Finding the chase and cutting to it

Don’t you mean route 66?

No, National Cycle route 51 is a part shared, part dedicated cycle route from two of the larger towns in Suffolk, Bury St. Edmunds and Ipswich.  In fact, at either end it completes within a mile or two of the railway station, allowing you to complete the circuit by letting the train take the strain.

Actually, it’s a little more than that, covering five counties, but lets start with the bit I did on Wednesday.

Ipswich-> Creeting St Mary -> Needham Market -> Stowmarket -> Onehouse -> Woolpit ->Tostock -> Drinkstone -> Thurston -> Bury St Edmunds.

With the wind howling from the South, the first bit of the journey was not trivial.  Especially when I found myself up a gravelled bridle way outside of Creeting St Mary (red marks the gravelly bit!).  Not too bad for the first 100 meters but just off screen it starts to go up hill.  My road tyres were not up to the task!

But I covered 14 miles in 61minutes (OK, it was mostly flat and downhill) and was ready for my first break in a small village just outside of Stowmarket called Onehouse.

I grew up in the area and Onehouse has grown a great deal in that time.  I chose to have a quick break, check my levels and have a couple of cokes, check my bearings and ensure I knew the rest of the way.  That’s the moment my mobile’s screen went blank.

Oh dear (or words to that effect)!

You’re in the middle of no-where without a mobile?

Or cash.  I’d packed a credit card but I tend to use my mobile as cash so I don’t carry that much with me on the bike.  I took a full 120 seconds to decide that I wasn’t going to go back the way I came.  It would mean my support system (my brilliant husband) would not be updated and next time I would definitely carry a power pack with me, but if there were signs the whole way I could get to Bury.  I had water and a coke and a testing kit.

If I could get to Bury, I could ask directions and I could get to the railway station and get the train back.  The train station might even have a phone.

I’m a cyclist in possession of the native tongue, I could do this, if I needed assistance, I could get it.  After all, the past 14 miles had flown by very smoothly; apart from the scary gravel bridle path and how many of those would there be?

I set off and was surprised at the quality of the cycle path.  In some places, it was a dedicated path away from cars and in others it was along single track roads of good quality.  Largely, pedestrians and motorists were friendly and despite the wind, it was dry and reasonably warm.

As I came to Woolpit, it all felt good.  It’s not a short distance and I wasn’t going that quickly: just an average 11mph: but I was covering the miles.

I did consider jumping on the train as I saw a sign for Elmswell (off the cycle route) but hung on for Thurston and the signs that said Bury was only 4 miles away.

Thurston has the most amazing railway crossing bridge that was possible to ride up so the only bit I hadn’t cycled was the bridle path outside of Needham.

In Bury proper, as I didn’t know where the cycle route would land me, I sought directions and found that I would exit the route outside the Angel Hotel.  I have fond memories of that place, but that’s a very different story!

When I got through the door at home, my husband said he’d lost track of me on Thurston which was odd because my end, my mobile was dead.

What’s next?

Newmaket is my next stop on Route 51.  It should be 46 miles but relatively flat so I’ll do some hill climbing as my supplementary training.

I could always avoid the bridle path next time!

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