A cycle ride from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness, Sizewell Beach and Leiston Abbey

Our last day in Suffolk before moving onto Norfolk (‘South Folk’ and ‘North Folk’ denoted by where they lived in relation to the river.  I’m not sure what river – there are many, many rivers in this area!)  We’d already decided that this was the day we would cycle from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness – because the children were going back to school!

It turned out to be a lovely day, if a little windy.  We parked at the south end of Aldeburgh on the Slaughden ‘peninsula’ (mainly because it’s free..) and cycled along the seafront, this time going on past the Scallop, which was as far as we got last time.

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I did think that the cycle path went all the way to Thorpeness, however, whilst there is a path all the way along the seafront, there comes a point where it isn’t suitable for riding on so we had to move onto the road.  However, the road is absolutely fine and not too busy so it wasn’t a problem.

Thorpeness is just a few miles away from Aldeburgh and it is absolutely charming.  Originally conceived as a purpose built, upmarket holiday village Continue reading “A cycle ride from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness, Sizewell Beach and Leiston Abbey”

The Suffolk seaside and a lost city

Southwold is not your normal seaside resort.  Yes, it has plenty of beach huts, a boating lake, mini-golf and a pier, but there aren’t any amusement arcades or a promenade lined with pubs and cafes.  What you have instead is a quaint and historic town, and a pier with rather different attractions (although there is a small amusement arcade as you enter).

The pier has a couple of classy, for a seaside pier, eateries, an attraction in the middle called ‘The Under of the Pier Show’; what this actually comprises are handmade up-to-date arcade attractions – a lot of fun and very popular and a couple of up-to-date artworks.  These include a tribute to George Orwell, who lived in the town for some time, and a water clock, initially made to highlight water re-cycling.  This is a lot of fun on the hour and the half hour when there is a little display involving shorts dropping and water squirting!

Southwold Pier
View from the end of the pier at Southwold

I loved the beach huts in Southwold! Continue reading “The Suffolk seaside and a lost city”

Aldeburgh and Orford (and kayaking)

Arriving in Suffolk we were told by a reliable source that we had chosen to stay in the ‘arse-end’ of a very pretty area!  I think she was referring to the fact that we are just a few miles from Sizewell and the town that serves it, Leiston.

However, we have to beg to differ as within very easy reach we have found some little gems, including:- Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Orford, Dunwich, Southwold and, today, Framlingham.  All this in addition to Theberton’s own, extremely special, St Peters Church.

Let’s start with the church – it was the first visit we made after all, being at the end of the road we’re staying on (Fishers Field in Church Lane :), see my review of the site here ); so about a 5 minute walk from the van.

The church has an unusual round tower and thatched roof, and you can see where it was extended in the 15th century.  In the vestry there is a beautiful arch leading into the church.  It would appear that this was an entrance from a monastery that occupied the site behind the church in medieval times (there’s no longer any trace of this unfortunately).  The painted decoration is also still clearly visible, as are the slight bowing of the roof.

St Peters Theberton
The interior of St Peters, Theberton. Note the bow, and the painted arches
The painted arches in St Peters Theberton
A close up and the ceiling, St Peters Theberton
The Font and Bell Pulls, St Peters Theberton
The tower of St Peters, Theberton

Tonight, Sunday 4th June, Bill Turnbull is hosting a local election debate in the church!

The day after arriving we headed to Aldeburgh, via Thorpeness.  We drove through Thorpeness (we’re returning on our bikes tomorrow), and I was shocked – I was expecting something dingy and soulless, so it was a bit of a shock to drive through such a quaint and quirky space.  You can also see ‘the House in the Clouds’ from here (I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this on a number of travel programmes before).  We can’t wait to visit properly now!  We’re going to cycle from Aldeburgh which is where we were heading when driving through.

Aldeburgh is also quite charming.  A long stretch of shingle leads up to the town where you find numerous historic and interesting buildings. Continue reading “Aldeburgh and Orford (and kayaking)”

A few days near Maldon, Essex

We’d made a couple of bookings to cover the half-term holidays.  The 1st of these brought us to the village of Tolleshunt D’arcy, just to the east of Maldon, and the D’Arcy Equestrian Camping & Caravanning certificated site. (See my review here).

On Saturday afternoon (the day after we arrived) we headed back to Maldon just to have a little look around. We parked outside of town and walked in along the river.  Once on the main street we found a little café down a side street – if we’d waited we would have found a far nicer (but busier) one a little further on down a quaint little lane.  (Mrs ….. Famous Tea Rooms…. sorry, I should have taken more notice 😦 )

A little further along we came across ‘The Moot Hall’ a narrow building steeped in history, but originally built as a family home in the 15th century.  We were a little too early for the tour, which started at 3.30pm, so we missed out on that one, but the leaflet we were given looked very interesting and the lady manning the hall gave us a fair bit of information.

