I may be biased, given that most of my ancestors hailed from East Anglia, but it's a marvellous place to go cycling, especially for a first time cycle tourist. It's not too hilly but there again, contrary to Noel Coward's assertion, it's not totally flat either. And it's packed full of wonderful scenery, big open skies, quiet lanes, picturesque villages and historic towns. Magnificent churches, ancient castles and stately homes abound.
Having cycled through much of East Sussex and Kent, my Heritage Ride South East had brought me to the River Thames at Gravesend. By taking the little passenger ferry it was only a short hop across to Tilbury and the start of a ride through historic East Anglia, covering Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.
If you're combining this ride with my Heritage Tour South-East, membership of both English Heritage (EH) and the National Trust (NT) will come in useful for this ride too. Both give free entry to their properties to members. Most English Heritage sites are open seven days a week during the summer, but many National Trust properties are only open on certain days. It is worth checking beforehand if you want to be certain of visiting a particular property.
The ride is divided into five stages:
Stage 1 Tilbury to Sudbury via Marks Tey*
Stage 2 Sudbury to Attleborough
Stage 3 Attleborough to King's Lynn
Stage 4 King's Lynn to Diss
and Stage 5 Diss to Ipswich
*To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily have thought of starting a ride at Tilbury had I not ended my previous ride on the other side of the Thames, but it took me through some interesting places that I'd otherwise have never seen. If Tilbury and southern Essex doesn't appeal to you then you could always begin your ride further along the route, such as at Marks Tey.
Stage 1 Tilbury to Sudbury
Tilbury can be reached by train from London's Fenchurch Street station or (Sundays excepted) by travelling to Gravesend from Charing Cross, Waterloo, Cannon Street or London Bridge stations and catching the ferry from the pier near West Street across the river. From Tilbury the route crosses the A13 and then follows country lanes past Basildon to Billericay and on to Maldon. From there the route skirts Tiptree, Kelvedon, and Marks Tey before heading up to Bures and Sudbury.
Close to the ferry pier at Tilbury is Tilbury Fort (EH). The first fort on the site was built by Henry VIII to guard the approaches to London but the present fort was begun in the time of Charles II. Nearby, Elizabeth I made her famous rousing speech to her army ("I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too") as the Spanish Armada threatened.
The ride crosses the marshes from Tilbury and then climbs sharply up onto higher ground away from the river. I took a tiny, almost private lane which petered out into a very rough track but there is an alternative, if more urban route through Chadwell St Mary. The A13 has to be crossed before more open countryside can be reached. The route passes through the villages of Orsett and Horndon on the Hill, with its 16th century Woolmarket, before neatly bypassing the sprawl of Basildon.
Billericay is less easily avoided, though it's High Street has a good collection of historic buildings. From there a few miles on the B1007 leads to Stock, where country lanes are resumed. The windmill has been restored to its early 20th century condition and is once again in working order. It is open to the public on the second Sunday afternnon of each month Apr-Sep.
From Stock the route heads east through the villages of West and East Hanningfield and Bicknacre, before turning north to Runsell Green, where it picks up the Old London Road into Maldon. Despite its name, this road has long been bypassed and makes for a very pleasant rural ride. Maldon is an ancient market town situated on a hill at the head of the Blackwater estuary, and is well worth exploring. Nearby is the site of the Battle of Maldon, fought between the Saxons and a band of invading Vikings in 991AD, and the subject of one of the best-known surviving poems in Old English. The town is also famous for its sea salt.
From Maldon I descended the steep hill to Heybridge, where the Blackwater and Chelmer Rivers meet, and then take off once more on the lanes to Great Totham, of which, confusingly, there are two, a mile or so apart. The most direct route on to Tiptree is along the B1022, but this can be very busy, so I picked a slightly longer but quieter route through the parallel lanes through Great Braxted. This bypasses Tiptree, although if you've a sweet tooth you might want to go into the village to call into the famous Wilkin & Sons jam and marmalade factory, and sample its products in the tearoom.
From Tiptree I made my way north through Inworth and Feering to Little Tey. If you wanted to miss the first part of the ride you could join the route hereabouts; there are handy stations within a mile of the route at both Kelvedon and Marks Tey on the London to Ipswich line.
