Author: web1691

With the Wednesday ride postponed a day due to bad weather, four Wheelers met at PC on a bright and calm Thursday morning, for the inaugural visit to the recently re-opened Gressenhall White Swan. With the roads dry, the only evidence of the previous day’s deluge was a lot of debris washed into the roads.
Our fairly direct route took us south to Itteringham, through Heydon Park, Reepham, across the A1067 at Sparham, down to Elsing and then west to Swanton Morley, Hoe and Gressenhall.

The White Swan is now run as a community pub and has undergone a full renovation and is now a very comfortable and well-appointed venue, with plenty of tables inside and out, a wide menu choice, good coffee and a number of local beers.
As a result we enjoyed a leisurely lunch and were all impressed with our meals. Eventually we had to leave and head home and with less sun in the afternoon it was a little cooler but still a great day to be out enjoying the Norfolk countryside.
Our route home took us to East Bilney, Brisley, where the Bell car park looked full, Bintree Mill and up the climb, where at the top we saw the first sugarbeet heap of the season. Then on to Foulsham, Briston, Edgefield and a tour of the ponds at Hempstead and Selbrigg, where two turned left for High Kelling and two turned right to return to PC.

PC to PC was 56 miles, with 2350ft/716m of climbing at a fairly leisurely 13.8 mph average.
Andrew B, Ian A, Graham A and Mark leading.

Four Wheelers met at PC, including regular Saturday rider Neil S, although he could only join us for a short distance as he had a busy day planned but was able to get a few miles into his legs.
The remaining three continued on a tour of small villages and even smaller roads, which would have been even better if the forecast sun had made an appearance and taken the chill off the day, however there was no wind at all which was appreciated after last Saturday’s windy ride.
Our route took us through Lower Gresham, Sustead, Hanworth, Alby Hill, Thwaite, the back road to Ingworth, Itteringham Common where Graham A had a front puncture (flint, Michelin Lithion), Irmingland, Little London, Briston, Stody, Thornage and a short ride on the A148 to our lunch stop.
The café was fairly busy for a Wednesday lunchtime, however, the service was good, the coffee was praised and our filled ciabattas were excellent.
So, after a leisurely break, we reversed our route back to Thornage, then went to Hunworth, up the hill ( a favourite of Graham’s) to Edgefield, back to Little London, Saxthorpe, past the Mannington and Wolterton estates, Lower Street, Barningham Winter, Up Wood and past the pylon.
As Ian turned left for High Kelling, the remaining duo went through West Beckham back to PC.

PC to PC 48 miles – An enjoyable ride out on dry, occasionally gravelly roads with good company.
Graham A, Ian A, Neil S briefly and Mark leading.

Two riders left Pretty Corner for a ride to Sculthorpe Mill. There was a noticeable breeze from the SW and it was quite warm and humid, although overcast until noon. The route took the riders on familiar roads to Briston via Plumstead, then Craymere Beck to Hindolveston where the opportunity was taken to look at the old station. Onwards the route was followed to Fulmodeston, Stibbard and Gt Ryburgh. Turning left at the church it was an uphill way to Gateley and Horningtoft. Apart from a few cottages and a farm there was little evidence to see of the lost village of Oxwick before the Fakenham road was reached. Beacon Hill gave a rewarding and fast descent to Toftrees where the A1065 was crossed. A less familiar road then took the riders direct to Shereford and Sculthorpe Mill.

The venue was not ideal for cyclists who prefer a bar meal. The two riders decided not to order from menu and wine list, opting for pints of Barsham Brewery ale, the manufacturing source of which was later passed in a couple of miles. The route was followed to Sharrington via Gt Snoring, Hindringham and Bale. After Sharrington, feeling peckish, the riders rode off the planned route to the A148 and enjoyed some afternoon refreshment at “Back to the Garden”. It then made sense to continue the deviation on the A148 to Holt, through the town and back to Pretty Corner on familiar minor roads.

Graham Aldous (ride leader), Mark McVeigh. PC to PC was 56 miles.

Three Wheelers and holiday guest Ben met at PC on a hot and humid morning for the long and hilly ride out to Great Bircham Mill café.
Fortunately the forecast clouds soon rolled in and provided a break from the intense sun and the strong south westerly provided a cooling breeze at the same time as increasing the workload as we headed mainly west.
Our route out took us along the inner coast road through Wiveton, Langham, Binham, Wighton, Burnham Thorpe and to Burnham Market.
From Burnham we used the quiet though direct Docking Road to climb up to Docking, the highest point in North West Norfolk and then got to enjoy the long descent down to Fring, well three of us did, Graham A managed to get a rear puncture (Vittoria Rubino), near the top which delayed his progress.
After a good 35 miles we all arrived at the café and sat outside under a shady canopy. Our visit coincided with feeding time for all the local wasps and they were particularly keen on Grahams huge iced bun, armed with two fly swatters he bravely battled away and was finally able to eat more of the bun than the wasps did.
After this minor victory, it was time to head for home, now with the wind in our favour and it made a huge difference in the effort required compared to the morning leg.
This leg took us to Syderstone, South Creake (through the shallow ford), Houghton St Giles (through the not so shallow ford, one wet foot), Great Snoring, Gunthorpe, Hunworth, Edgefield and the regular way back to PC.

