Norfolk , Norway and Normandie

NORFOLK JUNE 27TH - 30TH 2025 

 A slightly misleading title to this edition of the blog,  as my visit to Norway didn't include any cycling - some fishing, a lot of laughing, a modicum intake of food and drink along with seven friends and some spectacular scenery and I do like a bit of alliteration - but it was sandwiched between cycling the Rebellion Way in Norfolk on my own and cycling from Le Havre to St Malo in France with the Richard, the Walton Wheeler.

The Rebellion Way

Tour de Normandie

The end of June found me heading to Hunstanton on the east coast with the bike on the back of the car. My intention was to complete the Rebellion Way in 4 days. I had chosen Sunny Hunny as my starting point for this 365 km circular route of Norfolk solely because friends Chris and Aska live there. We have known each other since starting our Teacher Training days at Westminster College together in 1973 and have seen each other regularly since. The Rebellion Way gets its name from the area's turbulent history - from when Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe led her people in a revolt against the Romans and more latterly when in 1549, Robert Kerr, a local landowner, joined his tenants in destroying fences that his fellow landowners had erected to fence off common land.

Leaving Sunny Hunny

HUNSTANTON - WEST RUNTON 83 KM 

 After an evening catching up with Chris, Aska and two other old W's, Ant and Helen Lewis,  I set off from Hunstanton the following morning for the first leg to West Runton some 83 km away. The weather forecast looked very promising for the next few days, blue skies and bright sunshine,  so my spirits were high as I left Hunstanton on the back roads which undulated towards Burnham Market following NCR 1 and passing fields of golden crops. Sunny Hunny's claim to fame is that it is the only east coast resort that faces west. Don't believe me.... look at a map! A quick stop for coffee in Burnham Market and onward to Burnham Thorpe where Admiral Nelson was born. Shortly after passing the gates to the spectacular Holkham Hall my route took me on an offroad section between fields of crops that were being watered by giant sprinklers. Despite riding at the speed of the peleton in the Tour de France, one of the giant's gave me a good soaking with a deluge appearing from behind a high hedge. My next brief stop was in Walsingham, billed as Norfolk's Nazareth, it is apparently the 2nd most popular spiritual site for pilgrims in the UK after Canterbury. Apart from a Nun and a Priest who I saw with my own eyes, Walsingham also has a Nunnery, a Monastery, 4 churches including a Russian Orthodox and a shrine. The shrine was built as a result of the Lady of the Manor in 1061 having a vision of the Virgin Mary - the village has never looked back since.

Walsingham

The cycling was easy and the weather perfect as I trundled through Great Snoring and onward towards Holt along small lanes and tracks, eventually arriving at the Links Country Park Hotel with its 9 hole golf course and swimming pool. A nice quiet room and a secure room to recharge the bike set me up for the evening so enjoyed some liquid refreshment before a swim , dinner and bed... where I suspect Great Snoring was revisited.

Off road en route to West Runton

Links Country Park Hotel pre puncture

WEST RUNTON - NORWICH 73 KM 

 With the weather still holding I opted for an early start to try and avoid the heat of the day so packed my bags and headed down to retrieve my bike from the secure room. Disaster.... a flat back tyre which I could only conclude had occurred during my ride on the flint ridden track late in the previous afternoon. So at 0730 in the morning I was faced with the dilemma to try and fix the puncture myself or remove the wheel and take a taxi to Cromer to a bike shop and get them to fix it! I had watched my great friend Simon from Simon's Cycles in Cowbridge struggle to remove my rear tyre on a few previous occasions so was veering towards taking the wheel to Cromer when a guy walking his dog took pity on me and offered to help. His name was Simon and he was parked in a camper van 5 minutes away so I walked the bike to his pitch where he assisted in changing the inner tube and refitted the tyre - he actually did most of the grunting work so by 0930 I was back on the road. So my big shout out goes to Simon, a true knight of the road, from Leicestershire.  Maybe it's a Simon thing? Soon after another problem occurred! Error code 513 on the Bosch Computer was giving me a cadence issue when pedalling - the equivalent to kangaroo petrol in a car - jerky, stop start! At least the bike was still working but worryingly I wasn't sure it would continue to do so, so I phoned Edemo bikes in Nailsworth where I'd bought the bike from and spoke to Dan, the font of all knowledge when it comes to Riese & Muller bikes. He suggested resetting the bike by pedalling hard, free wheeling and turning the power off....which I did..... several times and it cleared the faut! AJ, the mechanic at Edemo was also good enough to contact Bosch directly who emailed him what to do - exactly as Dan had prescribed. By the time I was sailing passed Blickling Hall, once home to Anne Boleyn, life was back to normal and he sun was still shining.

