Every time I ride to Norfolk and back, I tell myself, on my return, that I’ve had enough of that route. And yet each year, by the time the clocks go forward in March, I find that I’ve developed a nagging compulsion to do it again.
So I did it again yesterday. Sort of. I planned a route that would take me to Sutton Bridge at the edge of Lincolnshire without actually going over the border. Having done it four times already, the novelty of riding to Norfolk and back from North-West Leicestershire has worn off now. Interestingly I did actually visit Cambridgeshire for half a mile. I only realised I’d done that while poring over a map after I got back.
I set an alarm for 0245, but I didn’t really sleep. I think I may have dozed for half an hour. I got up at 0155, which is earlier than I go to bed at the weekend sometimes. Exactly an hour later, I set off.
Last June when I did this ride, or a variation of it, I was shivering for the first couple of hours. This time the outdoor temperature wasn’t quite so low. Nonetheless I did ride through a few patches of uncomfortably cold air over the first hour so I decided to detour via Wymeswold and Rempstone, to reach higher ground (and warmer conditions) more quickly.
As you’d expect, the roads were very quiet. Beautifully tranquil out there at that time of the morning. I saw a few bats darting through the air in the dark along Gracedieu Lane, a few miles from home. An owl flew over the road ahead of me near Rempstone. And just after sunrise, I saw two fox cubs playing in the road near Six Hills. There were quite a few juvenile rabbits out and about yesterday, as well.
I stopped after 50 miles to stash my outer layer of clothing into my camo pattern nylon bag and hide it in a hedge next to a farm gate. I also stashed my spare front light and batteries. I checked my tyres. The rear was just slightly less firm than I expected. Had I picked up a puncture? I decided to ignore it, keep on going but check it again ten miles later. I did, and it was exactly the same. I did have a CO2 inflator with me and I could have got a little bit more pressure into it. But I decided to leave well alone. Thou Shalt Not Fix That Which Is Not Broken is the holiest law of my profession. It works well for cycling, too.
I had two spare inner tubes, two CO2 canisters for the inflator and a mini-pump with me. I really hate taking additional weight when doing a significant distance – I’ve even been known to weigh AA batteries, to determine the most lightweight brand – but the risk of a puncture is always in the back of your mind on a long ride.
I stopped to refuel with a sandwich and a bottle of Lucozade at a shop at Sutton St James. I arrived at Sutton Bridge forty minutes later, at about 1115. I planned to take a different route back westward from this point over the next twenty miles before joining the outbound route south of Spalding.
I’d set myself a target of doing 180 miles. That was five more than my planned route, so I needed to improvise a little. I took a detour down toward a village called Deeping St Nicholas. After that I took an unintentional detour into the outskirts of Spalding when I missed a turn.
The weather forecast had promised dry, sunny weather with a few cloudy intervals in the afternoon. In fact it was cloudy the whole time until about 4pm. I had to put up with light rain, on and off, for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. But at least the easterly wind was light, as promised. And from the late afternoon on conditions were glorious – sunny, not too warm. I’d taken a small tub of sunscreen with me but ended up not using it. Annoying, as it weighs 36 grams.
I listened mostly to BBC 6 Music. In the afternoon I tuned into 5 Live just in time to hear Scotland score two very late goals against Norway, to overturn a 1-0 defeat. Irritating.
Forty miles from home I stopped to refuel at my favourite rest stop of all, the village shop at Buckminster. I bought a coffee, an egg mayonnaise roll and (of course) a chocolate-covered mint ice-cream on a stick. As I sat consuming them on one of the benches outside, the proprietor very kindly brought out a homemade samosa for me, free of charge.
I’d realised by this time that I still wasn’t quite on course to do my intended 180 miles, so I took a brief detour through Long Whatton and came back the slightly longer way through Peggs Green and Coleorton. I’d done 181.40 miles when I arrived back at the garage door at about 2025. I’d made pretty good time – on a long ride like that I like to allow an hour for every 10 miles overall – it definitely pays to take it easy. So on that basis I was back more than half an hour earlier than I’d have expected.
That was definitely the most sensible route I’ve taken to get to Norfolk, or nearly-Norfolk and back. I chose less obscure, better-surfaced roads than the last couple of times. And I must say it was nice to ride through Long Sutton and Holbeach again – I went that way on my first Norfolk trip in 2017. But I’d avoided the quieter, narrow lanes that run in perfectly straight lines next to drainage channels in the Fenland part of Lincolnshire. They do have a distinctive desolate charm, and I missed that.
Still – that was definitely an enjoyable long day out on a bike. Very happy to have done a long run out east again this year.
441 done this month.