffolk/Norfolk border.

George found us a ‘cycle path’ along a disused railway line for a couple of miles, which avoided having to ride along the busy main A143. This led us back into Bungay and our car park at the golf course.

Thanks must go to George for planning a varied and interesting ride, which everyone attending thoroughly enjoyed.