Today was going to be a long day. We did not cycle half way between London and Harwich (don’t pronounce the W) yesterday because we had a late start. So we had another 100k day ahead of us today. However, our ship to the Hook of Holland would not sail until 23.00, so at least we had plenty of time for the distance.
Right out of the gate we did a food stop at a farmstore and bought very delicious strawberries and cheddar. The weather was great and quite warm, a little reminder of the hot days ahead of us in the summer on the continent.
Then, shortly before reaching Maldon, another one of my back-wheel spokes popped (not again!). This time I noticed the metallic “pling” sound it makes and could attribute the incident to me being out of the saddle in a short climb, and I will be more careful torquing the bike going forward. Just like last time, the missing spoke did not really pretzel my wheel, so we could just carry on.
In Maldon, we did a quick refueling stop at the cute little harbor before turning inland toward Colchester. Before we reaching Colchester, it was time for a lunch break and we ate strawberries and the tasty cheddar cheese with Cream Crackers. When in Rome.
As we entered Colchester, we passed a bike shop that was opened and inquired about the spoke repair. They did not carry spare spokes but recommended Halfords in town for the repair. We called and they said if we arrived within the next 20 min, they could fix the spoke! Google Maps estimated a travel time of 19 mins, so we pushed to get there in time through quite a bit of traffic. But we made it and the awesome repair man did the job in just 15 mins (this time it was 25GBP).
Leaving town with all wheels trued, we passed the deserted Essex University campus. From there on, it was over with dedicated bike paths and Cycle Route 51 guided us along country roads. At the 20km-to-the-goal mark, it was time for our last English pint, and we stopped at the Maybush inn, where a local strongly dissuaded us from buying the beer made in Harwich. The London Stout was very tasty, though, very similar to Guinness.
And then we were in Harwich! It was only 18.15, so we had plenty of time to have dinner and peddling about town before we had to check-in to the boat at 20.30. With very limited and mostly take-out dinner options, we opted for Indian take-away and dinner at the sea, where we could enjoy the evening sun with the chicken Tikka and Paneer curry.
With still plenty of time left, we cycled slowly past the many beach huts and toward the big port on the other side of the water. From there, we did the remaining way to the ship on the thankfully deserted A120. Arriving at the international harbor, we went to check-in, showed our passports, got the bar-code cabin keys, went through a funny security check (they patted both of us down and asked about weapons, but did not check our panniers), and then waited in line to board the ship.
Just in this line were more cycle tourers than we passed on our whole journey on the island. After I laid my bike on the ground, the nice cycle tourer in front of us gave us the hint that bike stands are a useful feature. I have to agree that stands would have come in handy quite a few times already.
In 1948, Anne and Reece also sailed from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. At the time, the ships were operated by British Railways, which explains why they could check-in their bikes in London before taking the train to Harwich and then getting on the SS Arnhem to Holland.
We got to board before all the waiting cars! It was very cool to ride onto the boat in the cycle tourer convoy. And then it got even better when we found out that our cabin got upgraded to a spacier family cabin with a nice, hot, ensuite shower. All clean and sleepy, we went for a nightcap (bourbon for me, red wine for Liz) at the outside bar at the aft of the ship. We could not stay awake in the comfy beds to watch the ship leaving port. Another long, but amazing day!
Total distance/elevation to date: 1279km/10010m
Day 16 Route and Stats
The 1948 Tour 
Lovely report. Great tour. Thank you! Got the idea of the British island from my hiking tours and earlier stays. Now, I am super curious how you will fare in Holland.
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