Old Hunstanton , Norfolk 2018

Day 1 Tuesday 10th July

The big surprise on arrival at Caley Hall Hotel in Old Hunstanton was the temperature. Having become accustomed to two weeks of sweltering conditions in sunny Hertford , an abrupt change to 14 degrees and cloudy was certainly a shock to those of us who'd brought only shorts --i.e. all of us except Ron , our boy scout who came prepared with leg warmers, and Sue who must have known something we'd all missed

After checking in and taking a leisurely lunch , Dan led us for an afternoon ride to Sandringham. This was the first challenge to the myth about Norfolk being flat. The quiet , pot hole free lanes passed through tranquil villages and estate houses and were certainly fantastic to ride but totally flat , they were not.

Regrettably the Queen and the Duke could not get to the Sandringham cafe to greet us as they had a prior engagement in London, (watching the RAF celebrate 100 years ), but many of our group nonetheless treated themselves like royalty with cream teas , cakes etc. to supplement the recent lunch.
Geoff Perry provided a bit of entertainment by smashing a drinking glass over his cake then ,after careful extraction of shards, attempting to eat it. He discovered it was still a bit crunchy however ,so Sheila immediately took matters in hand by whipping it away from him and exchanging it for a fresh one – big smile on Geoff's face.
The return journey found some of the long straight Roman roads of this area , and these often seem to exaggerate the climb of any hills ahead – i.e they looked harder from afar than they turned out to be.
Sue managed to get a puncture a few miles from home , but as she and Graham were staying in their own caravan , we didn't bother to help them out and just rode on without them. ( actually Graham insisted we went on , and quickly made the repair)

We completed 29 miles on the first day , and returned to Caley Hall around 5.00pm ; plenty of time for a shower, shave (or whatever ladies do) and snooze before dinner at 8.00 pm.

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Day 2 Wednesday 11th July.
Caley Hall Hotel put on a substantial breakfast and clearly many cyclists had the impression that the planned trip to Wells would require all the calories on offer.

The controlling factor for today's ride was the football World Cup semi final and Allan organised an early 5.30 p.m. sitting for dinner , for those who wanted to watch the match. This meant ensuring we were all back to the Hotel by 5.00p.m. latest . A military style edict went out that all cyclists should be on parade for departure by 9.30 am sharp- this worked well, then Sue discovered something wrong with her front wheel ( it was going round and round ?) . Whatever it was Graham managed to fix it, and we set off in three groups in dull chilly and breezy conditions. Radio contact was wonderful for the first 5 miles or so , then the back group became detached and didn't meet up with them again until Holkham Hall . Here they made an unscheduled coffee and cake stop , which encouraged the two following "lead groups" to then do the same.

Groups 1 and 2 at Holkham Hall memorial

After this stop we had all of three miles to our lunch destination of Wells next the Sea. The plan to eat en plein air along the harbour wall was however thwarted by the chilly weather, and most of us retreated to the warmth of any eatery we could find with room. A few brave souls could be seen nonetheless eating takeaways as planned , and pretending to enjoy the experience.

After lunch we regrouped -again under strict orders not to be late - and made our way via Little Walsingham to Burnham Thorpe . The plan here was to visit the Church where Nelson's father was curate , and where a memorial to Nelson himself is constructed from the timbers of his ship at Trafalgar. That was the plan , but the World Cup semi final was looming, so an executive decision was made to cycle directly to our next destination of Burnham Overy Staith - a small picturesque tidal creek and hamlet. The low tide ( muddy) and uninviting weather took the edge off this otherwise pleasant backwater , and the we quickly motored on to our afternoon coffee and cake stop at Burnham Market. Despite time constraint this was felt to be an essential halt. As there were about 20 of us we spread ourselves between the various cafes in this so called "Chelsea by the sea" ; except Allan who made his mark by visiting a wet fish stall and purchasing Oysters after asking the stall owner to open them for him.

It was then a nearly 10 mile straight Roman Road for home , which we essentially had to ourselves. We arrived back  having completed 48.5 miles shortly after 4.30 p.m. in plenty of time for the early diners to attend to ablutions . Those who did eat early rearranged the lounge furniture to ensure comfortable viewing   ~~  but we all know the outcome. Oh dear , and today was Chris Ramsden's birthday!

Among our party was six non cycling spouses , and those who could had spent the day walking and visiting the local seal colony off Blakeny point. They obviously had enjoyed their day and shared their experiences at meal times

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Day 3 Thursday 12th July

Today's ride  to Castle Acre was a more relaxed affair , but we still managed a 9.30 am departure.
Chris Meade who was leading the back group along with Ron , was under the misapprehension that he had planned the route along with Anne ( who was leading the first group) . Ron had certainly written out the names of villages the route passed through, but they soon found signposts to be few and far between .Net result was that the back group was totally dependent on Chris's Garmin , and we all know Ron's opinion of Garmins! They did make it however, and in a time that enabled the three groups to get  seated in the only cafe on rota system. Whilst some were lunching , some walked down to see the ruins of the Priory.

Some of the old ruins

The really energetic walked on further to the remains of the Castle , originally built as a Motte -and -Bailey at the time of the Norman conquest , but later reinforced with stone walls etc.

Our return home was made exciting by a radio message from the rear group

( Chris again ) that they'd gone round in a circle soon after leaving the cafe - she later spread a malicious rumour that she'd been misdirected over the radio. By the time they'd sorted themselve out , they were once more out of radio contact and we didn't meet up again until cream-tea stop at Great Bircham Windmill.

The pace then picked up as some riders smelt home and disappeared in a haze of dust in front of the leader. Unfortunately they missed a turn and arrived at the Hotel some 15 mins behind us more sedate cyclists.

That evening after dinner , Chris Meade  expressed our gratitude to Allan for organising this trip and made a presentation to him in appreciation.

In reply he made the point that it's success was in no small way due to the easy and cooperative nature of participants.












Day 4 Friday 13th July
Obviously unlucky for most of us ; we had to return home on this Friday 13th,  The irony was the sun came out as soon as we left the hotel after breakfast , and we were sweltering again by the time we reached Hertforshire.
In fact our weather conditions were far better for cycling , so we should add this to our list of positives for this excellent break.

So.... where to next year?

----------------------------- More photos in the picture gallery ---------------

Hertford Community Festival June 2018

East Herts District Council has a commitment to promoting health and fitness in the community , and to this end they support "Active East Herts" - a network of local organisations who deliver sports and physical activities.

We accepted an invitation to participate in the " Hertford Cycling Festival" put on by Active East Herts, on Hartham Common and had one of a dozen or so stands at the fare.It was largely aimed at youngsters and young families, the central attraction being a really impressive BMX show put on by three potential Olympic 2020 freestyle riders -- right next to our pitch.

We had 15 inquiries , but these were mainly from  people of working age seeking social rides in the evenings or weekends. 

The organisers considered the Festival to be a success and hope to repeat it next year , but to include activities other  than cycling.

My thanks to Tim and Allan for their encouragement and support.