Cycling through Essex and Suffolk – Day 2

Day 2 – St Osyth to Wantisden, 48 miles, 1230 feet elevation

A fairly restless night due to the lack of pillows (we didn’t opt for the £30 bedding pack, regrettably) and long-lasting and loud thunderstorms which deposited a huge amount of rain. But at least we hadn’t spent the night in a tent, so our kit was dry. We were up early and after an instant porridge with freeze dried berries (actually quite tasty) we were on our way.

Unfortunately, our early start meant joining the morning rush hour traffic into Clacton, but after a few miles we reached the sea front at Jaywick to join route 150 that goes all the way to Frinton-on-Sea. The golden sands here though are a little deceptive, Jaywick itself has been ranked as the most deprived neighbourhood in England three times between 2010-2020, according to the English Indices of Deprivation and also featured in the Channel 5 series Benefits By The Sea cataloguing the struggles of its residents on the breadline. Happily things may be on the up for Jaywick with a £120 million regeneration plan proposed to improve amentities for its residents.

Moving along the coast you soon spot a key feature of this part of the coast, prevalent all the way up to Aldeburgh in Suffolk: a chain of 29 Martello towers (originally there were 103). These were built between 1805 and 1812 to resist a potential invasion by Napoleon, were 13 foot thick on the seaward side, stood about 30 foot high and were equipped with a cannon on the roof. Many have subsequently disappeared but others were transformed into a water tower for the Butlins at Jaywick (closed in 1983), coastguard stations, arts venues, a museum and holiday homes.

The route along the coast towards Clacton is easy going this morning, the sun breaking through the clouds at last, and only a few pedestrians to negotiate along the way. We didn’t venture into the town (Clacton doesn’t have a great reputation – most probably undeserved), but the sea front was impeccably clean and well maintained, very pretty rose gardens and good amenities.

Disappointingly, however, there was no sign of Mr Farage, the newly-elected Reform UK MP for the area as he was in the US at the time of our visit, lending his support to/riding on the coattails of (delete as appropriate) his great pal and recent assassination attempt survivor, Mr D Trump. Ah well, maybe next time we might see him.

Our journey continues on to Frinton and as we enter the town it’s clear that this is the posher end of the Tendring peninsula, an interesting blend of traditional and modern houses, all high end – no shabbiness here, broad avenues and parks and a genteel high street where we stopped off for a great sausage sandwich and coffee break at G&Ts. But no time to dawdle, we had another ferry to catch, this time the 12.10 from Harwich to Felixstowe, so back on the bikes and through Walton before turning north-west and back in land along busier roads towards Beaumont-cum-Moze (great village names in this part of the world!), before heading east towards Harwich. Getting to the ferry always seems, for us at least, to take longer than expected and the last few miles into Harwich became a bit of a time trial. Shame really, because Harwich looked an interesting place to spend a few hours. This time a proper walkway onto the ferry and then a slightly choppy crossing past the vast container ships docked at Felixstowe.

Unfortunately, the civilised boarding at Harwich was not reciprocated at Felixstowe, as this was another beach landing with a steep gangway to negotiate (not easy in slippy SPD shoes with a 25kg bike), and by the time we’d scrambled up the shingle beach we were both exhausted.

Time for fish and chips to revive us, shared with some starlings along the front. Then onwards through Old Felixstowe and past some fine houses and on to Felixstowe Ferry for our second ferry crossing of the day. On reflection, as in Harwich, we should have allowed more time to explore Felixstowe (note to self). We will have to return another time.

The ferryman was waiting for us so we boarded without delay for the short journey across the Deben to Bawdsey Quay, and onto the quietest roads of our trip so far – barely a soul, no shops until we reached Hollesley where we refilled with supplies, including a couple of chicken biryani microwave meals and some cider. Nearly 50 miles in and feeling extremely tired we gratefully rolled into the Wantisden Park camp site for our stay in a ‘small wooden tent’, just as the rain started to fall (phew!). Not as ‘glam’ as Lee Wick, but at least this site provided us with a proper mattress and a pillow with a kitchen area nearby to cook those biryanis, which were fantastic washed down with the cider.