The Good Life

You know life is good when the only thing to complain about is the fishmonger on Framlingham Market selling out of lobster and Leo's Deli doing the same with gazpacho. I know that we are lucky and I don't take it for granted. At the moment we've good health, we don't work and we have enough pension to enjoy ourselves so why not make the most of it. 

This week has been one of those good weeks when the sun has shone almost constantly and we've taken advantage of that sunshine with our favourite pastimes, gardening, cycling and metal detecting (not Marion). I'm going to blog about the (very successful) detecting week in another post to avoid boring those who are not interested but on the cycling front we've managed two wonderful outings.

After hearing some fellow cyclists' horror stories on holiday we invested in some mirrors last week so now we always know what is behind us without cricking our necks and we can keep an eye out for each other. The mirrors have already paid for themselves - I saw Marion hit a nasty pothole and end up on the grass verge so I could go and help her rather than ride on oblivious and wonder where she was. Fortunately the damage was just a couple of scrapes and minor bruises - pretty painful though.

We were on our way back from a wonderful ride to Orford where we enjoyed some fabulous ice cream near the castle after a coffee and sausage roll at our favourite Riverside Tearoom. It's not as upmarket as Pump St and Penny's but the views beat both and the cakes and homemade sausage rolls are delicious.

Before leaving we went to the famous Richardson's Smoke house and bought a smoked chicken. This meant that we had to cycle back at top speed to ensure it didn't get too hot on the bike.

Today we had another ride. After the thirty plus mile round trip to Orford we made it a bit shorter today and rode to English Heritage's Saxstead Mill which is just down the road.

It only opens in the summer and then just twice a week but it's a great bit of country history and beautifully maintained.

The white of the mill and blue of the sky made it very photogenic.

From the mill, we headed to Earl Soham for well earned pints of bitter and cider at the Victoria. It was our first visit to this country pub. Great beer, great place.

Tonight we've enjoyed a salad in the garden and washed it down with some of the Chablis we bought in France. 

Life is good.