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.

In Which I Ride a RAGBRAI Distance

The ride today. Rode 20 miles north and back again, and then back and forth in town for the final 20 miles.

 The 60-mile bike ride passed rather slowly today. Marriott’s Way, the trail I was riding on, was sometimes narrow and muddy, so as trail miles go, much of the ride was below 10 mph.

I rode 60.81 miles in 6 hours, 50 minutes for an average speed of 8.9 mph. All of my miles on paved trail averaged over 10 mph, all on dirt trail under 10 mph.

Still, my goal was to achieve a RAGBRAI-like distance of 60 miles, so today was a win, if a slow win. There was also 1,232 feet of climb. More than I would have thought, the ride was mostly flat. The day was cool and cloudy, with the sun just showing at the end, but English countryside is pretty and smells fine at this time of year, so I enjoyed the journey even if I was a bit mud splattered.

Anyway, I’m rather beat right now, so for the rest of this post, here is a gallery of images of today’s long ride:

10-mile or so break. RR art and rental bike.

I assume old RR marker nearby.

A few rails left at sort of a museum at old station.

Pretty ride, slowed by muddy trail.

Several minor issues after station. Signs confuse me and I turn down country road, off trail, by mistake. And hard shift on unexpected uphill causes chain to jump off gears. I get it back on--hand after grass wipe.

Country road. Two-way traffic. No place for bicycles!

Did not go far before turning back. Sign on road.

Have turned around and am on way back. Passing horse riders. They said it was OK to take their picture.

Point where I turned back. Trail comes to T with road, not sure where route goes from here and I'm 20 miles from Norwich--head back to town.

I have not seen a warning sign like this in Iowa.

Pictures not in sequence any more. This is early in ride, another muddy trail view.

At one spot, rail shows in trail. I assume it is deliberate.

Back in town, final rest before last 10-mle push. I make images of bugs in wild roses.

On an overpass-planted with flowers, over a busy 4-lane highway. Plane shows we are getting close to town again.

Final miles, back and forth on paved trail in Norwich. Sun finally starts to peak out late in the afternoon.

Trail is sometimes pretty narrow out in the country.

In Which The Trail Miles Fly By

Not sure if you can see it all that well, but this field is not a usual one here in the UK--corn. Field or sweet, I do not know.

Today, the bicycle adventure was quick. We had a full day otherwise, as I describe on one of my other blogs.

It was around 3 in the afternoon before I headed out on the rented bike today. Given time of day, I decided a street ride was not a good idea, so I headed up to the Mariott’s Way bike trail and basically rode back and forth on the paved portion—although on one of my rounds, I gave up and went ahead and rode the dirt miles to Drayton, just because I was getting too bored with the same few miles in Norwich.

And, while parts of the trail were muddy, the dirt trail overall was rideable, which is good because Thursday may bring the long ride of the week.

The dirt trail to Drayton was sometimes muddy, but not too bad.

More rail art along trail, this one at the turnoff to Drayton, as far as I rode today.

 It was cloudy and cool, but not raining, today. I decided to push the speed a bit, since I was not going to ride for as long as I did previously. As it turned out, I did more distance in just over two hours as I had all afternoon the previous day—my speed averaged over 10 mph on this ride.

Trail miles go much more quickly than street miles.

About the fourth circuit or so, I saw a biker entering the trail through a gate. I’ve noticed that gate before, and wondered what was on the other side. So, near the end of my ride, on my last trail circuit when I was deliberately trying to slow down, I decided to try to the gate. It turns out a large city park, Sloughbottom Park, is on the other side. It is a big open grassy area with a BMX bike site, as well as a playground and a small network of trails. The circuit of the park was not lengthy, but it was diverting to be riding somewhere else for a little while today.

I rode 22.48 miles in 2:10 at an average speed of 10.4 mph. Not bad for an old biker! We’ll see what tomorrow’s long ride brings.

South end of ride, where the "quiet" trail is about to become too urban. I reset for a few minutes before final circuit of my route, the rental bike parked as I sit on a bench.

