In Which We Journey Well Beyond Norwich

The kind of day it was in eastern England. Quite gorgeous.

Like me, my son-in-law is a bicycle commuter. He works at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich as a plant scientist, and use a bicycle year-round as his mode of transportation.

He is younger than me (not exactly a shock), in better physical shape and has a nicer bicycle than the one I rented for use this week during a visit with the family, but today I learned that the bicycle ride that we went on together to Beccles, a small town of a bit more than 9,000 people some 18 miles southeast of Norwich, was his longest in the UK so far.

Our route took us a bit more than 20 miles to get there. By the time we returned to the house in Norwich, we had ridden 46.74 miles at an average speech of a bit under 10 mph. My son-in-law often had to wait for me or return for me—I was using a heavier, slower bike, but also brought a heavier, slower rider.

It was a beautiful sunny day in England. A bit cooler than Saturday—while yesterday got into the low 80s and the locals were convinced that the world was melting (this is, apparently, considered hot in Norfolk), today the high was around 70. There was a refreshing breeze and bright sunshine, a few clouds in the sky but nonetheless about the bluest skies I’ve seen in England.

We began the ride just after 9 a.m. We rode through central town, where some large local bicycling event was starting. It was amazing, however, how quickly we left Norwich behind and were in pretty countryside, punctuated by a few villages, farms and churches. Some places looked almost like Iowa, with a rolling landscape fading into sunny distance.

We ride by start of big bike race as we pass through Chapelfield Gardens early in our bike ride.

Those farm fields weren’t exact matches—Iowa grows corn and soybeans, and that’s about it. It seems like English agriculture is more diverse. I did see a few corn fields, but also many crops that I could not identify. There were plenty of fields of what or barley, too.

At one point, a barley field by the road was waving fetchingly in the breeze, and Matt, a scientist whose main research area is barley genetics, stopped to shoot some video.

Matt makes barley movie history, shooting opening scene of "Grow the Right Thing."

Beccles, when we got there, turned out to be a pretty town. Matt had checked reviews online and selected the pub that we were to eat, but it was not yet open, so we walked for a while and paused to rest on a bench.

It was not a long wait. We went to the pub and sat inside—they have an outdoor seating area, which would have been nice on this pretty day, but I suggested we sit inside because it would be good to get a break from the sunshine.

Business street in Beccles. My great lunch, below. Unsure of pub, I think it was called "Graze." It used a zebra as its logo, but there is no pub of that name Google could find.

The lunch was very good. Matt said his surf and turf burger was filling and tasty. I ordered the pork Sunday roast, which came with veggies, potatoes roasted in goose fat and pork gravy. I added a Yorkshire pudding as an extra, and I don’t regret it in the least. The food was filling and delicious.

The ride home was a little more taxing—we were in a food coma, and maybe the pint with lunch was not as helpful as it could have been, but then again, we did need hydration.

The kind of narrow road we road most of the time (above). Fortunately, most drivers are polite. A British water tower (below) seen on the way. These are not as common to see as towers in America, I think they are sort of bigger and more scattered--and guarded more, too, apparently.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t all that late when we got to Norwich. By some magic of local knowledge, Matt plotted a route that did not take us through downtown, and suddenly we arrived.

It was a very nice bicycle ride. It was not as many miles as the 60 I rode Thursday, but I think almost as intense a ride—there was more climb today, plus the pace was faster than when I rode alone.

The ride today followed 15.6 mile solo journey I did on Saturday, the “hot” day. I plotted a route out west towards the edge of town, intending to ride there and return via the same route. However, I managed to not recognize all the turns on the way back, and got a bit lost.

I did have my cycle map with me and was able to figure out where I was—but the streets in England are a spaghetti mess and knowing where you are is not at all the same as being able to figure how to get to there from here. But I did my best, which, with my poor navigational skills, is honestly not all that well.

On my Saturday solo ride, a trail for pedestrians and bikers. This is well before I got lost.

Anyway, as I was trying to find one of the bike routes, I saw a sign pointing to Marriott’s Way, the bike trail I’ve used most often. The ride there took some time, and there were many signs and turns on the way, but I got there, rode for a while, and then returned home. When I left the house shortly before 4, I expected to return by 5, but got back around 6.

No harm done. Matt was barbecuing that night, and I texted about a mile out that I was on the way, so he could light the fire.

I missed riding Friday, which was the first sunny day in a while, but it turned out to be followed by more sunny days. All in all, with the long ride today and the 60-mile ride Thursday, I feel a bit better about RAGBRAI. I can survive two RAGBRAI-like days, and I logged well over 150 miles this week.

The rental bike gets returned tomorrow, but I do feel like I got good use out of it. It was a decent, serviceable bike, good for the riding that I used it for. I may do a quick morning ride tomorrow before returning the bike, but my biking adventures in the UK are coming to a close.

At the start of Sunday ride--the rental bike. The Bike Shop in downtown Norwich is a good place if you ever need to lease a bicycle here.

Despite navigational difficulties, it’s an activity I do recommend. Seeing the land around you from the seat of a cycle gives you a more intimate view than if you toured in a car or bus—and you can cover so much more ground than if you hike. It’s a nice way to tour a little patch of another country, as long as that country is biker friendly, which England mostly is.