PC to PC was a hilly 66 miles with 3051ft/930m of climbing at an average speed of 14.5mph
Andrew B, Graham A, guest Ben and Mark leading.

Three Wheelers met at PC for the inaugural run to the Artisan Café at Alby. For a change we went through Felbrigg park, down to Cromer Zoo and through many residential roads to get onto the hill, first up then down to Northrepps. From there it was Trunch, Bradfield, across the A149 to Colby Corner and on to Erpingham, Thwaite Common and up a small track to Alby Craft’s car park.
We were able to get a shaded outside table in the courtyard and were quickly served some great tasting food and coffee from an impressive selection of meals and cakes.
Suitable rested and refreshed we headed south via Ingworth to Blickling park and rode half way around the park perimeter on a fairly new cycle and walkway track and in many places it was smoother than the local roads!
We joined the road again at Itteringham Common and at Itteringham, Duncan headed for Corpusty via Mannington, leaving two to continue via Wickmere and Matlaske Wood to Bodham Hill for the final split.

PC to PC was 48 miles including two National Trust parks, some light gravel and 2116ft/645m of climbs.
Andrew B, Duncan S and Mark leading.

As the heatwave eased, three Wheelers met at PC for the inaugural ride to the newly opened Binham Parlour café by the Priory. The morning started overcast with a few spots of rain in the air and though humid the temperature was comfortable, helped by a stiff south westerly breeze.

We set off towards Bessingham, but just out of Gresham, Andrew B picked up a huge thorn (rear Gatorskin), requiring a tube change. Somehow in the process of reinstalling the rear wheel, the electronic shifting’s brain was confused and the subsequent graunching of gears was painful to hear. After we thought that was resolved we continued via Hempstead’s ponds to Edgefield and Hunworth. Shortly after crossing the B1110, as we stopped in a field entrance to admire the view, Andrew declared that his rear wheel was out of true. Further investigation discovered two broken spokes and resulted in Andrew heading directly for home via Thornage and Holt.
The remaining duo continued to Gunthorpe and across the A148 and as the clouds had now disappeared and the temperature had shot up again, they took the brave decision to cut about 10 miles off the outbound leg and enjoy a tail wind on the downhill run from Hindringham to Binham.

Arriving at the café it was too hot to be outside, so we had a table inside the much cooler, well converted barn. The choice of light lunches was good, as was the selection of cakes and we both thought that what we ordered was excellent, filling and good value. The service was a bit slow, but only to be expected with somewhere so new.
We eventually ventured back out into the heat and set off again, this time on a hilly route via Wighton, Warham and Stiffkey to Langham, then Field Dalling to Saxlingham. Here we departed from the route again and instead of going via Wiveton to High Kelling we went to Letheringsett and up the main road to Holt.
On our way through Holt we stopped to see how the demolition of Duncan’s house was progressing (it’s a heap of rubble) and then continued to Kelling and the usual way back to PC.

PC to PC was a hot and sticky 44 miles instead of the planned 56 miles.
Graham A, Mark and Andrew B (short ride, no cake)

Two riders met at PC on a hot and sunny morning, fortunately cooled all day by a NE breeze. Graham A would meet us at Waxham after checking out the new bike shop, Woods Cycles at Mundesley, in the former Corner House Café. The verdict was that it is early days but looks promising.
We picked Jim up at Aldborough and set off for Barningham, Worstead, Honing, Ingham, Calthorpe Street to Sea Palling and Worstead. Even though we covered the 31 miles at an average speed of 16.1mph, Graham had got there first and had bagged us a table. The café was busy and there was also a wedding being prepared for in the barn. The bride arrived in a motorhome, which was different, it may also have doubled as the honeymoon suite.

Malcolm arrived from St Olaves with his perfectly clean titanium bike gleaming in the sun and joined us for lunch and a good chat, before heading back home, for a round trip of 45 miles at a 16.2 avg, it would seem that sun made us all faster today.

