The proposed tour

So today I set about narrowing down a comprehensive list of possibilities into a more manageable schedule. It was whilst researching possible sites of interest that I began to realise just how many sites there are in the area. It was always unlikely that I would be able to visit every single site I found or had suggested to me, so I found it helpful to remind my self of the purpose of the trip as my starting point.

"To conduct a 500 mile, 8 day Ride of Remembrance Scooter & Motorcycle Tour of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire raising funds on behalf of Combat Stress visiting Military Museums and sites of military interest on route including many of the rural Churchyards where there are hidden Commonwealth War Graves and conducting Acts of remembrance at sites along the route." 

Most sites are run by volunteers and as such are very restricted in their opening times which made the task quite cumbersome. To cut a long story short, the following outline will no doubt change as planning continues but in essence this is what the tour looks like as I write.

Day One

Starting in Ipswich, the Tour gets off to a gentle start heading to the first three sites of military interest, the 493^rd Bomb Group Museum near Debach, Bawdsey Radar Museum and the redundant Cold War Atomic Weapons  Research Establishment site at Orford Ness. The touring party will lay Wreaths at Debach[1] and Bawdsey[2] before camping overnight in Rendlesham Forest.

Day Two

From Rendlesham the touring party will visit Bentwaters Cold War Museum and Parham Airfield Museum which is home to the 390^th Bomb Group Memorial and the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation. Wreaths will be laid at both Museums[3]. Overnight the touring party will be camping near Saxmundham.

Day Three

Leaving Saxmundham, the group will make the short journey to Flixton to visit the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum where a wreath will be laid[4]. The party will head for the Norfolk coast in the afternoon spending the evening at the seaside.

Days Four & Five

Taking in the North Norfolk Coast and Countryside the tourists will visit the RAF Radar Defence Museum[5] and The Muckleburgh Collection[6] on day four and Langham Dome[7] and the City of Norwich Aviation Museum[8]. Wreaths will again be laid at each of the sites visited. The party will spend the night in beds with real sheets and creature comforts at a hotel or B&B in Norwich!

Day Six

Day six will see the tourists begin to head South again to Old Buckenham, home of the 453^rd Bomb Group[9]. The tour is hoping to take in RAF/USAFE Lakenheath[10] as part of the tour, but should this not come off Snetterton Race Track is close by as is the Cold War RAF Base at Barnham which is now an industrial site with some interesting cold war bunkers. Wreaths will be laid at each site before the tourists set up camp on the STANTA training area.

 Day Seven

Whilst in the Thetford area two more visits will take place. The Dads Army Museum will be visited first before the tourists will pay their respects at the Desert Rats Memorial in Thetford Forest[11]. Members of the Home Guard and Land Defence Volunteers will be remembered as will members of the 7^th Armoured Brigade of World War 2 and their more recent members who fought in the Gulf War of 1991.

Day Eight

On the final day of the tour a very personal visit will be paid to the Royal Engineers Museum at Waterbeach[12] where two of the touring party served. A wreath will be laid remembering both the Royal Engineers and the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. The tours final destination will be Madingley American Cemetery[13] near Cambridge before the tourists will make their journey home back to Suffolk.

As can be seen by the references, I am still considering several options of memorial and remembrance at some of the sites.

---

[1] ??

[2] Battle of Britain??

[3] The first Spitfire Sqn to fly from Bentwaters (1944) and The British Resistance Organisation

[4] The Royal Observer Corps and 22 Sqn/Air Sea Rescue Crews

[5] ??

[6] ??

[7] 16 Group, Coastal Command

[8] The Falklands War (at the Vulcan XM612 site)

[9] B24 Liberator Crews??

[10]British & American Servicemen and Women of the post Cold War era, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan

[11] The Home Guard and LDV, 7^th Armd Bde (from WW2 and the first Gulf War)

[12] The Royal Engineers and The Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers

[13] ??