Blickling Hall

By the time I had reached Aylsham it was time for a coffee and a bacon butty as I had missed breakfast with all the messing around with the puncture, so The Black Boys Hotel in the Market Square seemed as good a place as any to seek sustenance. Unfortunately they had stopped serving breakfast so I had to be content with a coffee and a seat in the sunshine watching the comings and goings of this picturesque Georgian town once famed for its wool and cloth.

No breakfast ?

The section between Aylsham and Wroxham was back to gravel riding for 15 kilometres alongside the Bure Valley Railway, a great example of a voluntary run organisation that sees over 100,000 passengers a year. The path is narrow in places and was busy with cyclists and walkers enjoying the beautiful countryside heading in both directions.

The Bure Valley Railway

I arrived in Wroxham and was surprised how busy the place was. Together with Hoverton, these two villages form the capital of the Norfolk Broads, and the local Roys family seem to own most of the businesses in Wroxham. There was also virtually every conceivable type of water craft here from canoes to cruisers. Once out of the busy town it was quickly back to rural Norfolk and heading for it's capital city Norwich, home of Delia Smith and her beloved Norwich City Football Club. Delia and I had swapped recipes when she visited Cardiff City FC.... I have to say hers were better than mine!

Swapping recipes

The weather was still hot and sunny so at Woodbastick I decided to slate my thirst at the Fur & Feather's pub with a pint of the local Adder cider. The pub is the home to Woodforde's brewery so a perfect place to sit and recover.... I was tempted to have a second pint but as I still had a few kilometres to go I thought better of it. The suburbs of Norwich crept up on me and I was soon into the city centre looking for my accommodation for the night, The Holiday Inn with it's swimming pool and spa, a luxury I needed. I called into Evan's Cycles as it was on my route to replace my inner tube that I had used earlier in the day. I also asked them about Error Code 513 as many of the bikes they sell use Bosch motors. Their answer was that as my bike wasn't a model they sold they couldn't help - I shall not be using Evans cycles for anything in the future. My ground floor room at the Holiday Inn on Ipswich Road enabled me to keep my bike in the room and thus not have to unpack everything. A swim, a beer and some food and bed and I was soon back in Great Snoring.

  NORWICH -THETFORD 68KM 

 Norwich is the traditional start and finish point for The Rebellion Way and the Guide book suggests that participants should spend some time either at the beginning of their ride or at the end, looking around the old parts of the city. I'm afraid I didn't as another hot day was forecast so I wanted to get underway as soon as possible. Obviously I had to have the ubiquitous Greggs bacon butty to start the day so set off to find the nearest one. Duly fed I headed down the busy Ipswich road, one of the main roads running south out of Norwich and heading for Long Stratton. After a few kilometres I was back onto quiet country lanes and passing through well maintained little villages. After reaching Long Stratton another section of off road cycling on the Prairie track which opens up onto Wacton Common. The route took me across open grassy fields which I would imagine to be tricky if it had been raining.

Wacton Common

Diss for coffee and chance to chat to some other cyclist who were just out for the day and a chance to learn that Diss' worldwide fame was gained when hip -hop superstar MC Hammer came to the conclusion that "You can't touch Diss"! Only joking!!

Sustenance in Diss

My last stop of the day before arriving at the Premier Inn in Thetford was a lovely old pub called the White Horse at Thelnethan where locals sat and chatted inside, sheltering from the heat of the afternoon, whilst I sat outside with a very cold pint of Aspall's Suffolk cider.

A dry cider 

Refreshed I followed the River Waveney and through the heathland of Knettishall Heath which is currently being rewilded with Exmoor ponies. Through the town centre I found the Premier Inn to be told in no uncertain terms that if I wanted to check in before 3pm I would have to pay an additional £15.... I waited the 10 minutes figuring that my money would probably be better spent on other things. Another ground floor room was a bonus.