From Little Tey I made my way northwards through Great Tey, Chappel, and Wakes Colne. At Chappel the route dips briefly into the valley of the River Colne, while the adjacent railway line crossed high overhead on a magnificent viaduct. Just north of the viaduct is Chappel & Wakes Colne Station, headquarters of the East Anglian Railway Museum as well as being a stop on One Railway's Marks Tey to Sudbury branch line.
The Museum has a wide collection of vintage steam and diesel locomotives and rolling stock, some of which are fully restored and others are undergoing repair and restoration.
Continuing on from Wakes Colne the route joins the B1508 and follows the lovely Stour Valley through Bures to Sudbury, a busy market town just inside Suffolk, birthplace of the painter Thomas Gainsborough.
Stage 2 Sudbury to Attleborough
From Sudbury the route makes its way to the historic town of Lavenham and then winds its way through country lanes and tiny Suffolk villages to Stowmarket. From there it follows the B1113 northwards to Botesdale and into Norfolk.
The route leaves Sudbury with a two-mile slog of a climb out of the Stour valley it's not a particularly big climb but after miles of fairly level riding it seems like a long drag. Fortunately it eventually levels out on the way to Lavenham. Be sure to spend a while enjoying this spectacularly historic town, with its wealth of timber-framed buildings and a magnificent church, evidence of the prosperity which the wool trade brought to these parts in medieval times.
From Lavenham I made my way on a glorious sunny afternoon across country through Brettenham to Stowmarket, where it's worth a visit to the Museum of East Anglian Life is well worth a visit.
From Stowmarket I turned off onto the relatively traffic-free B1113 for a ride through the ever-widening East Anglian landscape. After a short climb out of the town the ride levels out for the next eleven miles offering some easy riding. At the end of that stretch I came to the twin villages of Rickinghall and Botesdale. Botesdale, which some villagers still refer to by its old name of Buddesdale, was a coaching stop and market centre on the main Bury St Edmunds to Great Yarmouth road, but a bypass has now removed the traffic. An unusual feature is its semi-detached St Botolph's church, built in the 15th century as a chantry chapel and later turned into a school, the adjoining house being for the schoolmaster.
From Botesdale I continued north along the B1113 into Norfolk on the only 'dry' crossing of the county boundary between the coast and Thetford. East of the road rises the River Waveney, heading for the North Sea, and to the west rises the Little Ouse, flowing to the Wash, both of which define the county boundary. A short ride through South Lopham, where the church of St Andrew boasts the largest Norman tower in East Anglia, and North Lopham brought me to Kenninghall, a typical Norfolk working village.
Kenninghall marked the point where my ride started a great loop across the Norfolk countryside. As I would pass through the villages of Banham and New Buckenham when I'd completed the loop, I bypassed them for now and made straight for Old Buckenham. Well-known for its massive green at 40 acres it's said to be the largest in the country it also has the largest diameter tower windmill in England, with no fewer than five sets of grinding stones inside the fully-restored building.
From Old Buckenham it was only a few winding miles into Attleborough, a busy and attractive market town, thankfully now bypassed by the main A11 London to Norwich road. On the way into the town the route I passed the station, still in use, but looking as it has done for decades, a real country station with a traditional signal box, semaphore signals, and hand-worked crossing gates.
Stage 3 Attleborough to King's Lynn
From Attleborough I continued north west through a string of pretty villages to Castle Acre, built as a fortified town by the Normans with the ruins of a 12th century castle and its massive earthworks as well as a magnificent medieval priory. From there I made my way west through the lanes to Castle Rising and another superb Norman castle. Sandringham is only a short diversion away. From Castle Rising I followed National Cycle Route 1 into King's Lynn.
From Attleborough I headed north-west along the B1077 through Great Ellingham and Rockland St Peter, then turning off through the lanes through Stow Bedon to Thompson with its thatched pub, The Chequers. Thompson borders the Stanford Army Battle Training Area, so it's off the beaten track and the lanes are quiet. The Great Eastern Pingo Trail starts just outside the village. Pingos water-filled pools were formed during the ice age. Dome-shaped hills were formed by the bulging of the ground surface when underground water froze. When the ice melted the hills collapsed, leaving the characteristic depressions.
