WHERE: START/FINISH: to DISTANCE: 83 miles over two days PICTURES: Dominic Bliss & Alamy SLOPING OFF IN | GREAT RIDES

GREAT RIDES SLOPING OFF IN NORFOLK East Anglia's long-distance off-road trail isn't 'mountain' biking but it's a great countryside escape, as journalist Dominic Bliss discovers

ancakes. Inattentive hedgehogs. clock up the miles. We pass through some English ale. Old car batteries. lovely villages – , North P There are some notoriously flat Pickenham and, most memorably, Castle things in this world. But few are quite as flat Acre, with its ruined castle and priory – and as the countryside of Norfolk, as our off-road tea-rooms. Then it’s a 17-mile stretch of dead- ride along the demonstrates. straight bridleway all the way to Ringstead, The 46-mile long-distance trail stretches just outside . from Thetford, in the south of the county, to At times, we find ourselves in some quite Hunstanton, on the North Sea coast. Initially, remote areas. We skirt alongside the heath the lack of incline is a joy. It makes for an of , the deep woods of Thetford easy ride and a fast pace. But after 20 miles Forest, close to the Stanford military training or so, it’s amazing how you start to crave hills area where Chinooks roar overhead, – any sort of slope, in fact. near to Massingham Marsh, and through It’s not to be. Our journey starts at Thetford enormous swathes of open farmland. With DO IT YOURSELF railway station, just a short stretch of A-road little woodland to block our views, we are from the start of the Peddars Way trail. From surrounded by the big-sky panoramas that With its flat and easy terrain, the Peddars Way is the perfect entry-level then on, we’re off-road all day, following inland Norfolk is famous for. off-road trail, combining bridleway, the route of an old Roman road that, two There's an old legend that the Peddars tracks, and tarmac. The Norfolk Coast thousand years ago, would have taken Way is haunted by the evil ghost of a huge Cycleway that continues to sandalled feet through Boudica territory as far dog called the Black Shuck. Over the years, Sheringham is mainly quiet roads. A cyclocross bike is perfect for the entire as The Wash. there have been hundreds of reported route, and a touring bike with the right Back then, centurions might have cursed sightings. ‘He will stand in your path and tyres would cope fine. We used Abellio the rough surface underfoot; nowadays it’s show his teeth,' wrote MH James in his 1891 Greater Anglia trains to get from and beautifully maintained – a combination of book, Bogie Tales of East Anglia. ‘He will snarl back to , as it operates frequent dirt paths, gravel tracks, forest trails, and till you are almost paralysed with fear. Then services from Liverpool Street (www. abelliogreateranglia.co.uk). The Peddars short tarmac sections. The lion's share is he will sit down and stare at you with his Way starts at , just dead straight, with just the odd zig-zag as it eyes aflame. The dog sometimes drags you over four miles by road east from carves a line south to north through farmland, by your clothes. Untold horrors befall the man . The Norfolk woodland and the occasional village. and woman who persists in thwarting him.' Coast Cycleway ends at Sheringham or ; both towns have railway Predictably, being a ghost, the Black Shuck stations. Big-sky scenery doesn't make an appearance. We don't spot My chosen ride is a Giant TCX cyclocross many corporeal animals or people either. bike. It’s perfect for the firm, flat terrain of the During our entire ride, apart from in the car Peddars Way. Being lightweight and having park at the start of the trail, we see no other its cables routed through the frame, it's easy cyclists. There’s the occasional hiker or dog to lift over the gates and stiles en route. My walker, but only close to the villages. friend Phil is on a heavier mountain bike that Late that afternoon, we arrive at our proves to be hard work by comparison. Hunstanton guest house, which has amazing The trail is often wide enough to ride views out to sea. Hunstanton is unusual in

Left: © Peter Jordan / Alamy Stock Photo. Others by Dominic Bliss by / Alamy Stock Photo. Others Jordan © Peter Left: two abreast so we do, chatting as we that it’s an east coast town but, because it lies

CYCLINGUK.ORG CYCLE 55 GREAT RIDES | SLOPING OFF IN NORFOLK

Left It's 46 miles along the Peddars Way to the coast, and easily do- able in a day, given how flat the trail is Below left It's not technically difficult either, so a mountain bike is optional. A cyclocross bike or a rough-stuff tourer will be at least as practical

Huntstanton Sheringham

Thetford

Fact File: SLOPING OFF IN NORFOLK

DISTANCE: 46 miles along the Peddars Way; 37 miles along the Norfolk Coast Cycleway. Total: 83 miles in two days.

ROUTE: Thetford railway station to INITIALLY, THE LACK OF INCLINE IS A JOY. BUT Knettishall Heath; along the Peddars Way long-distance bridleway to Hunstanton; AFTER 20 MILES OR SO, IT’S AMAZING HOW YOU back roads from Hunstanton to START TO CRAVE HILLS – ANY SLOPE, IN FACT Sheringham railway station. CONDITIONS: The Peddars Way is a on the interior of The Wash, faces west. You coast. Here, an off-road cycle track through combination of dirt paths, gravel tracks, forest trails and short tarmac sections. The get to see the sun setting over the sea. forest leads us to Wells-next-the-Sea where Norfolk Coast Cycleway is all tarmac but we stop to lunch on Norfolk crab, fresh from on quiet back roads. Along the coast a seafood shack on the harbour front. This The following day we embark on the second is classic English seaside territory, but with a ACCOMMODATION: We stayed at Burleigh Guest House, Hunstanton (theburleigh.com) (much easier) section of our ride. This is the distinctly upmarket feel. Norfolk Coast Cycleway, a traffic-calmed route Suddenly the landscape gets hilly. Well, EQUIPMENT USED: I rode a Giant TCX that follows quiet public roads close to the slightly hilly; this is still Norfolk. But after a day SLR1 cyclocross bike. Phil rode a Voodoo coast; not to be confused with the pedestrian and a half of flat topography, it’s a surprise. At Hoodoo hardtail mountain bike. We both (and eminently prettier) . one point – as the road rises into Weybourne used rucksacks for luggage. The first few miles take us down long, – I actually have to drop into lower gears. MAPS/GUIDES: We downloaded Ordnance deserted country roads, hemmed in by tall The final section of our ride is a fast Survey maps. The Peddars Way, however, hedges. It’s a shame because we know that swoop to the station at Sheringham. This is so well way-marked that you can get just out of our view is the Norfolk coastline. is the northern tip of the Bittern Line that away with no map at all. But the main coast road is a bike-unfriendly crosses the Norfolk Broads to . We I’M GLAD I HAD: Thin knobbly tyres. The A149. Better to suffer from a lack of views jump aboard, along with a packed train of off-road section was so flat and dry that fat than to have to contest with Sunday drivers. seaside day-trippers, and barely manage off-road tyres weren't required. After passing through the well-heeled to squeeze our bikes into the jumble of FURTHER INFO: www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ Burnham Market, we take a little detour assorted machines in the cycle rack. Then it’s peddars-way-and-norfolk-coast-path and into the Holkham Hall estate and its a slow but pretty Sunday-service ride back to bit.ly/cyclinguk-norfolkcoast accompanying nature reserve, right on the civilisation. And still no hills of any note.

56 CYCLE APRIL/MAY 2016