No horses today near this bridge. Just some product placement. No, I didn't drink this, someone left the can.

Pretty fancy for a rundown public toilet building in a city park.

The BMX track in the park. Although there were no other bikers there, I did not try it on the rental bike.

In Which U Police Chat Pleasantly

Most of the cemetery ride was on smooth pavement, but part of the route was like this (above)--which slowed me down. The newer part of the cemetery (below)--the British do attend to their graves.

At 7.7 mph average speed, today’s bike ride was glacially slow.

However, at least I went farther today. It took me almost three hours (2:53) to ride 22.22 miles. Several points in my defense: 1) It rained overnight and this morning, so I did not ride for any great distance on the nearby bike trail, which is mostly dirt (more likely today, mostly mud). 2) I was thus doing in-town riding—including through a cemetery and on a university campus—in an unfamiliar city. The pace was partly dictated by traffic, pedestrians, ghosts and the need to gawk at new scenery.

I climbed 507 feet in those 22.22 miles. And in miles 16 through 20, I was averaging more than 10 mph for each mile. So there.

I call today a success. Despite the confusing tangle of streets in Norwich, I found my way through the Earlham Cemetery and along a bike route to Eastern Anglia University, and rode in the environs there. When I headed back towards home base, I was only in the teens for miles, so I headed over to Marriott’s Way, and rode back and forth on a few paved miles, which is where my “fast” miles were.

Well, back to the start. The ride began shortly after noon—we had a full morning (and a rainy morning), so both weather and life events made the post-lunch start most practical. After the rain, the day turned fair and breezy—the high was in the low 70s. It was a gorgeous day, even if it did not lend itself to a long trail ride.

I consulted the map (and my daughter) and decided I would have two venues today—Earlham Road Cemetery, with winding paths through old and new graves, and East Anglia University.

The cemetery was a leafy, pleasant ride. A number of locals walk, jog and bike there—and although traffic was light, I did have to take it a bit slow. I didn’t want to be tearing through the place. It’s an active burial ground and the British do attend to their graves. They also clearly use the cemetery as a nature preserve and walkway, so I was not out of place but I wanted to be respectful.

And I kept getting lost. No matter, I was just riding loops around the roads there, waiting to find a familiar street at an exit.

I think today’s map, at the end of this post, looks a bit like a badly drawn stick figure of a headless girl wearing a bulky backpack and miniskirt. The “backpack” in in the middle is where the ride mostly began—loops around the graves.

I eventually found an exit onto a street that I knew, and then attempted to use the Norwich bike map to find the route to East Anglia University. It worked—I didn’t get lost on the way there, just after I got there.

Some signs at the university. Meh. I found them a bit helpful--a bit.

EAU--Not looking all that busy right now, but there are some bicycles in the racks--and a lot of bike racks.

There is even a bike shop on campus.

The university is an interesting place—very plain, utilitarian buildings in a utopic setting of open green lands and trail next to a river and lake. As I noted on Facebook, it looks like a prison in a park.

I rode around and around. It was disorienting, because the buildings all looked alike, not that any would have been familiar anyway. At one point, I pulled over to a wide area of paving beside a street, and took out my map in an attempt to get my bearings. As I sat there, a police cruiser pulled up directly beside me, and I could see the driver (in the right seat in Britain, the car was immediately to the left of me) vigorously writing on a tablet.

Dang. What was I about to get a ticket for? Eventually, the driver lowered his window, and I tensed, waiting for what came next.

“Can I help you?” he politely asked. I asked if I was in the way or parked in the wrong spot.

“Oh, no,” he said. “This (gesturing at the wide pavement) is just where we park.”

We chatted about the difference between American and British streets, and I assured him I was both deeply lost and not in distress—as an American biker in Britain, “lost” is my normal state. I was guessing where I was on the map, which I showed him, and it turns out I was exactly right, so I wasn’t really lost at all, I was just unsure.

