Touring Norfolk (and Suffolk) in a motorhome

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Day 25: Transferring to Sutton Hoo

Route: A149 to Great Yarmouth – A47 to Lowestoft – A12 then A1094 to Snape – B1069 – A1152 to Woodbridge – B1083 to Shottisham – lanes to Baliffs Cottage CAMC site.

Distance: approximately 85 miles

Expenditure:

£10.00 coffee and cakes

£60 Diesel

 

We drive across varied landscapes on our journey to Lowestoft. The busy port and seaside town that is Great Yarmouth; heathland and pine forests, farmland with the now familiar cereals and market garden produce. Huge gantry water sprinkling systems stretch a hundred metres or so across extensive potato fields where large drums of coiled hoses stand idle in the field margins.

The ‘igloos’ have us confused from a distance, hundreds of them in regimented rows. Only when we get closer do we realise they are pig houses for free range piggies.

We stop at Lowestoft. A quick call into Specsavers because Maggie has broken her glasses. The lens fell out and despite my best efforts, I failed to repair them properly. We park up in the Royal Parade car park on the seafront. There are no height restriction barriers. The bays are narrow but Bryony just fits in one. We have to hang the bike rack over a paved area to the rear and our front overhangs the bay lines by a foot or so but the front wheels are in the delineated area. (Later, talking to a friendly parking warden, he tells us that he and his colleagues are pretty lenient towards motorhomes as there is insufficient parking for them in Lowestoft. If they have parked sensibly and aren’t causing an obstruction or taking up two bays, they are fine about parking in Royal Parade. Note our length with the bike rack is just under 7m.)

Someone, you can guess who, was so disappointed to find the tall ship closed! 

We stroll the seafront exploring the sea defences, we visit the town centre where we marvel at how the arctic terns manage to nest on every single ledge available and then we stroll the breakwater down to the RNLI shop. Here we pay a quick visit to the historic ships in the marina but they are closed to visitors.

Then it is time for coffee and cakes in a local seafront café.

Back on the road, we pass Snape Maltings and vow to cycle there in the next few days. It looks like an upmarket retail area with some old barges alongside and walks out over the surrounding marshland areas.

Baliff’s cottage is a lovely site and the welcome from Graham is warm and good humoured. We were on a little section of two grass pitches which had tall trees and a corn field behind and, in front of us, a hedge which screened us from the drive entrance. All the facilities were a short walk away. Sutton Hoo was a 10-minute drive up the road. (https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/uk/suffolk/woodbridge/bailiffscottage/ ).

Having set up (which didn’t take long as the site is pretty level), we had the bikes off and were on our way down to the coast. Down along the lanes to Alderton (where you will find a few local convenience shops), along the B1083 to Bawdsey and then along East Lane to visit the Martello tower, where in the little gravel car park we came to a WWII gun emplacement with tunnels and a watch tower. Also exploring the emplacement was a local retired history teacher who gave us some tips – go visit Shingle Street up the coast, where apparently, the shingle banks are so deep, kings and Governments down through the ages used to worry that ships from European enemies would be able to directly come alongside and tie up on that stretch of the beach.

And what about the WW2 Bawdsey Gun battery? This website has plenty of information about it - https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/bawdsey-battery   This site provides a good aerial photograph of the site https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/coastal-battery-near-bawdsey-4324   Finally another very informative site is this one http://www.bvror.uk/index.php/articles/sites-of-interest/65-the-bawdsey-battery

The WWII gun emplacement - it doesn't look much, until you go below ground

The corridor were flooded but the huge number of swift nests along the walls was astonishing

The old observation tower

Clearly a hangout for the locals 

and, further along the coast....the Martello tower

The coastline here is bleak, windswept and desolate, all in a romantic ‘lost’ kind of way. Scattered along its length are Martello towers. One of them you can stay in (https://www.uniquehomestays.com/self-catering/uk/suffolk/woodbridge/found-tower/ ).

The history behind the Martello towers is simple enough. There were originally 103 towers built between 1805 and 1812 to resist a potential invasion by Napoleon and 29 of these are to be found between Aldeburgh and St Osyth to protect Essex and Suffolk. Built of brick, 13’ thick on the seaward side and 30’ high, they were equipped with cannon on the roof. Over the years some have been taken over by the landmark trust; some bought and converted into residential accommodation.

The actual towers were based on those found in Italy, round fortresses that were part of a larger defence system at Mortella Point in Corsica, designed by Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino in the 1560’s. From the 15^th century, the Corsicans built these towers at strategic points around the island to protect coastal villages and ships from Mediterranean pirates. One or two stories high, up to 15m across, with a single doorway 5 metres off the ground, accessible only by a ladder, these designs inspired military engineer Capt. William Henry Ford and his friend William Twiss to design a version for England’s towers two centuries later.

 

Martello towers typically had three levels – the fighting platform on the roof, garrison living quarters on the first floor and an ammunition/provisions store in the basement (ammunition, water, salt, beef, butter, cheese and bread; along with coal, rope etc). Stores were hauled up by rope, the ladder up to the door could be hauled up the same way. A 24-man garrison per tower and living conditions for the 24 men was cramped. They had as much floor area as the commanding officer had for his own quarters! There was a separate gunpowder magazine for obvious reasons. Here the walls were double skinned to keep out the damp coastal air.

I was surprised to read that there were no permanent latrines in the towers. Temporary facilities were built at times of siege, apparently!

On the roof, was a 24-pounder, smooth-bore, muzzle-loading gun on a carriage capable of turning the whole 360 degrees. Some towers had 32-pound cannons. A cannon weighed around 2.5 tonnes and had a range of about a mile at a 5-degree elevation. Very damaging to approaching ships or enemies on the shore.  A single shot could kill 40 men at a range of 550 to 730 metres. At close range, Martello gunners would fire case-shot, (either `heavy' (84 6oz balls contained in a thin metal canister) or ‘light’ (232 2oz). When fired, these canisters would burst, spraying a deadly hail of bullets. A single round of heavy case-shot was almost as lethal as a volley of musket-shot from an infantry company of 100 men.  Obviously, the idea was not to allow Napoleon and his armies to get very far up the beach.

Alongside the Bawdsey Martello tower we discovered two other gems. One was a delightful corrugated tin house, perfect for such an isolated stretch of coast. 

The second gem? A film crew were building a film set a further 100m down the coast – a huge house set being made up to represent a very expensive house that you would find on the South Carolina coastline for a forth coming film. The history teacher did point out that the two climates were completely different but the set guys told him they had equipment like huge lights, mirrors, fans and when they were finished everyone would believe it to be the South Carolina coast. The magic of movies, eh?

Security guards prevented us from getting too close. Top secret stuff apparently!!

It was a very pleasant and interesting little 11-mile bike ride to finish the day.