Two-day cycle tour in November with a forecast weekend-long break in the rain, starting from friends’ near Harleston.
Along the Waveney to Bungay, NE to Loddon to join NCN1 to Norwich, cutting out some of the NCN1’s meanders due to flooding on the Wensum flood plain. Norwich coffee stop at the excellent Café Club on the corner of King Street and Rose Lane, before heading out of town on NCN1 following the disused railway line towards Fakenham.
Railway line in November: lots of leaves, sticks and mud. Passable on touring bikes but only just until - a feral stick threw itself into a chain and snapped a rear derailleur just south of Swannington. With our own cable ties, and a pair of nifty micro chain-pliers provided by a very friendly and well equipped local, we eventually jury-rigged a fixed-rig and carried on, stopping in Reepham at the Crossroads Café for hot chocolate and giant tuna melts to warm up after an hour of bike mechanics in the wind.
From Reepham we headed for the coast as the day closed in. But in Thornage a rack of second-hand bikes for sale outside a house resulted in a quick chat with the seller, and the sourcing of a potential replacement derailleur and chain from a bike he was scrapping! As the day was drawing on, we cracked on with the fixed-rig, which got us within a mile of our end point at Stiffkey before the chain jumped and locked up. We coasted into the very hospitable Red Lion for showers, beers and good food just as it got dark.
Day 2 started with a good early breakfast at the Red Lion, then more outdoor-mechanics (but in the sheltered pub yard this time) as we installed the replacement derailleur and chain. We then set off gingerly, with almost no gear changes on the damaged bike, via Walsingham (passing Sunday worshippers), Fakenham, and Dereham, where we lunched at Flour and Bean (bakery and coffee shop, rolls and coffee both very good) at the top of the Market Place, bike racks right outside. From Dereham via Wymondham and back to our friends’ near Harleston to pick up car.
Roads and NCN1 stretches good despite the amount of rain beforehand, but the railway line is only just passable with tourers in November. Overall Norfolk, as ever, excellent country cycling, with plenty of pubs and village shops even in November, but snapping a derailleur on a disused railway line on wintry Saturday afternoon nearly derailed the whole trip, without the cycling Samaritan’s mini chain-pliers we’d have been slowly walking back to Norwich as breaking and shortening the chain accurately without them was impossible in the cold. Even more miraculous was getting a spare derailleur in Thornham which gave us more confidence we could complete the circuit, and we turned down the coastal escape options (cabs and buses to Sheringham to join the train), in favour of an early start and steady but gingerly heading back south.
