Aldeburgh and a toast(ed) rack!

I had everything worked out today and it was going to be a rare day off from the serious cycling. All I had to do was visit the seaside at Aldebrough, cycle back to the station in Saxmundham (no more than 15 miles in total) and then ride all of the trains I had booked – all four of them – until I arrived in Fishguard at about 9.30pm. I had a bike space secured on the latest off-peak Swansea train from Paddington and everything. I could relax and write my blog. What could possibly go wrong? Well, in this finely tuned adventure, when one domino falls, it generally takes several more with it. And so it transpired today, although not immediately.

Breakfast and my back garden tour went very well, and I had left myself plenty of time to see Aldeburgh. There was a minor delay caused by a closed country lane en route to Snape Maltings; but nothing I couldn’t shrug off on this lovely sunny morning. I found another route to Snape and had a nosey around the huge maltings complex, that has been transformed into a major music, arts and food cultural venue in the countryside. It is a great example of breathing new life into these distinctive, lofty old commercial buildings that sit at the highest navigable point on the tidal River Alde. They seemed to be offering performances and workshops for serious art lovers and I presume many come here from London, which is not so very far away.

Aldeburgh, when I reached it a few miles further on, was delightful. It has a profusion of excellent old brick buildings that line the seafront and both sides of the parallel main street one block behind. The combined effect of the inns, civic buildings, restaurants, cafes and old fashioned shop fronts is as perfect an English country townscape as I can think of. It must get very touristy at times; but today it was just going about its own business.

I took the obligatory photos by the sweeping shingle beach and cycled up and down the pretty streets until I decided it was time to head off for the train. I cycled a couple of miles north along the shore to Thorpeness, which is famous for its unique House in the Clouds. It was also worth seeing for its many other lovely buildings, many of the black and white half timbered variety, arranged symmetrically around manicured greens. There was a small lake with swans and a windmill to make the scene even more quaint, so naturally I stopped for a photo. And it was at this point, leaning my bike on the picket fence around the lake, that I noticed that my panniers were hanging awkwardly from the rack behind my bike. Closer inspection quickly revealed that the rack had spectacularly failed. After around 5,000 miles of unswerving service in this trip alone, it had collapsed in at least 3 structural joints simultaneously! What to do? I was perhaps 5 gentle miles from the station and had a few minutes in hand. Using whatever resources I could quickly cobble together – but primarily my lock – I did enough to hold everything in place just well enough to continue riding and somehow it held together until I reached Saxmundham. I was sure I would have missed the Ipswich train, and with it all the other trains; but no! It was sitting alongside the platform as I pulled into the station, waiting for the northbound train to leave first, and I was allowed on board. Amazing. This situation could still be saved.

This unlikely success gave me a chance to regroup. In about 90 minutes I would arrive in London, with just over an hour to get from Liverpool Street to Paddington station. That is more than 30 minutes of cycling on a trouble-free bike. If I could find a bike shop and replace my rack in 30 minutes, I had a chance of making Fishguard. Some frantic Googling revealed a bike shop a couple of minutes walk from Liverpool Street. Maybe, just maybe…

I opted against trying to ride the bike again. Perhaps I should have tried. That took up precious minutes. When I found Strype Street Cycles in the warren of lanes in Spitalfields, the assembled staff sprang into action. A new rack was fitted before my eyes, despite a sheared off bolt, and I was given a pit-stop like launch out of the shop door and out into the city streets. Off I went down Bishopsgate, along the Embankment cycle superhighway to Big Ben, along Birdcage Walk, past Buckingham Palace, under the Wellington Arch and through Hyde Park. It was exciting stuff, but I fell ten minutes short in what was probably an impossible task. Now what?

I have to credit the staff of Great Western Railways for sending me straight to my next best train option. Within 5 minutes I had a new train reservation and was on a train bound for Bristol at no extra cost, somehow beating the astronomical peak fares by minutes. By changing there, I beat the restrictions again, and made it very efficiently to Cardiff. But it was now too late to make the connection from Swansea to Fishguard tonight. I cancelled my hotel and booked another one last minute in Carmarthen, which was as close as I could get. By 10pm I was checking in. In the circumstances, I thought, a result!