From Thompson it's but a short ride into the market town of Watton. From there I continued on up through the pretty villages of Ashill, Necton, and the Dunhams before turning west and heading for Castle Acre. At Little Dunham is what appears at first sight to be a stretch of canal in fact it's a length of old railway line that's been dammed and flooded!
Castle Acre is a village packed with history, so be prepared to spend at least half a day looking round. Although it's only a tiny village today, it marks the point where the Peddars Way now mostly just a footpath but originally a major trading route to the Wash crossed the River Nar, which used to be navigable this far inland. The motte-and-bailey castle (EH) was probably begun in about 1070, only four years after the Norman invasion, but was substantially rebuilt in the 12th century. The surrounding earthworks are some of the best surviving in the country.
To the west are the extensive remains of the medieval Cluniac priory (EH) founded in 1070. Between the castle and the priory is the village itself, laid out when the castle was strengthened in the 12th century. Its original street plan survives as do remnants of its wall and ditch fortifications, together with the Bailey Gate that was its northern entrance.
From Castle Acre I headed west, passing through West Acre (the name Acre comes from the Old English word for field ζcer), where (on private land) there are the remains of another Priory, this time an Augustinian one, including a gate arch and medieval barn. Another 15 miles of gentle riding brought me to Castle Rising and the second of North West Norfolk's major castles. Castle Rising (EH) was built in about 1140 by William d'Albini, who also built the castle at New Buckenham (see later in the ride). In the 14th century Queen Isabella, the widow (and alleged murderer) of King Edward II, was exiled there. The very well-preserved keep stands atop some massive earthworks, dominating the surrounding flat countryside.
Sandringham House is only a short ride north of Castle Rising, but my ride took me in the opposite direction. I crossed Ling Common and then picked up the cycle route into King's Lynn, following the course of the old railway to Hunstanton.
Stage 4 King's Lynn to Diss
From King's Lynn I headed south along the edge of the Fens to Downham Market, before turning east again to reach my next port of call, Oxburgh Hall, a 15th-century moated manor house. Then it was on towards Thetford, through the Thetford Forest, calling in at Weeting, Grimes Graves, and Thetford Warren Lodge on the way. After Thetford I made my way across to New Buckenham before turning south again to reach Diss.
King's Lynn is a historic port dating back to the 12th century, situated close to where the Great Ouse emerges into the Wash. In medieval times, the Hanseatic merchants made Lynn its English base and one of the warehouses which it built can still be seen today.The port is still a busy one today. Other historic buildings in the town include the Custom House, Trinity Guildhall, and the Greyfriars Tower.
I left King's Lynn along the riverside cycle path, making use of another bit of NCN route 1 which avoids the crossing of the busy A17 road, before joing a road running parallel to the Great Ouse and its relief channel. Eventually this road turns slightly inland to pass through
Fen edge villages like Watlington before arriving at Downham Market. I have stayed several times at and can thoroughly recommend The Crown Hotel, an unspoiled old inn, on several occasions and enjoyed their typically reserved but nevertheless warm Norfolk welcome.
Just outside Downham Market is the tiny village of Bexwell. The church of St Mary has a Norman round tower. Just across the road is a barn which may have been built as a 15th century gatehouse to Bexwell Hall. The building is strictly private, but you can get a close view of its remarkable features from the adjacent road verge.
This was how cycling should be. From Bewell I rode effortlessly in brilliant sunshine through tiny, deserted lanes past the ruins of West Dereham Abbey to Stoke Ferry and on to Oxburgh Hall which, just to be contrary, is in the village of Oxborough. Oxburgh Hall (NT) is a splendid moated 15th century manor house. The 1994 BBC adaption of John Hadfield's comic novel Love on a Branch Line was filmed here.
From Oxborough I headed into the Brecks, a dry, sandy area of heathland and forest. Passing through Weeting I diverted through a housing estate to find Weeting Castle (EH), less a castle than the remains of another moated manor house, but this time a Norman one. Built in the 12th century, it had a three storey high tower. It is thought to have been abandoned in about 1390, so the survival of even these few ruins is quite remarkable.
