Felixstowe 24 August 2026

View of the Cliff Gardens

This will be the longest round trip in the Inster.  So I charged the car to 90%.  When we left, it claimed a range of 222 miles.  The journey was relatively uneventful.  Just avoiding a white van speeding round a blind bend using 2/3rds of the road through Ramsden.  Lucky we have a narrow car.  Then there's the usual A12 idiots.

On arrival, we had done 61.8 miles and were down to 60%.  (1% battery = ~2 miles).  The range estimate was 141 making 1% battery = ~2.35 miles.  Quite an overestimate unless the measurement is not linear.

We arrived, and a parking space was waiting for us. The parking is free this far out of town.  The only thing that could spoil our day was the weather - overcast, raining a little on the last mile of the drive, blustery winds and a dropping temperature.  We were in the wrong cloths for the conditions. We walked, feeling the cold, to the first set of toilets, it had been a long drive.  Then not much further on to the Pier, where the large restaurant provided some shelter and lunch.  The Boardwalk Cafe Bar was crowded, and the staff very busy, probably not enough of them.  We found an inside table and ordered drinks and food.  I was told hot drinks would take 10 minutes. We were the victim of overrated coffee machines, that seem designed to make the 'barrister' have a career rather than a job.

In the end it was closer to 20 minutes, and the food arrived very soon afterwards.  The food was adequate, rather than good.  The batter on my fish and chips only partly crispy, the chips only just cooked. 

By the time we left, the clouds had cleared. We walked towards the Old Town.  The promenade is flat (as you'd expect) there are plenty of things along it, and it's wide enough to walk along easily. There were children on the beach and in the water.  There were even a few adults in the water.  The temperature was rising now, so Jo tried a paddle.  We had worked out that the tide was going out, so at the top of the wet sand there was no longer a danger of wet feet.

The ice cream from a little kiosk, where the card machine wouldn't print, setting a theme for the day as the Café's card machine was happily printing blanks.

Much further along the prom ends, and we scaled the stairs to get to the top of the cliff.  It was much warmer now, and I was finally thankful for the hat and the sun cream.    Almost immediately we came to a tea shop and stopped for refreshment.

The decided that walking through the housing wasn't that great, so made our way back to the cliffs, which were much more interesting.

A walk around Thaxted - 7 September 2022

The forecast was uncertain with the possibility of showers, so the new camera was left at home.  Thaxted is right on the edge of our range in the Leaf, so we set out, taking it carefully – no hard acceleration, no hard braking (unless it's REALLY needed) and lower than usual top speeds. I stayed at 60MPH rather than 70MPH on the A12.  The directions were perfect, so we ended up in the free car park where the walk started. We had just enough range for the return journey. We were soon off out of the town, through Walnut Tree Meadow and into the countryside. 

An Oak in Walnut Tree Meadow

Thaxted, along with the rest of rural north Essex, is a lovely area, but I wouldn't want to live there because of the proximity of Stansted Airport. Throughout the walk, as the noise of one plane faded and silence returned, the noise of the next one began.  There was no let up, it was too distracting.  Along the edges of the fields, the blackberries were ripe and large and juicy, not at all like the ones in Billericay.  Maybe they benefitted from watering, and fertilisers put on the crops that were grown and are now harvested.

The walk was well described and for the most part straight forward.  There were only a couple of times that we had to check where we were.  The main confusion was caused by a closed road.  A separate bridge had been built over the river Chelmer for pedestrians.  It was well off the road and at that point I lost my position for a while.  

We returned to town through residential streets, still being distracted by the noise of planes, arriving in the town centre opposite the Swan Hotel.  Perhaps we had walked faster than the guide book expected, or perhaps we had missed a bit of the walk, it was not quite lunchtime yet.  So we had a cup of tea in the hotel and waited patiently (well, sort of!).  On the dot of noon, the barmaid/waitress came to our table and took our order.  I have praised her efficiency elsewhere – it is very unusual for hotel or restaurant staff to be that 'on-the-ball'.

The food we ordered (pub lunch, but slightly better presented) arrived in a reasonable amount of time, it was a nice lunch and very welcome.

After lunch, we took a walk around the church.  

The organ has recently been restored.

While we were wandering round, a heavy shower passed over.  Poor old Sarah Westly is getting wet.  The sound of dripping water led us to her stone.  I hope the church can get its roof repaired.

We then took a walk around John Webb's windmill, which is also requiring some restoration, so an internal visit is not possible.

Back in the car park, I set the Leaf's sat-nav to economy, and we began to follow the route provided down the B184, the B1008 and to the junction with the A120.  Here the sat-nav shows a different junction, so I ended up on the A120 heading east, instead of the B1008 heading south.  Now the available range is a problem.  The new mileage estimate says we will arrive home with maybe 10 miles (ca. 16 km) to spare.  That's less than 10% battery, we know from experience that the instrumentation might shut down before we get home, so a public charger is required.  We find a new EV charging court on the A131, it's only a short diversion.

