Hot stuff - Suffolk coast to Kettering

Waking from our last night in Suffolk, we did breakfast, cuppas, loosely planned the route ahead, showered and sorted ourselves into a shipshape fashion for moving back out onto the road. Our host had said 11am was fine for checking out which we were grateful for and once loading up, we said goodbye to a beautiful little Catto and pop-pop-bang-popped our way up the coast a way, briefly stopping at Dunwich where we snapped a selfie (main blip) & saw where an annual overnight bicycle ride from London ends up, and then to Southwold for a nosey.

And Wow what a nosey. Another little gem of a seaside town in the county that just keeps giving. We snapped some pics of its pretty lighthouse, took a glug of water, then found our way back to the A12 for Lowestoft. Approaching a roundabout, Bestie spotted a tourist sign for a safari park, or was it her Africa Twin that saw it first? We may never know, but stopped anyway for a snaphot (extra top) next to the entrance. Of course we didn't ride through to see the animals because motorcycles don't have Wiper Blades, so who knows what the monkeys would try to snatch from them!

After acclimatising to busy town traffic, a gyratory was navigated to find some fuel before finding the very bestest spot in a supermarket carpark with a view of another Auto Shenigan inspired location - the A12 Gull Wing roadbridge over the inner harbour at Lowestoft (extra middle) - so designed to roll up on one side of the water and allow tall boat traffic to pass by. It's very cool if you like that sort of thing too, and even has an assertive looking control room keeping an eye on everybody. Riding over said bridge took us to what should be quite the point of interest for a seaside town but which is strangely hidden on the waterside of an industrial estate - a large marker denoting the easternmost point of the British Mainland. We stopped, snapped some pictures, gazed out to sea for a short while before making a sharp exit as a local character got a little giddy for attention to the point that we worried for his safety. He hopefully resumed his merry way after we vacated.

Leaving the coast on a trunk road took us to Beccles where we found a nice spot by the navigable River Waverly (extra bottom), taking off our clammy biker gear and sitting beneath a parasol for an hour or so, shooting the breeze, watching visiting families come & go, and finding it difficult to move until it began to cool off a little. Eventually togging up again, we set off in a northerly direction towards Norwich - "Ah Haaaa!" - skirting around its ringroad and continuing for Kings Lynn.

I had stopped here with a flask of tea & sandwich on my 1st ever solo road journey from Manchester to Colchester in 1995, driving a Mini and navigating by a list of place names pinned to the dashtop with an atlas for back up. No Satnav in those simpler times but managed okay! I remembered parking on a cloudy quayside so that's where we headed to and found an eatery that provided a big pot of Tea for Two. It was getting on for teatime and being a Friday, people were passing by all dressed up for the start of their weekend. Riding through the centre of the towns old quarter revealed several other nice looking cafes opposite the lovely Minster, maybe a nice cuppa or lunch stop on a future tour.

Rejoining the A47 for a canter across country, we began to recognise place names from the previous Saturday, a later look at our GPS logs showing the point at which our routes had intersected. Passing Peterborough in good time we rolled on south a touch to reach our treat for the last night, a spa hotel in Kettering with the promise of a pool, closed by the time we arrived but there for the morning at least. After a quick unpack and change from biker boots to flip flops & sandals...we really clashed with the cocktail dresses of a wedding reception in one of the hotel suites but who cares for we are biker gals :-)

The evening ended with a delicious meal and watching some music videos on the room tv* before a deep Zzzzzzz.

* a previous guest with very right wing views and interests may have left the television YouTube app logged into his account. He may have woken the following morning feeling a little further to the left side of his bed than the night before and he may no doubt be even more fuming at the world unless 'epiphany'. We can but dream ;-D