  THETFORD - HUNSTANTON 86KM 

 For my last day of the Rebellion Way I decided to miss out Kings Lynn and head back to Hunstanton directly so left Thetford on one of the busy B roads heading to Brandon and Swaffham. Very straight and very busy running through the heart of Thetford forest was not a great route choice and I would have been better taking the off road tracks through the forest but we live and learn! After Brandon the roads got quieter and I was able to enjoy the rural scenery again with its many sounds and smells.... some of which came from the prolific number of pigs that are reared around the area.

Heading to Swaffham

Through Swaffham I headed north enjoying the quiet lanes once again, bordered by golden fields of barley and wheat. I passed close by to the Sandringham estate which I later revisited with Chris for a well deserved ice cream after I had quenched my thirst at Heacham Manor Hotel, close to Hunstanton. A final roll through the streets of Sunny Hunny and I was back having completed my version of the Rebellion Way. It is a great route, full of variety and when I do it again I will take longer and visit the many landmarks that I missed! It will also give me another excuse to see Chris and Aska without whom this trip wouldn't have happened.

NORWAY 3RD - 6TH JULY 2025 

 No cycling but a lot of fun! A censored selection of photographs celebrating my 10 years of visits to Einar's cabin!

View from the Cabin

Fishing for FA

The Book Presentation

Einar's yacht from Cabin

Tranquil at Midnight

Part of the crew

Beers in Bergen

Putting the world to rights

LE TOUR DE NORMANDIE - LE HAVRE TO SAINT MALO 10TH - 15TH JULY 2025

Le Tour De Normandie 

Winston Churchill once said, "No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle", so as Richard and I sat astride our bikes, waiting to board the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre with 4 days of glorious cycling ahead, we looked forward to gaining a few hours of life.

Waiting to board in Portsmouth 

The crossing was smooth with the sea like a mill pond and the comfort of the Commodore Club lounge, coupled with the crisp taste of a glass or two of Sancerre, ensured that we arrived in Le Havre extremely relaxed and ready for the short cycle to our hotel close to the centre of the city. With the bikes secured we headed out for food to a small local restaurant to sample the delights of duck breast, steak and a very nice Merlot. 

  LE HAVRE - CAEN 88 KMS FRIDAY 11TH JULY 2025

Having risen early, in an attempt to avoid the worst of the traffic around the busy port area of Le Havre, our first checkpoint was the Pont De Normandie which would allow us to cross the river Seine.  This cable stayed bridge,  at over 2kms long,  is a Motorway toll bridge which has a narrow footpath and narrow cycle lanes which allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross free of charge.  Most of the advice from the cycling websites suggests avoid cycling across at all costs!  We did investigate a bus service which takes bikes from Le Havre to Caen but  found no evidence or sign of such,  and as the weather was fine we decided to risk it and cycle.  We rode on the designated footpath (not a pedestrian in sight!) which separated us from the traffic by a good metre or so together with a 5cm high kerb.  Judging by the look on Richard's face when we got to the other side of the bridge, he'd clearly had a near death experience! He claims he could hear the metal stays creaking as the high sided lorries thundered passed at 100km per hour and at the highest point he was convinced that he was going crash and fall over the barriers to the murky Seine 200m below! I didn't want to sound too smug but 2 years earlier I had made the crossing in the opposite direction in the cycle lane, in a torrential downpour, during the rush hour.... just saying!

Le Pont de Normandie

Looking worried

Our reward for our death defying dash across the bridge was a relaxing coffee and breakfast in the beautiful town of Honfleur. We were now in the Calvados area of Normandy so looking forward to sampling their apple products!

Honfleur

Our route after heading inland for a few kilometres took us back out to the coast to Deauville, a prestigious resort with a race course and a Casino and a playground for the rich. We stopped to buy some things for lunch and headed for Houlgate where we consumed our Vache Qui Rit, baguette and jambon avec tomates in the warm sunshine. Passing through Villers sur Mer we spotted a dinosaur which was too good an opportunity to miss for a photograph.

