Coast to Coast – it’s a snappy title, but I think the official route is much shorter and much further north! My initial plans of cycling to Norfolk were scuppered, due to a Covid jab and way too much work to finish – but I did get away by train on Sunday morning – giving me two weeks.

The easy part was a train into Central London, and a nice quiet cycle around some of the landmarks, famous and not so famous. I had the Leak Street Arches, under Waterloo Station, to myself – but it did look like a massive party had been held the night before!

After a good ride around, I eventually ended up at Liverpool St Station, with no apparent way to get in without risking life and limb, taking a fully loaded bike down an escalator – which I know is a recipe for disaster (incidentally up is ok!). I had time, so found a lift at another entrance. Getting the bike on the train was a real fiasco – Great Anglia Railways ask you to reserve as spaces are limited (to 6 bikes), so when I arrived there were already 4 bikes, and a massive suitcase, a pushchair with violin (!) in the bike space. A long conversation went on with a foreign lady, who had lost her husband, needed a picnic close to hand, together with lots of other beating around the bush excuses, rather than freeing up the very limited space. After I had lugged the massive case into the luggage rack, the next stand off was that the violin couldn’t be moved. While it wasn’t a stradivarius (I asked!), it couldn’t travel in the hat rack but would be able to withstand pummelling from my handlebars leaning on it – weird! All of this was most humorous for the rest of the carriage, but was soon resolved very quickly when four more bikes appeared, along with the husband – who had just been keeping his head down. Another two bikes joined at the next station leaving the carriage in chaos – but nobody ever asked to see the reservation – 11 bikes with space for 6 – very strange!

Anyway, I got to Lowestoft about 1:30 and went to look at the sea. I had a crazy idea of swimming in the North Sea at the start, and then in the Irish Sea at the end. However despite the beautiful views and sunshine from the train, once I stood there it did not look appealing in the least. I quckly asked Google for the sea temperature, which said 51°f – I have no idea what it means but it sounds warm. However, I’m pretty sure it was somewhere around the “bloody freezing” mark on more useful measures.

As I used the train, I might be slightly ahead of schedule, so I decided to take in some of the Norfolk coast. I was against a headwind so actually got a good view of all the houses one street back from the sea, where I sheltered from the worst of the wind. It felt strange, jumping straight off a train and starting cycling . I’m not in the touring mindset yet, I made a few navigation errors, didn’t eat enough (I didn’t have lunch until after 4), and I’m sure the bike is too heavy!

I had a good 40km run through Great Yarmouth and Caister, really nice sand dune coastline, and lots of caravan parks. Strayed onto a couple of dual carriageways in error, and another navigation error was when I had to push my bike on loose sand for about a mile, while following the coast path (I shouldn’t have been following the coastal path!).

At Caister I had a good idea to avoid an earlier mistake. At this point, I should reveal I forgot to go to Ness Point in Lowestoft – which is the most easterly point in the UK – making my whole ride rather pointless! However I found Caister Lifeboat Station, which is the perfect start point for a ride to St David’s Lifeboat Station – my eventual target – phew disaster averted!

After Caister, I just caught Lidl before it shut at 4. I have plenty of staple foods, but needed fresh bread, tomatoes,  cheese, and beer! Visiting the Lidl also reminded me of the continental cycle touring experience – it brought back memories of Germany, France, Denmark – everywhere really!

After lunch (at 4:30!), I decided it might be best to find a campsite early as with half term, Covid, lockdown etc had no idea how accommodating they would be. At the first one I tried, I got in so a nice short day. It was very busy site, well equipped with swimming pool, bar and food all for £10. But I just crashed out with pasta and a book! I need to up my game to get to my two main targets – Macclesfield by Thursday and eventually St David’s… let’s see!

Never mind the riding, I definitely can’t maintain this much writing!!!!!!!!