A bike ride to Castle Rising

It was another perfect sunny Saturday morning, and I decided to take a trip along the national cycle route that runs through Lynn, Heading out along the Quay I was soon through The Walks and out on what is called the Sandringham Railway route – which actually runs for a few miles along the route of the old railway line from Lynn to Hunstanton. This is a popular path, but I imagine most people are busy with their weekend chores, and not many people are about. Soon I reach the main Lynn to Cromer road which I cross, and then it's back on a cycle path before the route turns and takes me through South Wotton.

This little village is mainly fairly new housing, and being close to Lynn and the main access routes, whilst also being quiet and in the middle of countryside, is popular for families to settle in. The cycle path takes me through the park, and out by what for me is the village's main claim to fame - the pyramid.



Now, a pyramid isn't something you'd necessarily expect to see in the the Norfolk countryside, and this one is maybe 6 feet tall, and on closer inspection, I see that it was put up to mark the Millennium – other places had fountains, or clock-towers – the Wottons chose a pyramid to mark the coming of the new century – and why not?

At this point the cycle route joins the road again, and this is the village street as we get into North Wotton, and then out of the village to open country. As it leaves Wotton, the road climes a small wooded slope, and a couple of cars pass me. I know that the impression of Norfolk is of a very flat county, and whilst there are certainly no mountains, most of the countryside is gently rising and falling, so there are slopes, and occasional hills. As I cycle up the slope, I see that a group of 5 joggers running down the slope towards me. As they get closer they move to the side and I move out to pass them, and it is one of the joys of cycling that I can say thanks to them as I pass, and we acknowledge each other as human beings, not just more traffic on the road. At the top of the slope this small lane joins a slightly larger road as we approach my destination for this trip, Castle Rising.



As I cycle into this tiny hamlet, the first thing I see is a tea room, and so I stop here, go in to get a coffee, and sit outside at one of the tables and enjoy the sun. From the garden here I have a good view of the castle. Now, I have to admit something here – in my head I compare every castle I see with Dover Castle – I was brought up in Dover, and that castle dominated the town, and is really extensive and colours my expectations on any other castle.

But I am here and as I look up at Castle Rising Castle I have to admit that it does bare some similarities with my beloved Dover Castle – it is at least real 12th century stonework and has impressive surrounding earthworks. I decide to go cycle up to the castle after this rest stop, but first I observe the people around me in the garden. I see that another cyclist has stopped here, and there are a few tables of people enjoying the sunshine. One couple at the other side of the garden are busily pouring over what I take to be details of houses for sale – what a nice thing to be doing on a sunny Saturday! The other cyclist gets up to leave, and we share a few words about the cycle route – she is on her way to Sandringham, and I have been that route so am able to assure her that it just crosses the main road at one point, otherwise it's on country lanes and cycle paths.



Having finished my drink, and utilized the bathroom facilities, I head up the hill – yes a real hill! - to the entrance to the castle. The car park is filling up I see, not unexpected on a day like this, and I get off the bike to walk down along the earthworks. I decide not to go into the castle itself, although from what I can see it's evident that there is a lot of preserved stonework there – maybe another time I'll go inside and explore more.

I then head back into the village, and stop at the church of St Lawrence. This church also dates back to the 12th century, and I am encouraged to see that the building is open for people to walk around. Inside it is white and bright, full of flowers, and with the sun shining through the stained glass windows, it is a very uplifting place to be. I spend some minutes admiring the building and in quiet thought before going back outside and walking around the building looking at the ancient – and not so ancient – grave stones.



I then free-wheel down the hill past the War memorial and stop at the bottom to examine one of a number of unusual looking street lights that I've observed around the roads. They are eight sided wooden posts, and although thy have an electric light in them, they almost look like they could have been originally gas or even oil lamps – the signage on them says the following:
“Erected by the people of Castle Rising as a memorial of the Great War 1914 - 1919”



I make another stop as I reach a kissing gate that the bike won't go through, so I chain it up and walk up the path through a field to see if I can get anymore glimpses of a very unusual looking building I've spotted on top of the rise – a kind of peach coloured frontage, with inset statues. Returning to the bike, I find the saddle covered by ladybirds, which I gently encourage to move back onto the fence, before setting back off home.

I make one final stop in South Wotton on my way back to get a cold drink from the village store – and find the people serving are extremely welcoming and pleased to serve – actually makes me want to go visit them again!

I'm home in time for lunch – a very pleasant way to spend a morning in this very pleasant part of the world.

Palms and Kestrals

Whilst I was away on vacation, Autumn seems to have arrived here in West Norfolk.

Yesterday morning I came up to my living room here and was entranced by the early day-break scene - the sun was just rising behind me, and lighting up the roofs on my side of the bank. But out on the river, a morning mist was rising over the water - just swirling lightly as the breeze caught it almost like a reflection of the water as it slowly moved out to sea. The season of mists has indeed arrived.