All types of charging are available

Pulling onto the court and guessing where I need to be, I am approached by a guy drinking coffee, who works there and is directing people and explaining how to use the chargers – brilliant, just what I need.  Thankfully, there is no app required, I plug in, scan my credit card and the car begins to charge.  We go into the Costa for a cup of tea and sit outside drinking it for a few minutes.  When we get back, the car has 50% extra charge, so we're off home and suitably relaxed.  If all charging was like this, I'd go further with my EV.

A Wedding in Warwickshire

Our God daughter got married on 19 March 2022.  Her home church, where her father is the vicar, is in a little village in Warwickshire.  Not too far away is Chesford Grange, where the reception was held.  We travelled up the night before, the journey is about 120 miles.  We took the ICE car (range >350 miles) as for the EV (range 100 miles) was not up to the task of getting us there in a reasonable time.  The journey was uneventful, if a little slow in places, until we got near the M45 junction, where Google Maps on my phone decided to stop working.  So, we missed the junction and left at the next one.  After a short while we were in a multi-diversion system and almost totally lost.  We seemed to be on the right road, but the restarted phone was now telling us to go in, apparently, the wrong direction.  When we arrived, and the total distance we'd covered was over 130 miles.  There was a charge point in the car park, only one, and it was out of service.

Booking had been painful, different options and different rules and rates for each night and a cut-off phone line, so I was hoping for a better experience. We queued for a short time for check-in.  That's not really a problem, our room was the last down, one of the corridors.  I, quite deliberately, chose not to set up an account at the hotel.  We unpacked, and prepared for dinner.  It was booked for 6:15, but at check-in we were told the restaurant didn't open until 6:30.  Again, not a problem.  It looks like a very nice restaurant and the prices reflect that.  I started with the soup, which was delivered reasonably quickly, but without a spoon.  I had to ask for that.  Jo had her 2 courses as main and dessert.  Her dessert was delivered without a spoon, I had to ask for that.  I asked if we could charge it to the room, we couldn't, which was exactly what I hope I would hear.

The bed was comfortable, the shower was good, and the breakfast buffet was adequate, but not really worth the £15 you would have been charged if you didn't have the B&B deal.  Several things were not working, or not available.
After breakfast, we took a stroll around the grounds and off down a footpath along the banks of the river Avon.  Through some woods and out to a road.

The Avon

A Celandine

The wood we walked through was carpeted with celandine, and not too muddy for the time of year - we had not bought walking boots. Returning to the hotel, we did our best to remove the mud, and Jo took her shoes off, just to be sure we wouldn't make a mess.

Now it was time to get ready for the wedding.  Here we are suitable attired, with me trying to take a selfie and smile. I'll master it one day, but for now, this is as good as it gets.

The wedding itself was lovely, and the prayers I had prepared (stolen and edited) went down very well. The sermon was also very good, with a very clever illustration of married life - a pair of shears.  I'll let you work it out. Our congratulations to Helen and Adam, and we hope they have a marvellous life together.  We had a lovely evening catching up with friends and meeting a few new people.

The reception was also very good, and for all the little problems we had experienced, there was nothing wrong with the service they provided here, at all.  Another night in a comfortable bed followed, and another breakfast.  Then to check out.  It's a good thing we didn't use the fast check-out.  Apparently, we had used the spa the previous afternoon.  The receptionist could not explain it, nor how there could be a charge on our room when there was no account.  She did assure us that we would not be charged, so far we haven't been.  The hotel seems to be trying to be something that it isn't quite able to be, I hope they can improve their services.

We then attended the service at the Church, and spent a while chatting with the bride's parents (our friends), before making the journey home.

A very nice weekend away.

How green is my 'Leaf'?

Following my partial retirement, I'm down to three days a week, except when I have to cover for holidays.  The way bus fares have changed in the last few years means that I am paying the same for the bus as I was before.  The journeys are getting worse - longer and less comfortable. The buses more crowded, and the delays this summer have been at the top end of the delays I have ever experienced.  My average time to home as increased to above an hour. So I'm looking for a car.
I'd like one that is at least as environmentally friendly as a bus.  Our buses use bio-diesel, and diesel is not nearly as bad a polluter in large engines as it is in small ones. So, I'm looking for a hybrid (preferably a plug in), or an all electric. So where to go?
We looked at a Hyundai first, a very nice car, but the Ioniq has really poor rear visibility.  We also looked at the i10, a very nice small car, although there are no hybrid options, it may turn out that petrol is the way to go.
Other cars we have looked at:
Mini - too claustrophobic for Jo
Micra - too claustrophobic for me (looks too big, feels too small - that's the wrong way round!)
While looking at the Micra we spotted the Leaf, and were offered an extended test drive.  They gave us the car for 4 days.  It's a lovely car to drive, very stable, very smooth, very predictable and above all very, very quiet.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other similar cars, that's not really an issue for me.  The price is, though, and it is relatively expensive - even with the government 'donation'.  The range between charges is about 130 miles, less than half of the equivalent petrol car.  Not an issue for the commute.  It charged up by being plugged in for about 2 hours on the last day, when the usage was reasonably close to the way I expect to use it.
My question, though, is just how 'green' is it.  How much pollution (or at least CO2, there are lots of other pollutants to worry about) is generated by its construction.  Obviously there is next to none after that, and what there is can largely be controlled by choosing a green Electricity tariff.  It cannot be worse than petrol.
Where do I find these answers?