Doyouthinkhesawus

Houlgate for lunch

We had been following EV4, The Velomaritime which runs from Calais to Roscoff via the Cherbourg peninsular but by the time we got to the west of Cabourg,  we headed down the V43,  the Velo Francette towards Caen.  The days cycling had been a mixture of small roads and designated cycle paths or Voie Vertes  and we'd had 2 climbs of any significance.  Needless to say after the second one we had to seek fluid replacement therapy. The final 16kms took us on the footpath which runs down either side of the Orne estuary. We crossed the River Orne at the famous Pegasus Bridge which had been a strategic point during the Normandy landings, being captured and held by a British glider borne force. 

Holding the Pegasus Bridge

We rolled into Caen and found our centrally based Ibis Hotel together with the remnants of the Tour De France which had been through 2 days prior to our arrival. We embraced the atmosphere of this wonderful city in the warmth of the evening sunshine before retiring for a good night's sleep.

Ricard dans Caen

CAEN - FLERS 87KMS SATURDAY 12TH JULY

It was to be a game of two contrasting halves, to use a football analogy - the first part of the day was generally flat along the Voie Verte following the valley of the River Orne and La Velo Francette, one of France's many long distance cycle routes. La Velo Francette runs from Ouistreham, on the Channel coast to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast and is over 600kms long.  The second half of the day would provide a stern test for Richard's stamina as it was largely up hill and it was hot! 

La Velo Francette

A coffee and croissant stop in Thury Harcourt and then shortly after at Clercy the climbing began, gently at first but got gradually steeper;  not surprisingly this area is known as the Suisse Normande. On reaching Pont D'Ouilly we  were in need of liquid refreshment so whilst Richard refilled his water bottles from the bar, I managed a small beer. After this we thought we'd cracked the hard part but after another steep and long climb up to a viewing point at La Roche d'Oetre, we decided that the car park with a picnic table would be a great place for lunch.

Suisse Normande

A little more climbing with a few decent descents and we were soon on the outskirts of Flers where we stocked up with lunch things for the following day in anticipation that everywhere would be shut on Sunday. As it turned out we needn't have bothered but better to be safe than hungry.

Deserted Flers

The Best Western La Gare was ideal for a night's stay - comfortable ground floor room, secure garage to park the bikes and bars and restaurants within a short walking distance, and a chance to wash my smalls and hang them out to dry!

A view to a kill

Airing my smalls

So it was beers in La Tavern and an expensive dinner in La Parenthes of monkfish tails before the day's 900mts of climbing got the better of us and sent us to bed. 

Orange juice ?  No, a cocktail!

FLERS -DUCEY 87KMS SUNDAY 13TH JULY

What a difference a day makes!  Virtually all of the day's ride would be on a designated, traffic free voie verte and also very gently down hill. Once out of Flers we picked up the V43 cycle route that runs from Paris to Mont St Michel. We coasted past fields of sunflowers, sweetcorn and grazing cows -  through idyllic rural France.

Voie Verte

La vache qui rit

Wall flowers or sunflowers?

At the small village of Bion we stopped for coffee where we encountered some interesting characters. First, and definitely the most vociferous, was a group of young lads who were seemingly finishing off their night out - pints of lager on the table, extremely animated and loud, particularly when they were joined by another group on bikes, they were clearly enjoying their Sunday and looking forward to Bastille Day.  Whilst we were drinking our coffee we were engaged in conversation with a British man who lived locally  and worked in Mt St Michel.  We didn't catch his name so we named him Benoir - he was extremely helpful in directing us to a place for lunch and suggesting a suitable route the following day. Our third encounter, as we were leaving the cafe, was with another Brit living locally who was cycling and told us he was on a training run for the Turin to Nice race.  Sounded very hilly to me.

Shortly after leaving Bion we came across a French couple walking on the path.  The woman was walking a horse which was laden with saddle bags and her male companion was towing a trailer behind him attached to his belt. We speculated as to their destination and wondered if some French hotels allow horses to be kept overnight? Probably not in the rooms , we concluded.

