Rebellion Way route in Norfolk

I did another section of this this weekend. Holt to King's Lynn on the 2 hottests days of the year so far. The descent out of Holkham Park was long and faaasssst (marred only by some knob in a van who insisted on passing me with inches to spare; not what you need at about 30mph!).

The run from Burnham Market to Ringstead was also good; a long rolling 20 min descent with stunning views to the coast. There aren't many rides when I wish I was using a freewheel but that was one of them!

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Liz and I started our try at it last Saturday.
Rode from home to the castle and then on to Diss. Which turned out to be 40 miles.
It absolutely pissed it down for most of the way, but other than some nob in a Skoda aiming at a puddle and giving Liz a full on bath in muddy water it wasn’t too awful. There were a few nice off road grassy sections which were hard going as the ground was so sodden and the ford going into Diss was hella deep with a sandy bottom which took out my front brake and almost made Liz loose the front end. We’ll do some more as some point soon. But the main thing is Liz even with the bad bits said it was still fun and as it was Liz’s first longish ride in an age that’s pretty impressive.
Thankfully I’d driven and stashed the car in Diss first thing and then ridden home before we set off, which meant we didn’t have to take the train soaking wet.
Enjoy some very poor quality photos.

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Did the last section to complete a full loop yesterday. Thetford to Swaffham and then back to Norwich via the short route option. The paths around Thetford forest and Lynford aboretum were lovely. Definitely going back there again!
Planning on the Wolf Way next year.

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Any thoughts on clockwise vs counterclockwise for this loop?

Personally I’d want to get the Diss bit out of the way first, but that’s more about my thoughts about Diss to be honest ;)

Oh really? I was thinking of doing one half of it in a weekend. Starting in Diss seemed like a good option in terms of ease-of-access and avoiding the city-riding around Norwich.

Generally no. I did various sections in different directions but would suggest doing the bit from holkham hall to king's Lynn counter clockwise as you get a couple of lovely descents (see post up thread).

bit last minute: doing part of this in 2 days. We'll arrive in Norwich tomorrow (Sat) 7:30pm, planning to wildcamp, train back to London Mon evening. What's the best route?
Counterclockwise to King's Lynn? Clockwise to King's Lynn? Clockwise past Thetford and then ride to Ely or Cambridge?
Good camping spots on any of these options?
@jdp ?

Can't help with camping I'm afraid, we stayed in hotels/b&b's. Someone else did mentioning camping earlier in the thread. As for direction, I'd say counter clockwise to kl will get you to the north Norfolk coast and through Thetford will get you forests and gravel/sandy tracks, so choose what you fancy!

thnx, super helpful, will report

Just did Norwich to King’s Lynn, train out Sat evening, back Monday afternoon, leisure pace, 2 nights wild camping. (Plenty options on the way, just take some time to scout them.)
I’d avoid the King’s Lynn part if I was doing the full loop. Bread Source in Aylsham good for coffee and pastries / lunch.

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Looks like you had fun and a good call on Bread Source, they are always worth the ride out.

Was hoping to do the top half this weekend, with a companion who is not keen on wild camping. Every campsite I can come up with along the route has a 2-3 minimum length stay... anyone got any tips?

I have never been turned away from a campsite. They can squeeze you in especially on a bike or hiking. The minimum stay is normally just a booking thing.

I had this too, so stayed in The Globe pub in Kings Lynn (a wetherspoons but was fine) and a pilgrim hotel in Walsingham (very friendly and helpful). Both had locked rooms for the bikes. Walsingham is about 6 miles off the route from the coast.

Thanks @Chaley and @jdp. Managed to get responses from two "empty field" style sites not too far from the route which should hopefully do the trick. Pond Farm and Newholme Nurseries.

Plans were set for a three day ride from Norwich to Kings Lynn.

We set off on an early train yesterday in high spirits, enjoying the ride there through central London in sunshine and free from traffic on the roads.

We arrived in Norwich to a constant drizzle and grey skies as far as the eye could see - which was quite far, given how flat the area is. Setting off we wished for a turn in the weather, but sadly that was not granted.

It's funny how percentages work sometimes. When I checked the weather forecast, it said 30% chance of rain. The route was described as 90% paved. In actuality our day's riding happened in 100% rain, and the 10% unpaved - which I'd worried wouldn't be enough to be fun - was actually far too much. After only 45 km we were fully soaked through, our bikes and bags covered in mud splashed up from constant unavoidable puddles, and our brakes so full of grit that I physically flinched at their sharp howling.

Bread Source in Aylsham was supposed to be our "past halfway" reward for the day, but arriving there right after an hour slogging along a muddy puddly nettly path by a miniature railway had us in such a poor state of cleanliness we were too embarrassed to go in. Looking at our phones while standing outside the bakery in the worsening rain, we saw pictures from friends sunbathing in London. This wasn't the motivation needed to continue. Even if we made it to Cromer, and slept in a flooded field in a tent, were we going to get up and cycle another 100 km the next day in soggy shoes, through the forecasted thunderstorm? Didn't appeal.

We altered course for the nearest train station, 30 minutes away. It's remarkable how pleasant a generic B road can be when it's taking you towards your warm dry bed. Next we had to deal with the state of our bikes. A previous train trip with filthy bikes had had another passenger get verbally aggressive and threaten us with violence. As fate would have it, the train platform abounded with deep puddles, from which we scooped water in our bidons for an ad-hoc bike wash. Knees-down got the same treatment.

It wasn't far beyond Norwich southward when the sun reappeared again. Drawing into Cambridge we passed a wide expanse of solar panels - an impressive energy farm. It was clear from the blue skies that they'd had a much better day of it.

It's disappointing how our trip turned out, especially as a first foray into multi-day bikepacking. As a one day ride it was okay, but forcing ourselves through several days of that would not have been worth it. Even to build character. Hopefully there's another opportunity with more favourable weather some other time. Equally, it's probably a good idea to learn some better strategies to deal with the conditions we faced.

We ended up riding ~70 km all in, so it was still a decent ride with fully loaded bikes. And the shower - pizza - beer at home was a satisfying finish.

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Better to live to fight another day! To cheer you up it’s been pishing it down on and off all day in Norwich with added thunderstorms, so a good call. You earned that pizza. Ref Bread source, they are used to soggy/muddy folk, it is Norfolk after all.

That sucks man. I rode the BVP last week and it was quite pleasant!

No guarantees with the weather, especially these days. Well done on bailing.