Note: you can order the map of the Hull to Fakenham route through the link at the bottom of this page – click on the map cover. At the time of writing the latest version of the map is that printed in 1998. There are no published changes to the route since the map was printed. A guide, The Hull-Harwich Holiday Planner, may be available from Lincolnshire Tourism.
Near Guist the route uses a brief stretch of the B1110 without any problem, then turns off towards Bintree, passing Bintry Mill on the way. The card stamping point at Bintree Post Office was marvellous (the only one so far to display a Sustrans sticker), the owner even offering to refill my water bottles on this warm day. From Bintree the route crosses the A1067 and passes through Foulsham. The Sustrans map, published in 1998, has the route continuing to Themelthorpe where it joined the Marriott's Way cycle path, built on the course of the old Norwich (City) to Reepham railway line. However, the Sustrans website now shows the route as taking an on-road diversion to reach Reepham via Guestwick, avoiding the section of the Marriott's Way between Themelthorpe and Reepham which it shows as having a poor surface in wet weather. It now joins the old railway south of Reepham.
The following description of the Marriott's Way is of my original ride based on the route at that time. I revisited the Marriott's Way in 2006 – to read how it has changed click here.
I joined the cycle track at Themelthorpe and headed towards Reepham station. To the right – in the Norwich direction – it looked as though the rails had been taken up but the stony ballast left behind, and would have made for a very uncomfortable ride. Initially the path was in good condition, but it soon became narrow and overgrown, before improving again on the approach to Reepham's old station. After passing through Reepham I rejoined the railway path south of the village. The map warned that the condition of the path on to Norwich was generally poor; there was an alternative road route, but it was busy with fast-moving traffic.
I chose the railway path as the lesser of the two evils, but before long I found myself regretting it. The surface was rough in the extreme, and I felt as though my bike and myself were being shaken to bits.
I persevered as far as Lenwade but it was so bad I had to abandon the path for the road. Unfortunately, I joined it just as the local turkey processing factory was finishing work, and they had only one thing on their minds – getting home as fast as possible – so, deceived by a stretch of improved surface (a very short one, as it turned out!), I rejoined the railway path after a couple of miles. But the next bit was the worse yet, and there was no way off.
It came as an enormous relief to reach Drayton and the final (tarred) stretch of path into Norwich. This part was being well-used by commuters, and was well-maintained. The rest of it was one of the worst cycle paths I have ever encountered and should never, ever have been recommended as a route for cycling in that condition. Maybe it's in a better state now. I very much hope so!
It was good to see that Norwich has started to make excellent provision for cyclists – cycle contraflow lanes, advance stop lines, and all the works. However, I was surpised to find no cycle lanes on the busy Ipswich road, where I left the NCN route to head for my parents' home, some 16 miles south. Then, as I left the city behind me, my chain suddenly broke and I found I also had two broken spokes. The punishment my bike had taken that afternoon had finally taken its toll. I rang my parents and my father collected me in his car. The next day we took the wheel to a cycle shop in Diss, where they carried out an excellent repair, but I'd lost a day on my schedule and had to cancel the accommodation I'd booked ahead.
One day it's intended that the route will run from Norwich to Beccles via Great Yarmouth, but for now the only way to get to Yarmouth is on one of three busy main roads, so for the time being, the route heads directly for Beccles along minor roads through Loddon. And a delightful diversion it is too – indeed, I hope it'll be kept as an option once the full route has opened, because unless you have a particular urge to visit Yarmouth and Lowestoft…
The exit from Norwich through the Whitlingham Country Park is very nice, apart from the stretch by the sewage works. Then, after a short bit of rough bridleway, the route rejoins the road for the delightful run beside the River Yare at Woodsend, and on through the Broadland villages of Surlingham and Rockland (sadly there's little to be seen of the broads themselves) to Chedgrave and Loddon, but for some strange reason it avoids the centre of Loddon completely.
I really enjoyed this morning's ride – the route was excellent and the lanes were quiet – so I was very surprised to find that it's planned to alter parts of it between Loddon and Halesworth. Leaving Loddon, for example, it will run alongside the A146 and then head south to rejoin the existing route at Ellingham, which will involve building a new section of cycleway over farmland. Why?
From Ellingham the route follows the River Waveney through Geldeston (the famed pub The Locks is off the road to the right) and Gillingham to Beccles, where it once more avoids the centre of the town, which is a pity. It's also intended to change the route out of Beccles, turning part of the Angles Way footpath into a cycleway. Again, it's hard to see why this is needed. More alterations are planned on the approach to Halesworth to avoid the need to ride into the town on a mile of the moderately busy B1123, but it will mean riding beside the much busier A144, presumably on a new cyclepath.
The centre of Halesworth, a pretty, bustling Suffolk market town, is pedestrianised and you'll have to walk your bike through the Thoroughfare, but it's worth it. If you've the time, the seaside town of Southwold
is only 10 miles away and is well worth the diversion, though you'll have to use B-roads and A-roads to get there. Maybe Sustrans ought to buy the trackbed of the long-closed Southwold Railway to provide a better access to it!
From Halesworth the route heads to Peasenhall, where yet another dubious diversion is planned, which appears to include almost a mile of newly-built cyclepath beside the River Yox. Soon after Peasenhall
the route divides into the main inland route and a coastal alternative. I later returned to try the coastal route (and it was superb – see the next page), but on my first trip I decided to stay inland, and continued through Framlingham, with its imposing medieval castle. I arrived too late in the afternoon for sight-seeing, which was a pity. Allow yourself some time.