Bon voyage

Benoir's advice and directions  to lunch by the lake behind the church in St Hillaire Harcourt proved to be  spot on. We found a vacant bench in the shade and tucked into our daily diet of pain, fromage, tomates et du vin - until Richard knocked over my glass -  a waste of a good Cab Sav! Being a Sunday, the park was busy with family groups lunching al fresco and some of their lunches looked like banquets compared to our meagre offerings.

Retracing our track back to the cycle path we started the gentle descent into Ducey and the Great Western Hotel Le Moulin. We were early so the room wasn't ready so we were forced to sit in reception and talk to the english receptionist who very kindly served us beer until we could access our room.  We had locked our bikes together in a secure outdoor courtyard and had covered them with some old cardboard boxes which was just as well as shortly after our arrival, the heavens opened and drenched everything.  Our concern then turned to where to eat, on a Sunday, the day before a Bank holiday. One place in the small town was open, a Pizza restaurant that had awful reviews and where the receptionist had advised us to avoid. Tales of families being turned away because they hadn't booked, the rudeness of the service staff and the lack of choice on the menu didn't daunt us as we strode manfully through the rain towards our destination. Fortunately, we had  had the temerity to book a table and so were pleasantly surprised by the warmth of welcome.  The food was good, the service great and the wine crisp and chilled so no complaints from us.... although we did witness a few people who were turned away despite there being vacant tables - obviously not booked.

Kir before Pizza

I need all the help I can get!

DUCEY - ST MALO 75 KMS MONDAY 14TH JULY -BASTILLE DAY

The rain had blown through overnight but had left the cycle path out of Ducey treacherously slippery so it was with a little bit of luck and a huge amount of skill that I didn't end up in a ditch as my rear wheel went from under me as I negotiated a staggered gate - Richard's comment ? "I'd have loved to see you in a heap." He was getting his own back for letting him go first across the Pont de Normandie.

The Chateau Montgomerys in Ducey

Cycle path along the Selune

The cycle path hugged the coast line and soon opened up views over Bay of  Mt St Michel which appeared as a tiny pimple in the distance.  Benoir had advised us to take the detour out to the island on the boardwalk so that's what we intended to do.

Pimple in the distance

Once again concern about food raised it's ugly head - we had managed to grab some breakfast before we left the hotel but still had no bread for lunch. As we reached the throngs heading to Mt St Michel we enquired as to whether there was a boulangerie open. We were assured that there was one open in a village called Beauvoir which we would cycle through after we had made the detour out to the Mont. We weaved our way through hoards of pilgrims making their way to the abbey on the tidal island, grabbed the photograph and headed to grab a baguette!

Guess where we are?

The boulangerie in Beauvoir must have been the only one open in the entire country judging by the queues outside, after all it was a Bank Holiday and a Monday.  Richard dutifully joined the throng waiting to snaffle a pain chocolat or two whilst I guarded the bikes.  The wait was worth it - a baguette, 2 chocolate eclairs and 2 cups of coffee. 

The last eclair

The sugar rush pushed us fast and furiously onwards along EV 4 towards St Malo hugging the coastline and the oyster and muscle beds that are so prolific in this area. We lunched as the clouds gathered ominously - rain was definitely on its way and I hadn't packed any wet weather gear but my smug cycling mate had!

Clouds gathering

The final 10 kms into St Malo was unpleasant.... wet, cold and most of it on a busy main road.  Respite was sought in Le Clerc's supermarket on the outskirts of the town.  Supplies were purchased and normal service was resumed weather wise as we rolled into the old town to our Hotel. Who says France shuts on  Mondays?

Arrival in St Malo

Bikes secured, roosted and watered, we headed out  into the carnival atmosphere in the bars close to the hotel.  Eventually we settled on" Le Comptoir du V", a lively bar  tucked away in a side street with outdoor seating.  We were royally entertained by 2 guys dressed as women, singing their hearts out and parading up and down the street, all done with typical Gallic flair.

Warming up on Bastille Day

It would have been churlish of us not to join in.... so we did

Getting warmer

Its now hot!

And so our trip ended, a meal, fireworks and a lot of great cycling. Our journey home to Blighty in the Club Lounge was relaxing and reflective.... where next with our new bikes, was the question we debated once Richard had woken up.

Richard's new bike

David's new bike

Happy touring!