Suffolk B-road blast: My Dream Drive
Sleepy Suffolk plays host to our latest Dream Drive
Where: Southwold, Suffolk
Car used: Lotus Evora S
East Anglia, showing off (bar the rain)
"It's far simpler than it sounds! With a long Easter weekend back home in Ipswich, I scoured the map (with a little help from Google) for some nearby roads that looked intriguing. They most definitely were, even if the weather was a disappointment.
"Beginning just outside Woodbridge at Orford, the B1084 takes you up through Tunstall. Just before Snape it joins the B1069, which continues into Leiston after a very quick stint on the A1094. The B1122 takes you out of Leiston, then a right just after Theberton picks up the B1125. Follow this until the A12 at Blythburgh then head for Southwold on the A1095. You'll see the B1127 (and '26 actually) on the left as you go into Southwold. This is the best part of the route, winding its way up towards Beccles. Then it becomes apparent you're nowhere close to anywhere in particular, as is the Suffolk way. Time to turn round!"
Farmland makes for good sightlines!
"Because there's so little respite. It may lack some flow compared to other B-road greats but this way through the Suffolk countryside always keeps you on the ball. It rewards precision and attention, with narrowing sections and tightening corners. There are slightly more open sections once you're onto the B1127 itself and clear of the larger towns, but the challenge remains with high hedgerows and short straights.
"The road challenges car as well as driver too, with cambers and bumps seemingly there solely with the intention of unsettling the car. But it was also perfect for the Lotus used here,calibrated of course on B-roads not too far away. There's suppleness and control to deal with bumps but still keeping the driver involved. If anything, the Evora S was a little too much for these roads, perhaps more suited to an Elise.
This is what we mean about no respite!
Highlights and lowlights:
"Drive the B1387 to Walberswick on the way up. It’s a tiny stretch of road really, three miles each way, but packs in a lot. There’s a decent straight, crests and a couple of tricky corners thrown in too. Plus it only takes a few minutes.
"Often packed with tourists heading to the seaside, the A1095 to Southwold is pretty good also, a faster and more open section compared to the B-roads.
"The early parts of this Dream Drive are a little less rewarding because of the villages along the way. Snape and Leiston are particularly annoying, just as the roads leading to them are getting quite good. It’s worth enduring them though, honest!"
Ace roads that are often quiet too
"The Suffolk coast and countryside has all manner of distractions if you can be drawn away from some great B-roads. Aldeburgh is legendary for its fish and chips, Rendlesham and Tunstall forests are ideal if you enjoy two-wheel adventures, and Southwold is the home of Adnams. Perhaps not one to combine with a B-road thrash though!
"Venturing further afield, Lowestoft and its lovely beach aren't far away from the end of the B1127. Then you're nearly into Norfolk..."
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Follow the route here.
I purchased my first ever car there from a neighbour who had been posted, a £200 Suzuki Swift. I remember lots of late night drives resulting in midnight extractions from drainage ditches due to the 90 deg bends around the fields that appeared without warning.
Lots of fond memories of that place.
However, the big problem is not only the bimbling grockles during the holiday season, but also the year-round preponderance of what are known in my family as "Suffolk Snails". These are very slow elderly drivers, usually in a smallish Rover or the sort of smallish Korean car that elderly drivers of smallish Rovers are wont to purchase when said Longbridge product finally snuffs it, and quite possibly wearing a hat (always a bad sign). They nest in especially large numbers in and around Aldeburgh and Orford...
Also, be warned - the fuzz love to lurk on the approaches to Westleton in my experience...
I love Suffolk, I have to say. Very different from Surrey but it's got real atmosphere... the mostly flat landscape, the big skies, the sea air... and all the while one can't help but hear Benjamin Britten in one's mind's ear, especially the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. It's a sign of how far the county has declined (relatively) in importance that you can find many small villages with precisely bugger all happening in them - and looming over them, a vast church that you could easily get the rest of the village (buildings and all) inside. Blythburgh is one such.
I purchased my first ever car there from a neighbour who had been posted, a £200 Suzuki Swift. I remember lots of late night drives resulting in midnight extractions from drainage ditches due to the 90 deg bends around the fields that appeared without warning.
Lots of fond memories of that place.
We were based in wattisham after being posted back from Germany. A few friends went to woodbridge. Ex American houses with massive fridges I remember.
I purchased my first ever car there from a neighbour who had been posted, a £200 Suzuki Swift. I remember lots of late night drives resulting in midnight extractions from drainage ditches due to the 90 deg bends around the fields that appeared without warning.
Lots of fond memories of that place.
We were based in wattisham after being posted back from Germany. A few friends went to woodbridge. Ex American houses with massive fridges I remember.
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