Not long after leaving Framlingham I began to have doubts about the route I'd picked. The countryside was pleasant enough, but the route began to twist and turn through the lanes. Although it was headed for Woodbridge, at every junction it seemed to ignore the signs and turn in the other direction, and if there was a choice of uphill or downhill (and remember that Woodbridge is on the coast), it went up.
And the further I rode, the greater the distance to Woodbridge seemed to be: 7 miles, then 8 miles, and finally 8½!
I'd had a long day, I was tired, and I just wanted to get to my night's B&B. It was intensely annoying. I began to rail against Sustrans' insistence on avoiding B-roads in any shape or form; for the sake of a couple of miles on the relatively quiet and perfectly pleasant B1438 I'd been sent on a slow and tortuous 7-mile detour around the lanes! I was on a cycle route which will one day stretch all the way from Dover to John O'Groats (and will link up with continental routes to form a circuit round the North Sea) but those who follow its hundreds of miles are judged incapable of cycling on roads on which there might be traffic!
And, as it turned out, the lanes are probably more dangerous than the B-road. Not only are they covered in loose sand and gravel, on which a bike could easily skid and crash, but they're so narrow that cars have nowhere to go when they suddenly come across you at speed and have great difficulty trying to squeeze past. In the end, I diverted past Woodbridge to reach my B&B a bit quicker, and returned to the town the next morning. The whole town is very attractive, but its most unusual feature is the tide mill, powered by trapping sea water in a lagoon at high tide and letting it out to drive the mill as the tide falls.
If you have the time, take a short diversion out via Melton to Sutton Hoo, the site of the spectacular 7th century Anglo-Saxon ship burials, one of which, believed to be the grave of King Rædwald, is the richest burial ever found in the country. The National Trust has recently taken over the site and has built a magnificent visitor centre there.
After my experiences of the previous day, I decided to follow an alternative route for the final day. The main route will one day run through Ipswich, but for now it bypasses the town centre by a very circuitous course, and I'd had enough of that. Instead, I headed out to Felixstowe on part of the Suffolk Coastal Cycle Route (Regional Route 41). It passes through the yachting centre of Waldringfield and other tiny villages before looping round to enter Felixstowe from the north. This may seem a bit unnecessary, but it shows the town at its best. Felixstowe is an unusual place,
comprising a rather genteel resort at its north end, a brasher centre, and the industrial and thriving port area in the south. The cycle route passes through all three in turn.
From the Landguard Fort I caught the ferry across to Harwich. This ferry had not operated for a number of years but was reinstated in the late 1990s, partly because of the launch of the cycle routes. Check the timetable or ring 07970 115382 before setting out. The current fare is £3.50 plus £1.50 for a bike.
From Harwich, ostensibly the end of the route, I went on to complete much of the last part of the main route. I headed in towards Colchester but then turned off on the link to Dedham, in the heart of Constable country. I arrived in the middle of one of the hottest weekends of the year and it was packed with visitors. Unlike most of them, I had no trouble parking!
From Dedham I headed back into Colchester; I was glad of guidance from a local cyclist as the route twisted and turned through the outskirts, but the town's cycle lane network was excellent. Then it was out via the Wivenhoe Trail, a well-surfaced but somewhat narrow and overgrown cycle path along the top of the river wall. Wivenhoe is dominated by the nearby University of Essex,
but the area around the river quay still retains its charm and character.
Next day, my ride on the Hull to Harwich route complete, I was to begin my journey home to London by catching the tiny ferry across to Fingringhoe. This service was re-established in 1992, forty years after it ceased to run. It is now operated by volunteers at weekends and on bank holidays only, and is restricted to 2 hours either side of high tide. A larger boat was introduced in 2002, better able to carry bikes.
But my journey on to London is another story…
This was an ideal ride for a cycling holiday and I can think of few better choices for anyone wanting to experience one for the first time. However, it was certainly not without its problems. The big one, of course, was the appalling state of much of the Marriott's Way. It is somewhat better now but it is really for mountain bike use and for commuting on the better stretch at the Norwich end, but not for loaded touring bikes. I suspect that the route across Norfolk was specially devised to take advantage of this railway path, instead of taking a more direct line from Kings Lynn to Norwich through, say, Swaffham or East Dereham. If so, it was a mistake.
It's hard to understand why Sustrans intends to change parts of the route between Loddon and Halesworth. Surely the money could be better used for more important projects – even signs are expensive but some of these changes also require new sections of cycle path to be built. Maybe creating a link to Southwold or completing the route via Yarmouth would be better?
Another problem is the roundabout course followed by parts of the route with the aim of avoiding busy sections of road. This comes down to who the route is intended for. Ok, day trippers might be happy with the situation, but if it's for experienced long distance cycle tourists, is it really necessary to mollycuddle them in this way. And would local commuters, shoppers, and schoolchildren, really be prepared to ride 17 miles to cover a 10 mile distance?
A similar problem is the tendency of the routes to miss town centres. Cycle tourists need to use town centre facilities, so why not take us there on the route?
Signing was generally good, especially in Suffolk, where signs on the coastal route not only indicated the way, but also showed the way to nearby attractions. In Essex there were cycle route signs at regular intervals on the main route (but no signing at all on the link route to Dedham) and short lengths of cycle lane were marked on the road at regular intervals, a cheaper alternative than continuous lanes, and possibly more effective in reminding car drivers.
You can either follow through the pages in sequence or go back to pick another route from the list of the NCN routes I've used.
Updated: 17 September 2006