20170527_151357We then passed the church and found ‘The Blue Boar’ , a 14th Century inn currently undergoing much refurbishment.  Continue reading “A few days near Maldon, Essex”

Staying near London and visiting Rochester & Chatham Docks

After North Kent we headed towards London for a few nights as we wanted to catch up with a couple of friends and family.  We found a site near Sidcup (it was actually just on the edge of Bexley Village) called Kelseys , a lovely site with an adjacent farm shop and café/restaurant.  You really don’t know you’re so near to London 🙂

Kelseys Farm Shop
Our camping field at Kelseys

We had the same thing happen to us again though, whereby we were the only campers in the field and when someone else arrived (again an older couple), they pitched right next to us rather than taking their pick of all the space available!

We still weren’t well but on our 1st full day we headed off towards Rochester (we’d seen it from the motorway on our way in and decided it was worth a look), with a view to carrying on to Chatham Docks after.

Parking in the Cathedral short term car park we paid (via phone) for 2 hours – a mistake, nowhere near long enough!  Coming out of the car park and turning left it was such a surprise what a lovely view we had of a gate entering the city and the lovely old buildings in this old part of Rochester.  (Top tip – always head for ‘the old town’!)

Gateway into Rochester (from the cathedral)
The streets of Old Rochester

After a quick spot of lunch we headed for the cathedral.  This is free to enter (although I did put a fiver in the donation box), and there are guides dotted around who will chat to you and give you information on the history.  We discovered that this is both the 2nd oldest and the 2nd smallest cathedral in the country. Continue reading “Staying near London and visiting Rochester & Chatham Docks”

Sandwich – another revelation :)

We wanted to link back up to where we’d managed to get to on our 1st leg to Kent – we’d made it as far as Walmer Castle, so we were now aiming for Deal via Sandwich.  Originally we were also intending to pass through Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate, but having been told ‘not to bother’ we decided to start with Sandwich and see if we had time for the rest at the end of the day.  A good decision as it turns out!

On the way to Sandwich we detoured to have a quick look at St Augustines Cross (see main picture), near Minster.  This is said to be the spot where the monk Augustine met with the English king Aethelbert in AD 597 and preached his 1st sermon on English soil.  The cross itself though only dates back to 1884.

We then continued on towards Sandwich, Continue reading “Sandwich – another revelation :)”

Discovering the delights of North Kent. Canterbury, Herne Bay & Whitstable

,Neither of us is actually too well this week.  Calv doesn’t seem to have shifted the cold he caught whilst in Ibiza, and I have definitely now caught it.

Despite this though we have loved our time back in Kent 🙂

We didn’t book anything before arriving but had a couple of sites in mind.  Arriving at the 1st, at the end of a long narrow lane, we found the site deserted and nobody around or answering the phone.  As there was nothing really giving us any reason to be desperate to stay we headed back to our 2nd choice, Hampton Bay, here in Herne Bay.  The SatNav took us  to the wrong place (into a private housing estate with very narrow, unadopted roads – not suitable really for the van – we had already unhooked the car, luckily).  So we asked a postman who pointed us in the right direction and off we set (just in the van).  What a lovely find!  (I will be posting a review later).

Once settled we walked back to collect the car, and ended up exploring along the Herne seafront.  Debbie, I found this picture of Edmund Reid (Whitechapel) – I didn’t realise he was real!!  It looks like he retired to Herne Bay 🙂

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The main photo is of one of the pebble, driftwood and shell sculptures that we found further up the promenade – they were really rather lovely.

We continued up the coast towards the towers that we had seen from the main road.  Continue reading “Discovering the delights of North Kent. Canterbury, Herne Bay & Whitstable”

Back in the UK – home and then a return to Kent.

I was really surprised to feel so at home when we stepped back into the van after flying in from Ibiza.  It just goes to show how comfortable we are in the van.  This is something that we don’t think people understand – we constantly have, very kind, offers of a room when we’re in home territory, as everyone seems to think we might like a break from the van.  It’s very sweet of you to offer but we really are very happy and comfortable thank you (and we’ll soon ask if we want a room!!)

We were quite busy over the weekend, including helping our friends out so that they could stay on the same site as us on Saturday night.  They had a courtesy car without a towbar so we towed their caravan for them…

Yes – we did get some looks!!  (We didn’t, of course, use the little car on the road – that would be illegal..)

After a night out on Saturday we had a long lie-in which was desperately needed due to our self-inflicted ‘tiredness’.

On Tuesday we set off again for Herne Bay.  However, the beauty of having no particular plans (i.e. bookings) is that you can change your mind whenever you want.  In this case it was when we saw that Steve & Denise, who we had met in Spain, had finally returned to the UK and were staying overnight at a Caravan Club site on our route.

So we diverted to Bearstead, having asked if they minded of course… However their wifi was hit and miss so they didn’t get my message.  When Denise replied to say ‘yes, of course, where are you?’ I answered – ‘In reception!’ Continue reading “Back in the UK – home and then a return to Kent.”

A week in Ibiza – not in the van, but still travelling :)

We were looking forward to our week in a finca in Ibiza, but also a little wary..

Looking forward, of course, to a week in the sun and watching my niece get married.  Wary as we have been just the 2 of us for so much of this year, and we weren’t sure how we’d cope living in a house with 11 other people.  For a week!!

As it happened it went much better than any of us could have hoped.  We were staying in a beautiful 500 year old finca, Can Caseres Continue reading “A week in Ibiza – not in the van, but still travelling :)”