Main/Rhein 2009 – Harwich to Great Bromley

Day 11 – Tuesday 8 September – Harwich to Great Bromley.

Distance: 20.4 miles;

The alarm call on the boat at 5:30am seemed a bit early but we were both feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep on a calm ferry crossing. We were at our bikes at 6:30am and, although being last off the ferry, made good progress down the A120 in the morning gloom of England. It was odd to be on the left hand side of the road but as these routes are familiar to me I quickly got back into the swing of it.

We turned off the A120 to do the rather scenic route along the Stour River through Wrabness and Bradfield, Mistley and Manningtree, finding the hills a bit of a surprise (having had none in Germany) but enjoying the fresh air. I’d miscalculated both the disembarkation time from the ferry and the distance from Harwich ferry port to Manningtree so we got to the station forty minutes before our chaps arrived. When James arrived he was on his mountain bike, not the trike, which was a bit of a shame as Pippa had hoped to have a go of his Trice (mine’s boom was a bit long for her).

After the usual Manningtree Station half-breakfast James and I said goodbye to Pippa and Jurek and set off for home.

We’ve spent today washing, cleaning my trike, downloading photos of the tour and relaxing. Tomorrow it’s back to work for me…

A great tour overall with nearly 450 miles of lovely scenery, interesting towns and villages, good food and very punctual trains. Roll on the next trip!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Translate »