Today has been a joyously autumnal day, and this afternoon I took a bike ride downstream for a couple of miles - I actually chose a bad time to be going out, as the local junior schools were just turning out, and the pathways were full of mum and prams and small people! But I was soon out on the top of the dyke, and was away from people for a while. I notice that the sunken ship is still there - the buoys around it now have a feeling of permanence.

Under the main road, and I come to the new - huge - paper mill that is nearing completion - the company operating it is called “Palm Paper” and as I ride past I’m amused to see that part of the landscaping they are doing is to plant palm trees!!! There is a lot of ground here, and hopefully the planting they are doing will alleviate the bright blue of the building itself - well, I live in hope! As I ride on top of the dyke, I see that on my left - between the raised path and the fence around the building - they have put down a layer of earth over the existing grass - this is flattened off and I’m not sure if they are going to plant this as well or..... well, I can’t see why they have done this at all!

I ride about 2.5 miles down to where the cycle path joins a country road, and decide to turn around here and turn back; sometimes I take the road home, but today it just feels right to keep to the off road paths. On my way back, I spot what I’m sure is a Kestrel hovering against the wind and watching for pray. As I get closer I’m sure it is a Kestrel, but each time I stop to take a picture it’s swooped away somewhere else. I stop a number of times to watch this bird of prey hover and swoop, and then it flies away from the river, over the path I’m on and up, up until it’s above the towering Palm Paper building. And then it lands on a small ledge way up at the top of the building - and I realise that this is not a just paper mill, to the kestrel it is a cliff face where he can perch and watch for pray!



I ride home smiling, that once again nature is turning what we humans do to its own advantage - how cool is that:)

Whales, boats and cows.

It’s a cloudy day, but the forecast was that there wouldn’t be rain, so I went out for a bike ride - one of my normal routes along the river bank to Saddlebow and back which is mostly on cycle paths, and only goes on a few country roads.

I cycle to Boal Quay and as I turn the corner I see a whale on the bit of green in front of me! No, it’s OK I’ve not been on the funny mushrooms - it really is a whale - well, a “model” of one about six feet long. At first I think it’s topiary, but I see that it’s actually a solid construction, with some sort of green covering over it. Then as I cycle along the road there is one on the green next to the garage, and another on the area opposite that. No signage that I could see saying *why* these had suddenly appeared - maybe it’s to do with the Hanse Festival next week? Well, more may (or may not) be revealed.

Soon I’m onto the riverside path, and going towards something I’ve seen in the distance from the quay - I took it that it was some sort of structure, although it did look a bit like the mast of a boat. It is fairly low tide now, and I can see what it is - it IS the mast of a boat, and I can see a part of the roof of the wheel house too. One more unexplained sighting, but at least I understand what I was seeing from the distance now.

The cycle path goes along on top of the dyke built to contain the river, and the part right outside the town is a sloping grass bank into the water. As one goes further out of town, and under the road bridge, the path is still up high, but there is a slope down to a flat grass area, before going down further to the mud banks and the water. As it happens, last night around the time of the high tide I came over that road bridge, and it looked to me like the water was higher than normal, and that it had come onto the grassed area. As I peddle along this part of the river, I see that my thoughts were right - there are still pools of water down there in places, and out by the paper mill - where the grass has been cleared - you can see the “high water” mark. I’ve only lived by the river for 6 months, but this is the highest I’ve seen the water rise, and shows that the defences are doing just what they were intended to do!

Along on the other bank, there are cattle grazing, and as I watch, one of them starts to walk off the grassed area, down the mud bank, and proceeds to drink from the river. Soon there are 5 or 6 cattle all drinking there, and I wonder if this is normal behaviour for cattle - and if there is a danger that they won’t be able to get back up the mud bank.

I carry on past the power station and out onto the country road to the village of Saddlebow. I don’t have any particular reason for stopping there, but it’s about a 30 minute ride, so it’s just a nice round trip. I stop the other side of the village, look up at the sky, and decide that the dark cloud up there may bring rain, so I turn around to go back home. First though, I clean my glasses and wipe my face - cycling through this area I always get hit by small flying insects: luckily, I learned early on NOT to have my mouth open as I cycle!!

Going back over the Ouse relief channel, I hear the noise of a motorboat - and see that there is a water skier out there - I guess this is a nice piece of still water to practice on. On my ride back I’m relieved to see the cows have safely made it back up to the grass land. Suddenly ahead I see the outline of a bird that is not one of the seagulls or doves I see all the time. I stop to watch, and am fairly sure it’s a Kestral as it hovers and swoops in the wind!

And so home - not an eventful ride, but an interesting one:)