From Weeting I joined the A1065 for a thankfully brief spell in order to reach Grimes Graves (EH). This pockmarked area of heathland, looking like a grassy lunar landscape is the result of Stone Age flint mining. The depressions mark the site of the pits from which the flint was extracted. Several of the pits have been excavated and one is open to the public.
From Grimes Graves I continued to the Forestry Commission village of Santon Downham. If the bridge over the Little Ouse seems familiar it is probably because it featured in an episode of the BBC series Dad's Army (see Thetford). On the way into Thetford I called at Thetford Warren Lodge (EH), built in about 1400 to house and protect gamekeepers and hunting parties.
Despite the unprepossessing nature of some of its outskirts, the result of a 1960s London overspill scheme, the centre of Thetford is worth exploring. Take a look at the excellent, newly-renovated Ancient House Museum and while you're there, pick up the Explore Thetford leaflet and Town Trail guides to help you find your way round. Once the capital of East Anglia, Thetford was the birth place of Thomas Paine, 18th century political thinker, republican, and author of The Rights of Man. The TV series Dad's Army was filmed hereabouts, for which the town stood in for the ficticious Walmington-on-Sea.
Before 1066 Thetford was one of the five largest towns in England outside London, and later became a major ecclesiastical centre. The route into the town passes the remains of two buildings of that period. The first is the Church of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, hidden away by a housing estate. Then, nearby, are the ruins of Thetford Priory, also known as The Priory of Our Lady. Founded in 1103, they are situated beside the river on the western outskirts of the town centre. Despite his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy having not long been buried there, Henry VIII ordered the Priory's closure in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Most of the materials were disposed of for building and can be seen all over the town. By 1845 so little of it was left that the Eastern Counties Railway proposed that the town's new railway station should be built on the site!
I left Thetford along the Norwich road before turning off along the valley of the River Thet on the road past Kilverstone Hall to Brettenham, Bridgham and East Harling. From there I made my way to Kenninghall once more, where I completed my loop of Norfolk. This time I veered north-east through Banham to New Buckenham. The town was founded in 1145 when William d'Albini, who also built the castle at Castle Rising, erected a castle and laid out the town next to it. The street layout he created survives to this day. The castle keep may have been one of the first in the country to adopt a circular design, but only its basement survives. The key to get into the castle grounds is kept at the local garage. By the junction of the road and the path to the castle is the former Chapel of St Mary, later used as a barn, but now converted into a home. In the centre of the town, now really a village, is the delightful Market House or Cross.
I crossed New Buckenham Common and then turned off to the south to cut through to Long Row, the Attleborough to Harleston road. I could have continued straight on to to Harleston, but there was no way I could leave Diss out of my trip, so I took a diversion to the south. Diss was Sir John Betjeman's favourite Norfolk town and he made a film about it called 'Something about Diss' in 1964. It's a compact but busy town, neither too big for people to feel neglected nor too small to become a hot-bed of gossip, as Betjemen wrote in the 1970s, though it's grown a bit since then, though the heart of the town has managed to stay largely unspoiled without becoming fossilised. The main street, Mere Street, runs downhill from the church and market place to the Mere at the bottom.
Stage 5 Diss to Ipswich
The eastern exit from Diss is along a busy main road, so I left the town the way I'd entered it and then branched off through Burston, scene of the famous School Strike which lasted from 1914 to 1939, Gissing and Tivetshall. From there I followed the road to Harleston through the Pulhams and Starston. Harleston has survived the loss of its two major employers in recent years and is still a busy town, with a good selection of local shops as opposed to branches of national chains.
A short distance outside the town I crossed the River Waveney and headed back into Suffolk. Rather than follow the direct B-road to Framlingham I opted for a ride through the lanes and headed off through Wingfield to Stradbroke, both delightful villages. In the first is the Wingfield Arts Centre, an art and music centre with three main galleries, all situated in wonderful timbered buildings, while Stradbroke, unlike many similar villages, is thriving and with its local post office, shops and no fewer than three pubs.
