Needham Market to Bury St Edmunds

May 22, 2024

train back to Lincoln

My yellow cycling hat has disappeared somewhere. I ask the hotel staff if I left it at reception, but apparently not. Never mind - it'd just about had it anyway.

Yesterday was a wet ordeal and the weather this morning doesn't look great. It's drizzling when I go across the road from the hotel to a cafe called Coffee, Crafts 'N' More and get a frothy one and a bite to eat. It's quite a popular place with only one table spare.

Just along the street is a sign for a bike shop, which is tucked down a passage. Maybe the guy running Bosmere Cycles has some mudguards that will fit my 27.5" wheels. It's worth asking.

My second visit of the morning to Coffee Craft 'N' More in Needham Market

The shop is a small place, but the guy digs a pair out from a back room. When I ask about fitting them myself, he shugs and says that he might as well do it, telling me to come back in an hour or so. I don't argue.

With time to kill, I decide to walk down to the train station to see about departures, as riding back north to Stowmarket on the narrow, overgrown cycle path does not appeal one bit, especially in the rain. There's a charity shop nearby and I pop in to see what they have.

While I'm browsing the men's rail, a woman customer who's maybe in her 60s answers her mobile phone and it's hard not to overhear the guy on the other end, who says he's from Tesco Bank and that he's calling about some issue she has. She confirms her problem about a refund and when she tells him her account number, he says the reason for the problem is the last four digits he had were wrong. My ears pick up, and, when the call ends, I go and tell her to call Tesco Bank, as they'd never ask for an account number over the phone and that it was highly likely a scammer. She seems taken aback, but I reckon her account will have been emptied by the time she makes the call.

Having mudgaurds fitted in Needham Market

I stroll back up the main street to the cafe for another coffee, then walk over to see how the guy in Bosmore Cycles is doing. He's just about finished with the mudguards and I ask him about a 27.5" tyre. He has a Schwalbe that's thinner and much better quality than the rear knobbly, which is already quite worn, so I ask him to fit that, too. It's the forth tyre that's been on the wheel since I arrived in the UK last month.

While he's doing that, he finds the self-adhesive patch that I put on yesterday and says that they tend to slip around in warm weather and it'd be best to fit a new innertube. That sounds like a good idea.

There's a train at 12:50 to Stowmarket and I get it. Once in town, I check out the old maltings building beside the river, replicating an old photo, then walk up Ipswich Street, calling in at a few more charity shops and buying a T-shirt and flat cap to replace my lost cycling one. The clerk cuts off the tags and I wear it as I start riding east.

It gets a bit confusing, but a sign for a place called Onehouse gets me sorted and I follow its direction, riding past modern homes and into countryside and on towards a village called Harleston, where there's a small church that sounds interesting.

My bike now with mudguards (fenders) on the 12:50 from Needham Market to Stowmarket

Stops in Harleston, Woolpit and Tostock, then Thurston

There's a metal gate to open and go through. A grassy path rises to the church standing on a small rise. It's walls are made of flint and support a thatched roof. Sadly the door is locked, so I can't take a look inside at its old, carved wooden rood screen. From the graveyard, I can see across a field the back of Harleston Hall, so I take a snap of that as well as the church before returning to the road and cycling back past the Hall's entrance.

A sign at a Y-junction confirms that this is Cycle Route 51 but rain starts falling again soon after and my vintage yellow cape gets donned. Thankfully the shower ends by the time I reach the edge of Woolpit, where there's a petrol station at a busy junction. My energy is low and it's time for a chocolate milk drink from its mini Coop store. It also helps wash down a sandwich.

Riding up the path to St Augustine's Church in Harleston

I buy a sandwich and drink from a petrol station just outside Woolpit

St Mary's Church, Woolpit - the south doorway - in some brief sunshine

Woolpit has many old buildings and looks to be a nice place to chill for a while. The sun makes a brief appearance, but then disappears pretty fast, and it seems like the weather is going to remain changeable.

As it's too early to call it a day, after a brief stop for photography I ride west along Rags Lane and on towards a village called Drinkstone, before veering north on more quiet lanes, following cycle route signs for the village of Tostock.

I get pretty discombobulated in Tostock and cycle out of the village on the wrong road, heading east instead of west, and only realise when I reach the very busy A1088. After checking Google Maps, it's a case of riding back into Tostock and cycling in the right direction, on a much more tranquil route.

17th century 'Sundridge' thatched cottage on Rags Lane, Woolpit

When I get to Thurston, I check out the trains going into Bury St Edmunds as the route into town isn't one to get excited about. There's one due soon, but there's enough time for me to have pie and chips from the nearby Trawlers Catch Fish Bar. The serving is too much and I can't eat them all.

There are a couple of other cyclists on the train and we talk about yesterday's downpour and where we're heading. They live in Bury St Edmunds, but tell me my ride further east to Newmarket is a nice one.

I get off and ride to find a room for the night.

It's a short train journey into Bury St Edmunds from Thurston

A serious fixer-upper next to the train station in Bury St Edmunds

My search starts at a Premier Inn, which is harder to find than it should be. The guy at the desk tells me they're fully booked tonight. I'm surprised it is on a mid-week night.

I head into the town and try and couple of places, both of which are also full. The woman in the second one kindly takes the time to look on her computer and tellsme all the rooms in town have gone. It's hard to believe. I decide to ride back to the station and check out trains to somewhere.

The pixel screen says there's one heading to Peterborough shortly, so I buy a ticket from a machine, what with all staff having gone home. Once on the train, the guard tells me it's possible to transfer at Peterborough and get a train back to Lincoln, so that's what I do.

It's around 11:00 when it pulls in and there's the cycle path back to Dave's to ride along one more time. Thankfully I have a front light to show me the way.

It's about 7:00 when I get a train out of Bury St Edmunds

Heading out of Lincoln for Dave's house in Washingborough at around 11:00

Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 576 km (358 miles)

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