March 27, 2023
The Rebellion Way
London to Cambridge
A family wedding in the UK presents us with a valid excuse to do a little more cycle touring. We are a little hesitant at first since we have memories of changeable Spring weather in the UK, but keeping in mind the infallible dictum, there’s never the wrong weather, only the wrong clothes, we pack accordingly. Ann fights tenaciously for the carrying of Marmot, our faithful home away from home, but in the end, acquiesces, accepting that the unpredictability of the season might make having a roof over our heads preferable, as well as taking into account the need to carry warmer clothing. ‘Are we getting soft?’ She asks. I assure her that we’ll have plenty more opportunities…..
And so bike boxes sealed, we pass the Emirates weigh in (just) and fly from Auckland’s late summer temperatures to Gatwick’s chill, with a brief stop in sweltering Dubai.
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The plan this time is to try a little warm up cycling in London before venturing up to Cambridge by train, to begin a jaunt around part of Norfolk. We’ve bought a guide of the recently established route called ‘The Rebellion Way’, named after Boudicca and her revolt against Roman rule, and more recently, Robert Kett a 16th century landowner who supported his tenants in their march on Norwich. The guide fails to mention that he was hanged for his efforts. No matter. The descriptions of the route are encouraging, though considering its relative newness, we might be considered Guinea pigs.
We need to point out that we’ve modified the route we plan because we want to visit Ely, so we will only cover part of the official way. The guide, though, is encouraging, using phrases like ‘blissfully traffic free’ and ‘deserted lanes’. Not sure about the ‘fast flinty gravel’. There’s also some typically tongue in cheek Brit humour:
We’ll take a brief lull after this short week’s jaunt, before heading down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to St Malo. Our journey from there will hopefully encompass part of Bretagne, the Atlantic coast to Rochefort before heading inland and south towards the Dordogne and later inland Provence. As we did last year, the plan is to return to NZ from Nice, mid June.
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