Four or five day tour in Suffolk - suggestions?

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swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Various peeps on the 'counties' thread have been lauding the delights of Suffolk, which I really don't know, having lived in London all my life and by-passed it en route to Norfolk a few times, but never really thought of going there. If I decided to spend a few days pootling around it this summer, any suggestions as to good places to go/avoid?
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
The Suffolk Coastal route is nice, little 88 mile jaunt. I have done many of miles although not all at the same time. Mainly quiet country lanes with very little traffic

http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/TransportAndStreets/Cycling/Suffolk+Coastal+Cycle+Route.htm

Trains every 15 mins from Liverpool Street To Ipswich as a starting point

On the east coast Aldburgh, Thorpeness, Southwold are all nice with a variety of flat open coastal roads with mixture of forests here and there. If the wind is blowing easterly it can be a little fresh and exposed at times

The only area I would avoid in Suffolk is Haverhill which is quite frankly a dump full of chav gangster wannabees.
 
I did a three day tour around suffolk the other week. It was actually a 4 counties tour, but it went well.

We started at Cambridge, went south to Sudbury, then to Blaxhall taking in the coast and finally to Thetford, where we took the train back to Cambridge.

You can't really go wrong in Suffolk - it's a beautiful county
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Suffolk - it's hillier than you think it's going to be.

If you're looking for hotels, there's one on the dock-front in Ipswich in a converted warehouse which is very nice, and pretty reasonable for the quality. They happily stored our tandem in a shed for us.

Bury St Edmunds is a nice enough place for a pootle around, but I'd concentrate on the villages and the countryside.
 

Tim Bennet.

Entirely Average Member
Location
S of Kendal
Remember there's a ferry across the rivers Orwell and Stour between Harwich, Shotley and over to near Felixstowe.

Gives some more options.
 

Glow worm

Legendary Member
Location
Near Newmarket
Between Bury St Edmunds and Cavendish/Clare is a really quiet and lovely part of Suffolk. Well off the beaten track. Look for villages like Hawkedon, Hartest and Glemsford- beautiful. If you are a fellow stargazer they have a very healthy attitude to streetlighting around there too (there's none!). Also- the coast ride from Dunwich to Southwold is great and lot of it off roads through the forest.
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
Can't argue with any of the above.

A really nice out of the way route is from Eye up to Hoxne then along lanes by the Waveney Valley to Weybread. You can either go on to Bungay or Beccles or cut down along a surprisingly hilly section to Metfield, Huntingfield and Laxfield then cross country back along largely empty lanes to Worlingworth, Debenham and Eye.

John
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
If you want me to check out the current timetables of any of the ferries near Felixstowe let me know. Also depending on whether you get this side of the county and when I know of a few good country pubs serving Adnams if you fancy a bevvy :smile:
 
OP
OP
swee'pea99

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Beer? Filthy stuff, never touch it. Except on days with a y in their name...

Thanks 4F - if I'm going to be around I'll be in touch.
 
NCR 51 runs through some really pretty countryside. I rode from Bury St Edmunds to Newmarket and back on it today, and was really impressed by the village of Moulton. It has a pack-horse bridge (very rare in this neck of the woods) next to a ford with a pub in the background, and is most picturesque. Dalham is also gorgeous too. The villages south of BSE are attractive as a previous poster advises, the town of BSE is old, but for picture postcard stuff you could head for Lavenham. It is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the country, and its neighbour, Long Melford, is also worth visiting. BSE has the Greene King brewery, if you like that sort of thing.
 
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