Never Let Men Navigate
Rich and I went to a wedding on Saturday, not too far from the Suffolk coast. We decided to make a quick detour to the beach en route home (which involved going in the wrong direction, but nevermind), and as I was driving, I let Rich navigate and choose which beach we would visit. It was only going to be a half hour stop or so.
“Well there’s no yellow beach bit at Aldeburgh, but it looks like Leiston is on a beach. It’s got a visitor’s centre too, let’s go there”.
So off we pootled for 25 minutes or so. “Where’s the beach?!” Rich kept exclaiming.
A big dome loomed in the distance, and as we drew closer through the small town of Leiston, the sandbanks came into view and the distinct sea breeze wafted in through the car windows.
“What is that?!” Rich exclaimed, as the dome and brick fortress loomed over us.
“Rich, you’ve only gone and navigated us to the bloody Sizewell B nuclear power station. Well done,” I said.
I’ve known about Sizewell B for years, having visited Dunwich and Walberswick further up the coast since I was a child. We thought Dunwich - despite it’s award-winning chip shop - was a bit too far as a detour. Now I wish we’d gone there instead.
The beach was pebbly, the view was…well, tainted. Rich loved the strange oil-rig type structures around the shoreline, obviously something to do with pumping the sea water into Sizewell B.
Apparently the warm (not radioactive!) water that is pumped back out into the sea from the power station attracts lots of jellyfish to the area. So swimming around there really isn’t much of an option either.
We took pictures, marvelled at Sizewell B’s sheer presence, pondered nuclear power, and turned on our heels. I wanted to get home - Rich wanted a cup of tea. I allowed him a takeaway cup of tea (from the ‘visitor’s centre - aka slightly tatty beach side/nuclear power station side cafe), most of which he spilt on his lap as we drove through the wiggly windy lanes of coastal Suffolk. Well, he had to pay a penance, didn’t he?
May 7th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I’ll let you into a secret - when navigating off the ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads in Suffolk you go into a sort of parallel universe, we call in ‘The Suffolk Triangle’. In fact there is a cluster of ‘Triangles’ scattered over the county between the A12 and A14 and a few other main routes. You enter at you peril, maps and sat-navs are useless, then after about 45 minutes you emerge onto the same road near the turning where you entered the ‘Triangle’.
We’ve learnt the hard way - stick to main routes or be prepared for a trip into the unknown!
Looks like you had a perfect sunny day for the Sizewell B experience!
Celia
May 10th, 2008 at 1:49 am
This is why my fiance and I have a GPS :). We took a trip yesterday with a slightly better result. We came across a collection of metal sculptures that was truly amazing to see.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
The pic of you in front of the station is VERY funny. Thanks for the laugh.