From Stradbroke I continued on through tiny Wilby and Tannington. Tannington Hall, a moated 16th century Elizabethan manor house, was once the home of the Dade family who subsequently sailed to America where they founded Dade County in Florida. My next stop was at Saxtead, where the Post Mill is in the care of English Heritage. Unlike a tower mill (such as that at Old Buckenham), which has a movable cap on top of a brick tower, a post mill has a short brick base and a wooden body which can be turned into the wind. Unfortunately the attendant was about to go off for lunch when I arrived, so I didn't get to see inside.
A couple of miles further on I arrived at Framlingham, another delightful market town dominated by its massive 12th century Castle (EH) overlooking a 33-acre mere. The castle, one of the earliest in England to be built with a curtain wall, was built by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. You can walk right round the battlements, though anyone who suffers from vertigo may wish to give this experience a miss!
From Framlingham I headed south through Easton, with its Farm Park and along the valley of the River Deben to Wickham Market, a neat little town now thankfully bypassed by the busy A12 road to Yarmouth. I picked a slightly convoluted route out of Wickham Market, not just to avoid the busy A12 intersection but also to explore the winding lane that passes the watermill near Ashe Abbey. From there it was a straightforward run through Tunstall and its adjacent forest to Orford.
Orford is famous for its Ness (NT), a long shingle spit that blocks the direct route to the sea of the River Ore. Until quite recently the Ness was a top-secret Cold War military testing site, where components of Britain's nuclear weapons were tested to ensure that they would function properly. Today it is a National Nature Reserve. Access is by boat from Orford Quay.
Towering over the town is Orford Castle (EH), with its unique polygonal keep. Built by Henry II in the 1160s, it was intended keep the troublesome East Anglian barons like the Bigods of Framlingham under control. The outer wall has long disappeared by the keep survives virtually intact, internally as well as externally, giving a real idea of what it was like to live in one of these buildings. The view from the roof makes the climb well worthwhile.
The road to Orford is a dead end, so I retraced my steps for a couple of miles before turning off to the west through the tiny villages of Chillesford and Butley and into the Rendlesham Forest. Hidden by the trees is Woodbridge airfield, formerly RAF Woodbridge, hewn out of the forest in 1943. Largely unoccupied since it was vacated by the US Air Force in the early 1990's, it has now been redeveloped for use by 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault), part of the army's new rapid deployment force.
A couple of miles further on I came to Sutton Hoo (NT), the world-famous burial ground of the Anglo-Saxon kings of East Anglia. In 1939 one of the burial mounds was excavated, revealing a ship burial containing the most fabulous treasure imaginable, most of which is now in the British Museum. The exhibition hall houses a full-size reconstruction of the buried chamber and tells the story of how its treasures lay undisturbed for over 1,300 years.
From Sutton Hoo I made my way through Melton into nearby Woodbridge. Perhaps the best known feature of the town is its Tide Mill, the last one to work in the country. The mill works by storing sea water in a pool at high water. At low tide the stored water is released to drive the water wheel. There has been a mill on the site since at least 1170 but the present building was constructed in 1793. It was saved from near collapse in 1968, fully restored by 1982 and completely refurbished again in 2004.
For the final leg of my journey I picked the quietest route I could find into Ipswich, avoiding any contact with the notoriously busy A12. I left Woodbridge following National Cycle Route 1, skirting Martlesham village and then turning off towards Playford and Kesgrave, a small village which just about maintains a gap from the Ipswich suburbs which were to surround the final few miles of my trip.
I chose to end my ride at Ipswich, from where there are trains to London, Norwich, Cambridge, and Peterborough, as well as Felixstowe and Lowestoft. If you wanted, you could follow National Cycle Route 1 on its rather convoluted route to Colchester and thence to Marks Tey, completing a full loop of East Anglia.
Alternatively, you could turn off at Martlesham and follow the Suffolk Coastal Cycle Route through to Felixstowe, from where there is a ferry across to Harwich.
Updated: 17 September 2006
If, before your ride, you'd like to understand more about East Anglia, its towns, villages and countryside, and how they came to be as they are now, English Heritage and Harper Collins have recently published a superb new book entitled England's Landscape: East Anglia by Tom Williamson. You can order a copy by clicking on the link below. You can also order the Ordnance Survey 4 miles to the inch Travel Map which covers the whole of this ride.
You can also display a larger version of the Microsoft Autoroute map by clicking on the map opposite.