Our return route started with a southerly leg to Hickling before heading north to Lessingham and then a tour of the lanes via Crostwight with its unusual church tower, then Knapton, Trunch and Lower Southrepps, where Graham turned off for Cromer.
The remaining trio took the usual route west to Hanworth and the Thurgarton crossroads, where we split ways, leaving just one to retrace the route back to PC.

PC to PC was 64 miles at brisk 15.6mph average
Neil Mc, Mark, Jim, Graham A and Malcolm joining us for lunch.
No Harvey today, though he did provide an enjoyable route.

Only two Wheelers were available for the ride to the Rising Sun in Coltishall. An overcast sky and north wind kept the temperature in check until around lunchtime, when the clouds cleared and the sun was very hot out of the wind.
Our route south took us via Alby Hill, Suffield, Swanton Abbott, Worstead, Anchor Street, Ashmanhaugh and across the two railways into Coltishall.

As we arrived at the Rising Sun, we could see that it was very busy, with no free tables outside, so after checking there were no other Wheelers waiting for us, we went up the road to the No.77 café, which was quiet. We found a well shaded table outside and enjoyed our lunch and drinks.
On our return leg we decided to do some sightseeing and went down to Horstead Mill and the now disused navigation lock, the first of five, that allowed wherries to travel up-river to Aylsham, from 1779 until the great flood of 1912 which damaged all the locks beyond economic repair. https://www.bnctnorfolk.org.uk/navigation-history
Incidentally, it was the same flood that destroyed the bridge at Itteringham.
We continued our adventures by taking the partial unmade road which runs around the east side of Coltishall airfield, two very good sections of tarmac are joined by a short section of rough unmade farm track, but perfectly rideable on sturdy tyres. We then looped around the top of the airfield on the main road and then turned south back into the old base via Scottow church before heading for Buxton, Brampton, Banningham, Erpingham and on to Sustead where we parted ways.

PC to PC was 51 miles at a leisurely 13.4mph average.
Graham A and Mark M
Reminder that next week’s ride is to the new café at Binham.

Five riders, led by Graham, left Pretty Corner en route to Pensthorpe and pushing against an increasing westerly breeze. The group went southwards to Barningham Winter, turned to visit Baconsthorpe, Edgefield and Hunworth negotiating gravelly roads. Via Thornage and Sharrington the A148 was crossed to Bale. A rear puncture caused the leader to short pause the excursion. Fakenham was reached via Hindringham, Gt Snoring and Thorpelands. The two miles to Pensthorpe on the A148 were dealt with rather frantically.

Lunch was enjoyed on a busy patio area. A few birds such as ducks, sparrows, pidgeons and a solo black headed gull caused amusement by competing for scraps left on tables and paving. The route back to PC went via Kettlestone, Hindolveston and Melton Constable near where three riders peeled off. The remaining two soon got to PC via Edgefield after a ride of about 46 miles.

Riders: Mark M, Duncan S, Neil Mc, Ian W (a new rider for Wednesdays) and Graham A leading

Four Wheelers met at PC, to be greeted with a light rain shower, that would continue intermittently for the next hour. We set off on a south-easterly course via Hanworth, Suffield and North Walsham to pick up John S in Honing.
Alas, the pick up didn’t go as planned. The roads around Honing had just been resurfaced, so John decided to head out to meet us and to take us on a route to avoid the resurfacing. We arrived at the other end of the resurfaced road and decided to try a detour to avoid it, without much luck as it turned out, and in the process missed John.
So as we arrived into Honing, John phones from White Horse Common. It’s decided that we will continue on and catch up with John another day. However, the thought of missing out on 1940’s style Spam fritters was enough for John to organise a lift with his wife and to chase us down, catching up with us on the Brumstead Road. We were most surprised to see John and his bike emerging from a car. Chapeau John!
By now the clouds had been blown away by a steady Southerly wind and it was very warm as we continued to Sea Palling, Waxham to Horsey.
Poppylands was busy with people indoors and out, though we were able to get a shaded table outside. Poppylands is a 1940’s themed café and does it very well, with lots of period memorabilia and quirky menus. Sadly, today the Spam fritters were off the menu but corned beef hash served in a mess tin was popular, with three Wheelers choosing it. The tea cosy was in the shape of an aircraft, though one which had crashed into the drink a few times too many.
Suitably fed and watered and now with a tail wind, we retraced our route to Sea Palling, then along the beach road to Lessingham, Ridlington to Bacton Woods, where John headed for home. Then it was the regular route to Knapton (where they are still digging up the road), Trunch, South and Northrepps, where Graham A headed for Cromer, Metton, Gresham and PC.

PC to PC 59 flattish miles with an average speed of 14.5 miles
Andrew B, Graham A, Graham J, John S and Mark M leading