England : Norfolk Almost the shortest night, night ride round the coast - 23rd May

[Flying Dodo]

Prompted by User10571's excellent musing on another mad cap idea:-

How about, the following night, a short night, doing the opposite?
Start at sunset, on the coast, facing west. Ride east into the night. Catch the dawn on an east facing coast.
Huntstanton to Lowestoft is what I have in mind. Clockwise round the Norfolk coast, with the shoreline never too far away.

as shown here, how about running this on Friday 30th May 23rd May? The above route is about 84 miles, virtually all flat, oddly enough. Get a train to Kings Lynn and cycle 16 miles to Hunstanton. It would need riders to be self sufficient due to the lack of 24 hour supermarkets on the route itself, although there might be a petrol station open half way round in Sheringham. Great Yarmouth has a 24 hour McDonalds and an Asda, although that's virtually at the end of the ride anyway. Another factor is that you'd get to Lowestoft as it gets light, a bit after 4, then have to wait until 6:07 for the first train out. Unless you want to sit in another McDonalds - although in fact their breakfasts aren't that bad.

So not exactly ideal, but it appeals to my quirky nature. Anyone else interested?


Edit - date altered above.

 

[User10571]

Not so mad.
I've had this one in mind ever since Wobbly John from another place mentioned having done it....
The King's Lynn rail connection is a bit of a pain, and I think will keep the numbers down - as will the lack of half way stop.

 

[ianrauk]

Sounds jolly fun

 

[Flying Dodo]

Hunstanton used to have a passenger train service until 1969.

 

[User10571]

Your in-depth knowledge of train services borders on the disturbing.
Well done.

 

[User10571]

Sheringham Esso garage closes at 23:00 - so no joy there.
My gut feeling is that this would be a really, really quiet (traffic free) ride.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Your in-depth knowledge of train services borders on the disturbing.
Well done.

I'm not a train spotter, like someone else of our acquaintance.

Just about everything rural, out in the sticks, closed in the 1960's!

I noticed Heacham, just outside Hunstanton, had a Station Road, so started looking at the satellite view and the cycle maps to see if it had been converted to a cycle path to add an interesting diversion (no), but assumed it was a Beeching mortality, and Googled it.

Sheringham Esso garage closes at 23:00 - so no joy there.
My gut feeling is that this would be a really, really quiet (traffic free) ride.

I think so.

 

[StuAff]

Interested, but I'd need a night off (which may or may not be an issue) as there's no way I could make a train to Kings Lynn after work. The reverse route (i.e. setting off from Lowestoft) wouldn't be any better for that.

 

[Glow worm]

That's correct, you can't ride all the way to Heacham along the old rail line I'm afraid. Much of the land north of Castle Rising on which the line lies has no public access.

I ride out of King's Lynn very often (to the Wells area) and the route out of Lynn is excellent and largely traffic free until near Sandringham where you have a choice of quiet lanes (with some hills) inland to Hunny (via Sedgeford) or risk riding along the A149. The A149 between Lynn and Hunny is definately not a road I would recommend riding along as it's fast, and often quite narrow. I rode just half a mile of it in September from where the cycle path crosses the A149 near Sandringham, to the Wolferton turn off and it was extremely unpleasant. At least it's not that far though.

After Hunny the A149 is much quieter and should be a doddle- sounds like a great idea for a ride.

Edit: another alternative to doing all of the Lynn to Hunny bit on the A149 is the B1440 from Dersingham to Snettisham I haven't done it myself but I've just spotted it on my map and it looks like the old A149 before the By-pass. Porbably a 3 miles or so alternative.

 

[User10571]

Thanks, glow worm.
Local knowledge is worth bags of useful.

 

[Glow worm]

Thanks, glow worm.
Local knowledge is worth bags of useful.

No probs User10571- it will be a brilliant ride in some great cycling country.

 

[theclaud]

Hunstanton is the weirdest place I've ever been.

 

[User10571]

Hunstanton is the weirdest place I've ever been.

That's well off your path.
What you doing there?

 

[theclaud]

That's well off your path.
What you doing there?

I was on the way to Norwich from Peterborough, via King's Lynn, after the York-Hull FNRttC 2010. I have relatives near Norwich, but I was aiming for the Fat Cat first, after a tip-off from @Delftse Post and @NickM. The north Norfolk coast was nice... once I'd got out of Hunstanton...

 

[User10571]

I was on the way to Norwich from Peterborough, via King's Lynn, after the York-Hull FNRttC 2010. I have relatives near Norwich, but I was aiming for the Fat Cat first, after a tip-off from @Delftse Post and @NickM. The north Norfolk coast was nice... once I'd got out of Hunstanton...

Now you're scaring me....
That pic is enough.....