After our pleasant chat, I was off. And I quickly did get for real lost again. I was looking for the Student Union, where I knew I could use a restroom and get water, but was having a heck of a time finding it.

Until I did. Suddenly, there it was. Then, I wondered how difficult the borrowed lock on the rental bike would be for me to use, and it turned out to be very easy. I locked the bike, went into the union, had my brief break, came out and sat on a bench for a few minutes of off-the-bike time. Hint: If you are riding any distance, say over 10 miles, make yourself take such breaks now and then, they are important to maintain your energy and circulation in your legs.

Anyway, after that break, I was off towards home base. Except as I drew near, I knew I had only ridden 15 miles or so in two hours—and I wanted to increase my ride miles, not decrease them.

That’s when I went over to the familiar trail and zipped back and forth on the paved section between the edge of town and the start of the busy central area—which is what makes the arms on the headless girl of the map.

I've been here before--but did not notice this at the place were I turn back before getting to the center of town.

As the trail goes from urban to rural, in a field beside a bridge by the trail--a warning to other bikes to stay away ... or perhaps instead of a girl in a miniskirt, today's map is a drawing of this bike?

I still hope to do a truly longish ride, something of RAGBRAI-like distance, say 50 or 60 miles. But that will come later in the week, perhaps Thursday or Friday, when this soggy little island has some chance to dry out a bit.

I have not made biking plans in the meantime. I am not sure what my next target will be. We’ll see. But for today, more than 20 miles on a ride that didn’t start until the afternoon still feels like a win. That, and the fact that the bobbies didn’t give me a ticket.

In Which I Take the Rental Bike Out for Ride 1

Me on rental bike at shop.

Well, ride one on the rental bike was both pleasant and challenging, as expected.

The bike is an interesting one. It’s fairly light, as bikes go, but not a fast road bike. It’s got wide tyres, fenders and a rack. Plus, it has old-fashioned bike handlebars—it’s a no-nonsense commuting kind of bicycle, but a good choice for the kind of riding I will do in Norwich—mostly aiming for miles along Mariott’s Way.

Today, it was quite humid and warm this morning. We took the kids to school and headed on a walk to City Centre. My daughter had some children’s books to return at the library—and after that, we headed to the Bike Shop.

There are several bicycle stores in Norwich, but this one rents cycles. I had stopped in last week to reserve a bicycle, and today was pickup day. The staff at the shop were very helpful—one took me to the side room where rental bikes are stored, and we discussed the type I wanted.

The bike they selected was a good fit, I think. When I got it to the trail, the wide tyres and front suspension served me well.

Getting to the trail, however, proved a challenge. The nice staff at the shop attempted to be helpful, giving me directions that involved turning left at a pub, right at church and left at another pub—or maybe the other way around. Anyway, the names meant nothing to me, and I was in the midst of Norwich, city of random pubs and churches.

They even printed out a map for me, which was kind. I didn’t do as well as I should have in following it.

Once again, on this ride, I got quite lost. The tangle of streets in City Centre defeated my limited navigational skills.

Biking in City Centre.

Well, the point was to go on a ride and accumulate some miles, and so I was not that unhappy. My wife had urged me, after I picked up the bike, to go for a 20-mile ride, and getting lost did add distance. I think, looking at the map, that I did navigate my first turn, but failed on the next one. I ended up at Chapelfield Gardens, a very nice park that is not anywhere along the bike trail I was seeking.

I sat for a bit, started at my biking map, and then came up with a plan. The bike routes in Norwich are color-coded, and “route 1,” part of a national network, is coded in red. There was a bike trail—a pink one—by the park. I would follow it and look for the bike signs in red.

The plan sort of worked, but I ended up going the wrong way (again) and getting into a part of town I’ve not seen before. But I was on the red route, so I simply turned around and paid more attention to the signs.

The rental bike, parked at my daughter's house. Foreshadowing--I did not stay lost forever.

