FAMISHED truckers are tucking into one of the best roadside fry-ups in the country as they pass south of Ipswich.

Simon Tomlinson

FAMISHED truckers are tucking into one of the best roadside fry-ups in the country as they pass south of Ipswich.

That's because their stop of choice - the Orwell Crossing lorry park on the A14 at Nacton - is cooking up “a breakfast to beat all others”.

By tossing aside the stereotypical ingredients founding your typical greasy spoon, they have scooped the Best Breakfast award as voted by readers of national magazine Truck & Driver.

Their locally sourced Full English was the clear winner in the publication's Driver Choice Awards - a verdict ratified by its editor who said the sausages were “quite possibly the best I've ever tasted”.

The saut�ed potatoes grown on co-owner Karl Rout's family farm - the Shepherd and Dog Piggeries off Felixstowe Road - were described as even more impressive.

At �4.95, it may be more expensive than some, but the emphasis is firmly on quality.

Mr Rout, 50, has modelled his success on tasting breakfasts at motorway services around the country and then trying to achieve the exact opposite.

Most of the sausages he tried were “inedible” and he quickly sought to do away with insipid, limp, offal-based bangers and head for meatier versions.

He now sources them from Ipswich-based butchers Procter's while the bacon comes from Suffolk's DP Meats.

He said: “We are delighted to have been chosen the winners. It is what we strived for when we opened.

“We avoided all the things lorry drivers didn't like elsewhere and it seems to have paid off.”

The Rout family opened the lorry stop in 2004 as a means of extra income.

Much of their business comes from hungry truckers who stop off for a shower and some grub before heading to the Port of Felixstowe.

But increasing trade has come from members of the public, who have been keeping the business afloat since large numbers of lorries have dropped off the road in the recession.

FAR from the traditional greasy spoon fry-up, which usually oozes oil, the Orwell Crossing's answer looks a cut above even before you get stuck in.

Two succulent sausages sat neatly next to my fried egg (with the all-important runny yolk) on top of crisp, but chewy, fried bread.

The saut�ed potatoes were indeed very impressive - crunchy with a moist interior - and these were complemented by the baked beans and a tinned plum tomato.

But the piece de resistance had to be the bacon, from Suffolk-based DP Meats, which was juicy with a scrumptious rind, something I normally avoid like the plague, but gobbled down with glee this time round.

Needless to say I had a clean plate at the end of it - and I've never driven a truck in my life.