Thinking of spending a few days away from it all on the bike.

Not quite credit card touring but will be staying at B&B’s etc.

Want something easily accessible by train from the SE, I have shortlisted either the “Garden of England” or “Kings Lynn to Harwich” sustrans routes.

Anyone rode either? Any recommendations?

Not ridden, but there is only a small part of Harwich that is nice, round by the old docks (old Harwich town) Samuel pepys b and b is very nice and very cheap. Often used it when the much much more expensive Pier Hotel, although it is very nice. The newish premier inn on the edge of Harwich port is ok. Try and avoid all places on the beach front….

Assuming you’ll manage a decent distance between stops then the following may help.

Hoste Arms or The Railway at Burnham are good, Hoste is expensive though.
Maids Head in the centre of Norwich is good or there’s a Holiday Inn on the Ipswich Road that’s serviceable.
Not sure where to recommend in the Beccles area.
The White Lion or Brudenell in Aldeburgh are good, there’s 5 miles of A road out of Aldeburgh that’s difficult to avoid without adding lots of miles.
The Fludyers in Felixstowe is a good alternative to staying in Harwich, Felixstowe also has a railway connection. Ferry to Harwich if you want a bit of an adventure from Felixstowe (doesn’t run in bad weather/adverse conditions) or a trip into Ipswich before heading down to Harwich.

I rode Colchester – Harwich and back once, it was nice, and the old fort etc there is good to see.

Not familiar with either route, but a mate and I have a half formed plan for a light tour from Norwich, up to the north Norfolk coast then down and round through Norfolk and Suffolk to Southwold, linking proper sea food with as many breweries and micro breweries as we can find. And there are a lot. Plus cider farms. And Englands only whisky distillery.

So that gets my vote

The Norfolk – Suffolk tour will have less traffic and can miss out the towns with a bit of planning, nice route.

Thanks for your thoughts.

After looking at the maps I’m definitely thinking of Norfolk. Much less traffic and can just pick my own way along the coast. Won’t bother with the Sustrans. Should be loads of B&B availability at this time of year to.

Garden of England route passes right outside my parents front door. I’ve ridden a decent chunk of it both via Sandwich and out to Dover, and through Canterbury to Whitstable/Faversham and on towards London. Unless you really want to start in London or want to see some fairly industrial landscapes you probably wouldn’t miss much if you picked the route up just after the Medway towns. The rest of the route that I’ve ridden is lovely, lots of variety, beautiful old towns and varied landscapes, and very little traffic, although some of the paths are a bit rough in places. Probably a lot more hilly than the Harwich route, especially if, as I would reccomended you scout around Folkestone and Hythe a bit and go through the Elham Valley and kent downs near Wye for some of the best riding in the area, before dropping down onto Romney marsh.

You’ll have less traffic in Norfolk – Suffolk. The coastal route is very nice, even better if you avoid Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft by coming inland and using the chain ferry.

Once past Cromer the roads are a bit crowded and really busy around the Broads. NCR1 is definitely the best of a quite poor bunch for the bit between Burnham and Southwold/Aldeburgh. Crossing the Waveney is limited and funnels all the traffic along 2 or 3 routes.

Take a look at the ferry at Reedham, it avoids that Gt Yarmouth funnel.

You’ll have less traffic in Norfolk – Suffolk. The coastal route is very nice, even better if you avoid Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft by coming inland and using the chain ferry.

I do find this hard to believe. The Kent route is on traffic free paths or very quiet country lanes for the vast majority of the route. It’s not the most direct route for this reason, but it is very quiet,

I haven’t ridden the garden of England route but it starts in Greenwich works it’s way through the outskirts of London then onto Dover and Folkstone, all very busy areas and whilst some of it may be traffic free paths there usually the bits you end up missing out of sustrans routes so it won’t all be and the roads even in fairly rural Kent are busy IME often with fairly aggressive commuter traffic. It’s just a much more densely populated area.

For good or bad not many London (car) commuters get as far as Norfolk or even Suffolk, to put that in perspective on a recent ride in the first 40 km from my door (admittedly on a Sunday morning) I saw one moving car, short of going to Scotland, East Anglia is about as good as road cycling gets in the UK.

OP – I think you need to do them both and report back, happy to send you some GPS files or Garmin links.

Get the route right in Suffolk and you’ll race woodpeckers (common ones) and maybe see a car an hour if you’re really unlucky. Mind you if you hear banjoes pedal fast and don’t look back.

Just come back from 3 days in Norfolk.

Started in Kings Lynn and headed to Norwich.

Really enjoyed it, fantastic cycling country. It’s also not as flat as I thought, the first day out of Kings Lynn was quite hilly, it’s not Cumbria but it isn’t the Somerset Levels either!

A quick shout for the guys at Cycles Direct in Fakenham, really friendly and helpful. Cleaned the sand out of my drivetrain after ending up on a very sandy stretch. Top blokes.

Also Cycle Surgery in Kings Cross, brilliant service, happy to price match, good work for a big chain.

I could of spent a week quite happily, if time and money would allow.