 They were not always easy to follow—an arrow would shoot off sort of to the right, in a squiggle of streets, but not at a right angle, so some guessing was still sometimes involved at some turns. After a while, however, I arrived at the point of the trail I had ridden to last week—Mariott’s Way was found at last!

I had ridden as far as Drayton last week—I decided to go through it and beyond it today. And the trail in Drayton turned out to use some walkways and streets—I navigated my way through town and rode a couple of miles past it. It was getting to midafternoon, and it was starting to sprinkle. The last 4 miles or so of trail were dirt rather than paved, and I didn’t want to try, even with wide tyres, to ride on wet dirt.

Scenes along the trail--they use old rails for art (above). Much of the trail is nicely forested (below).

And in Drayton, on the way back, I made a wrong turn. Shocking, I know. It’s becoming a theme of my biking adventures in the UK. I realized it fairly quickly, but it’s amazing how committed you can be to going the wrong way when you’re not 100 percent sure it’s the wrong way.

So, after a bit of a scary ride on a busy country road, I doubled back to Drayton, found a trail sign in the direction I wanted to go, and managed to get back on track.

Despite some odd wanderings, and some sprinkles at the end, today’s ride was satisfying. The bell on the bike disintegrated shortly after I got to the trail, but that’s not an essential piece. It was a successful journey. Last week, I rode 18 miles, today, a bit over 19 miles.

More miles to come!

My crazy ride today. Note the back and forth at the south end.

In Which I Get Lost and Found

Me, with son-in-law's bike, ready for first ride.

Wednesday, June 19—my son-in-law is off on a business trip and gave me permission to borrow his bicycle.

Today is the first ride. I grab my new helmet and his bike. The immediate problem is that he has odd pedals—specialized toe clips that I assume fit some shoes he wears to ride. Comparatively, I have large, fat feet. Getting those big feet into his clips in my wider shoes proves challenging. Alternatively, I could ride with my feet on the uncomfortable back side of his pedals, but I worry I may be damaging his clip straps by scraping them on the ground, and the back side is clearly not intended for use. Or, I can sort of mash down his clips with my big feet—but again, I don’t want to cause any damage to these clips.

I compromise—use the back side in busy situations where I don’t have time to mess with the clips, but ride in the clips on a trail when I have more time. (On my second, Thursday ride, I was more used to the clips and it was far less of an issue).

But my main issue on this ride was to find Mariott’s Way (spelled with an apostrophe on a sign on the trail, without on the trail map, so I don’t know which is correct but then again, neither do the British), a large bicycle path that slices through Norwich from northeast to southwest and continues for miles in the countryside in either direction.

It is not far from my daughter-in-law’s house. But navigating English streets is a challenge.

There is the obvious problem of remembering to ride on the “opposite” side. I did have to constantly remind myself of that, although I didn’t ever forget. Of course, my instincts of how to watch for traffic were all backwards. However, that made less difference than I thought—by-streets are so narrow that traffic basically moves down the middle anyway, so the difference between the American right side and British left side was only theoretical.

Narrow British street (above) and narrow walkway behind house (below).

Anyway, I had my map and I was off. Very off. Getting lost proved quite easy.

Not too lost, mind you. The issue was finding Mariott’s Way—I never had the sense that I would be unable to get back to the house. I was trying to be careful to minimize turns and to recall landmarks whenever I did make a turn.

The problem was reading and interpreting the map. Now, I am old. That means I grew up long before Google, and map reading was a skill taught in my elementary school days. But interpreting a map in Norwich was different. For one thing, as an old Roman town, the city is arranged with a center from which roads spread out like the spokes of a bicycle wheel—there literally is no street grid. Finding a route that follows a compass direction is not the same as it is in the U.S. where most towns have rectangular grids of roads.

And the British are cute and coy with signage. On the main “spokes” from city center, street signs are rare. Their attitude seems to be that if you’re on a main road, you ought to know where you are, so there is no need of intersection street signs. Side streets are sometimes marked—now always—but the location and appearance of the signs are not in any way standard.

