September 23, 2022
Day 17: Ipswich to Bury St. Edmunds
We forgot to turn on the tracker until Needham Market, but you can still see here where in the world we generally are, and the incredible twists and turns of our route.
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We only had a quick and random look at Ipswich as we headed out of town. There are a lot of churches in the place, some of which have been converted to other uses. So our first view was of two random churches:
Ipswich is on the Orwell River, which we followed briefly as we left. The bank in the photo is being deliberately left fairly wild, to encourage wild flower growth. In this season, we only saw those yellow ones.
The main enterprise of getting out of town involved wheedling our way through the maze of streets. This occupied the first 7 km of our ride today. As always, it is a matter of crossing streets, and crossing again. "Push button, and wait for signal" is the constant refrain.
As you see from the unit in the photo below, both pedestrians and cyclists are anticipated as button pushers. That is because pedestrians and cyclists are frequently sharing the sidewalk. This has come up as a topic as pedestrians have noticeably often snapped at us "Use the Road!". At first I just reacted by ignoring them, but then I decided to challenge the next one. My line of argument was "The roads in this country are dangerous and narrow, and the cycling infrastructure sucks. Do you really want me risking my life out there?". I tried this out on one fellow, and he replied that he was actually a member of several cycling clubs, and he felt that cycle tourists were ill advised trying to come to England. He also felt that cycling on the sidewalk increased the anti-cycling sentiments that are strong among the public, and make it harder for cyclists in general.
Anyway, as you see from the sidewalk photo below, even the authorities who paint symbols on the ground are ambivalent about where cyclists should be. Clearly in this case, the person with the walker, or whatever, just needs to watch out, (Dodie, anyway, is supremely cautious).
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2 years ago
Coming back to those first 7 km, the photo below shows what the scene was like for us. Yu have a sort of suburban street, with parking permitted on both sides. There is no option to cycle on the sidewalk, due to the parked cars, and the remaining roadway is just one car wide. So when two cars meet, watch out. And one car plus a bike - not great. Two cars and a bike? Don't ask! This street is officially part of the National Cycle Routes (NCN 51) we should stress.
The 7 km came to an end, of course, and we did find ourselves on a usable, if narrow, country road. For a while on this road we had thundering gravel trucks coming up from behind, but again at a certain point we reached the turnoff where they all left. Our road had a few interesting things along it. There were two gatehouses, that no doubt signaled large estates beyond, though we could not see them.
And there were some thatched cottages, but not enough to call this a thatch area.
As usual, NCN threw us a curve, in the form of a fairly long gravelly track. Dodie walked at first, but it was just too long for that and we took the risk of slipping or sliding and rode it.
We arrived at our first two towns, Needham Market and Stowmarket. These are quite similar on the surface, with high streets filled with modest shops. They are very quaint, and great for a lunch stop.
Among the small shops is often a green grocer, and we took advantage of one to snag two nice looking figs. The figs here are all the violet type, rather than brown ones.
Dodie also took the opportunity to stop in at the Boots pharmacy, and to pick up yet another wrist brace. The search is for ones that offer support without being so rigid that they hurt when ones tries to cycle. We now have four braces on board, but Dodie is still struggling with the wrist pain.
The highlight of the day came at Woolpit. Dodie had read that there is something called Woolpit heath, so I snapped the first thing that seemed heath-like.
But Woolpit really distinguished itself with its super quaint architecture. Like this orange house, with the church in the background.
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2 years ago
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At what passes for a central square in town, we learned a lot more about the place - such as where the name came from:
On the square I noticed a bakery, something far less in evidence here than in France and Germany.
The bakery claimed to have been established in 1752, and to use brick ovens!
Unfortunately, as with every other bakery so far in England, the products seemed more bake sale than super professional. But one of the things we bought - a Cornish pastie - really was great.
Woolpit also had an interesting church. Here is what it looked like, and its story:
The town has rather a unique story that contributes to its municipal emblem. It involves two children who were found in a hole in the ground, and were green. You can read a bit more of the story below.
On the way out of town we encountered a former windmill building, that we noted mainly because Scott Anderson had mentioned it earlier. We have no idea when it may have been built or why, or what its use might be today.
Another thing noted by Scott and Rachel was an absolutely over the top (literally) railway crossing structure. The thing zoomed high up on one side of the tracks, crossed, and looped down the other side. So much steel in use! From the top, it's true, we did have a nice view of any trains going by, but why?
Beyond the giant crossing, which really was only for bicycles and pedestrians, a de facto bike (very limited car access) path led off toward Bury St Edmunds. This soon became a real bike path, a real rarity in this country. The path carried on for about five kilometers, into the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds. In those outskirts, various additional bike paths appeared. There was a lot of new construction going on, and it seemed like bike/pedestrian pathways must have been part of the plan. At this hour, the paths were clogged with school kids, and with parents with baby buggies, picking up other kids. It was clearly a neighbourhood of young families.
Our hotel, the Dragonfly, turned out to be another modern chain run establishment. Though our room was a little smaller and not accessed by elevator, as at the Premier, it was still clean and efficient. And we again have the bikes in the room, which we really like a lot.
Looking ahead, we were dismayed to find prices in the 500 pound per night range in the Cambridge area. Finding Booking no help, we phoned a couple that showed up on our GPS app. But yes, 300-500 pounds is a common price. More research did turn up some cheaper, no doubt dubious, options. But it makes us question why we want to go to Cambridge (or Oxford) anyway. As of now we have no plan and no bookings for the coming nights. We are sleeping on it (well, Dodie is, I am clearly still typing this!)
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 577 km (358 miles)
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