Cotton

We had breakfast with Jenny, whispered goodbye to Simon so as not to disturb him working, and set off to Suffolk.
The traffic was surprisingly not too bad, even on the M25, my first experience of biking on the scary road I think. We remembered Simon's advice and took the left hand side of the Dartford tunnel, and came off the M25 as soon as we could. We had a lovely ride in the hot sunshine to Maldon where we parked at the promenade car park and dutifully promenaded along the river to find somewhere for an early lunch.

We were quietly sitting watching the world go by when there was an almighty shout and an older lady started hobbling around clearly upset and panicking, asking for help to recover her shopping trolley which had rolled off the path and fallen 8ft down into the thick river mud below. I stood up to go and see if I could jump down to get it, but the mud looked like I might have disappeared up to my waist, so I just stood there unhelpfully with everyone else.

Luckily someone more sensible found a pole with a hook on the end with which he managed to lift the lady's trolley and shopping bag back to safety, albeit slightly muddier than before.

The next part of the journey was possibly the hottest I have ever been, even with sleeves rolled up and coat half unzipped we were still melting at anything below 50mph! We followed Google to the exit of Jimmy's farm and wildlife park and rode the wrong way into the car park, despite some strange looks from people trying to leave down the single track lane we were heading up.

We arrived at 3, and had 2 hours to tour the park before it closed, which luckily only took 1 hour, though it was an enjoyably spent hour so we were happy. There were some interesting animals and birds which all looked well looked after and happy. Jamie was even brave enough to go into the Reptile house and walk past the snakes without closing his eyes!

The park was less than an hour from our new home, and we arrived about 5:00. Our hosts and their little dog Dolly are lovely and we are staying in a chalet in their garden with space for a small kitchen, sofa, and excitingly a telly!

We walked up to the local pub for dinner which was fine, the pub was pretty empty with just a few fairly noisy locals for entertainment.Read more