Is “Bobs Your Uncle” the name of a pub or the name of the alley-wide road? Well, if it’s also on the map, it’s a road—and the street signs, various as a they are, are lower and smaller than the signs for commercial establishments.

All in all, the first ride was mostly spent in going back and forth and failing to find the main, most obvious bike path in all of Norwich.

After some back-and-forth, complicated by the idea that I would never be able to repeat the route since I could not figure out how I got there in the first place, I found what seemed to be Mariott’s Way. Or at least I think I did. Hard to say. Mariott’s Way, in Norwich, is apparently a “main” bike road, which means there isn’t any reason for a sign to identify it, because you wouldn’t use it if you didn’t mean to, right?

Some scenes along the trail Wednesday. On Thursday, I could confirm that it was indeed the trail I was looking for.

I may sound like I’m whining. I suppose I am. I miss wide American streets, but mostly I miss rectangular street grids. Beyond that, I truly appreciate the American penchant for uniform and almost universal street corner signage. I suppose one reason the Brits don’t do this is because their walkways and streets are so narrow that such signs would take up valuable space at corners, but trust me English cousins, it’s totally worth it.

But despite the whine, it was a cool and pretty afternoon—cloudy but nice, and I did enjoy being out and moving on the bicycle. I rode a mile or so down the bike trail, presuming it was the one I wanted, and vowed to return the next day (by more direct route) for a longer ride.

Thursday, June 20—We have minor travel plans today. After dropping the kids off at school, we head over to the Coop to get a sim card for my wife’s phone. In preparation for today’s ride, on Wednesday night my daughter and I installed a new card in my phone—and wonder of wonders, I have now a fully functioning mobile phone in the UK!

The attempt to do the same for my wife ended in frustration, for now. Anyway, after the morning shopping, my daughter drove us to a bookshop somewhere in the Norfolk countryside. It was an interesting place—a shop that appeared to be located in someone’s country home, with a longish room stuffed with a dizzying array of children’s books. Our luggage for the return flight home may be a bit heavier.

We stopped at a tea room at a nearby sort of shopping mall for arts and crafts. By the time we got home, it was time to think of the afternoon school run—which I didn’t go on. Bicycle time!

Walkway along a river, somewhere in Norwich. I feel I should not be riding Matt's bike here, but then again I got innocently lost.

 Everything was a bit easier, this time. I had a plan to manage the toe clips. (Matthew, they were frozen by rust in your settings, but rust will respond to vigorous force—check the clips before you ride again, they have been made looser to fit much larger feet).

I got to the trail and cycled north. It was a sunnier day, some broken clouds, but some blue sky, too. I brought my sunglasses, but hadn’t worn then on the half-mile trek to the trail, partly because I wanted the best vision possible to the spot the subtle bread crumbs of signs left by the British. The trail was so shady that I ended up sans shades for the whole ride.

I rode as far as the village of Darby, probably a 4-mile journey. Half of that was on dirt, and recent rains had made parts of that ride a bit muddy, so I decided to stick to paved, urban trail in Norwich proper. I headed towards city center next, and somewhere near a river I lost the trail. I had a short ride along the river, which was pretty, and I apologize to all the fishers whose walkway I inadvertently intruded upon, but then again, Brits, if you don’t want wandering Americans lost on your sidewalks, you might consider more obvious signs.

I rode back and forth on several miles of paved trail in town. Next week, when I will be riding a rented bike, I intend to go farther, paying more attention to the trail and hopefully making it through Norwich to explore in the southern direction—but did not today partly because I wanted to avoid City Center in rush hour. Still, the Thursday ride was nice.

Map My Ride functions again, and in an hour and 50 minutes I rode 18 miles. I hope to top 50 on at least one day next week, but for now I feel a sense of success. I have found the trail! Way out in Darby I even found a sign that confirmed it as Marriott’s Way!

Hooray for signs!

A sign! And below, seen from the trail Thursday, a horse!