The offending noise turned out to be a loose nut on the rear mud-guard rubbing against the tyre, (sounds more painful that it was). The nice man in the Spokes’ shop in Epping changed it and we had a smooth (and peaceful) run to Chelmsford in time for lunch. The Recess cafe is our refreshment stop, nice coffee and soya milk too, although nothing vegan for Mike to eat – but nothing a quick detour into the M&S food hall can’t solve.

After yesterday’s rest day spent seeing the sights of Potters Bar, (Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s), we’re on the road again and – I’m afraid – to get to Harwich, ‘the only way is Essex’. Fortunately, being a Monday, the roads have been quieter than the last time we cycled this way (it was Sunday – driver hell then). Alas it’s not all going smoothly though, Mike’s bike has developed an intermittent small ‘clank’ coming from the wheels somewhere. So we’ve stopped in Epping to get it looked at in Spokes’ bike shop. Fingers crossed it isn’t anything serious as I’d hate a spanner to get in the way of my THIRD attempt to visit the Beth Chatto Gardens – our pre-ferry rest stop. The first time we tried to get there it was closed and the second time we took a wrong turn in Ongar and ended up in Brentford and Billericay!

Fingers crossed this will be third time lucky!

O2 have decided to be particularly rubbish, just when we need to arrange to minimise our data roaming charges while we’re away. From 1 July the new EU laws come into effect that cap the outrageous charges phone companies have been charging people for accessing the Internet on their mobile devices when on holiday. Unfortunately we have a week in the Netherlands and Belgium before 1 July. Unhelpfully, O2 have decided to end their European bolt-on a week before the new limits come into effect, which means a potentially large bill – or no internet for us. First prize to O2 for crap customer service. We’re now hunting for a cheap sim for this week – hence a trip to Tesco Phone Shop Potters Bar, oh the glamour!