East Anglia

Hi Everyone. Sama here. We had a very enjoyable 4 days of coastal riding through undulating country side and quaint seaside towns.  I really like the way rural communities have developed in the UK, unlike in WA there seems to be no coastal sprawl.  Each village is compact and densely populated, but between them there are vast areas of pasture and woodlands, I'm amazed by the sense of space I feel cycling through this island of over 50 million people. The weather has warmed and we finally put our thermals away, Sean even paddled in the North Sea. I on the other hand am still wearing jumpers and scarves, while the locals soak up as much sun as possible wearing shorts and summer dresses.

North Sea coast at Hunstanton, Norfolk

Sean tries the British tradition of paddling (the water is freezing!)

We are also learning not to take too much for granted. After pre-booking most of our Scottish accommodation before leaving Australia, we decided to throw caution to the wind and just see where we wind up each night. This worked well the first night, but the next day, after a very long day's ride, we turned up at Wells-Next-The-Sea during carnival week, the busiest time of the year, and found there was no accommodation for 20 miles around.

Carnival day at Wells-Next-The-Sea

Also, after 3 beautiful sunny days we became a bit complacent about watching the weather and early on the fourth day, on our way to Ely, the rain set in and didn't ease all morning. After 2 hours we were soaked through and had to catch the train for the last section.

Cycling in the rain

The original part of this magnificent cathedral at Ely is over 1300 years old, but it was mainly built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion.

Peaceful spot by the canal.

We are now in North Wales and will be telling you all about that in our next update.