Dereham to Norwich

May 12, 2022

via Wymondham and Diss

Today is really a day too early, as I have friends in a village called Dickleburg - just east of Diss - who say they'll be back from a trip by Friday. I've not thought too much about this and just hope that they'll be home when I get there. Unfortunately I don't have their mobile number to find out and right now, having had a Kings Head fried breakfast, my mind is preoccupied with finding somewhere to have a decent coffee.

I stand in a pool of bright sunshine outside the hotel and take a snap of myself as high school pupils head to class at gone eight. I smile when I glance across the road and see a salon named Pierced Off with Curl Up & Dye next door.

The centre of town is just a couple of minutes' ride away and a branch of Flour and Bean has a couple of tables in the sun and I sit at one and watch people walk to work. After that I hit the town's six charity shops and find a new Z vêtements cycling hat that's only a quid... Z vêtements is a children's clothing company that used to sponsor a professional cycling team back in the 1980s and usually these Italian-made things are too small for my fat head, but this one fits OK. I also buy a small towel to clean the bike and panniers - all grimy from cycling in the drizzle. It's 50p.

I soon get on the lane heading out towards Haxham and it feels cool, despite the bright sunshine. No doubt it'll warm up before long.

A cyclist comes up behind me. He's not a young guy either and lives locally, but his accent tells me he's originally from Scotland. He comments on my Black Sheep cycling shirt and assumes I'm from Yorkshire. We ride along together for about 4km and marvel at how quiet the route is. There are no cars.

A new Z vêtements cycling hat from a charity shop - just a quid

Thatched cottage on the south side of Dereham - it was once a pub called The Jolly Farmers

Carleton Bridge (1815) over the River Tiffey, near Kimberly Park

Whenever I stop, getting my shoes out of the SPDs is proving tricky after riding in yesterday's wet weather and when I spot a cycle shop - Howards Cycles - on the edge of Wymondham, I pop in. The guy blasts the pedals with compressed air before spraying them with what he says is the best lubricant for the problem. While in there I buy a nice bell, as the one on the bike isn't great.

A man is sat in the Market Place eating fish and chips and the smell is just too good, so I get some myself and sit on the shaded bench seat once he's finished. It's right under the historic Market Cross, a timber-framed structure that dates back to the 1600s.

Later I walk up and down the main shopping street, get as far as The Green Dragon and ponder having a beer, but know it'd simply knock me out, so after browsing a couple of charity shops I get going further south.

Entering Wymondham - riding past a house called The Chestnuts on Cock Street

Market Place, Wymondham, where I ate fish and chips

Thinking of having a beer in the Green Dragon (15th century) on Church Street, Wymondham

After crossing the B1172 and going under the railway tracks, I make a left that has a sign saying it's a dead end and eventually ride up a small lane. It's a dead end, but once past a metal gate, there's a rough track that continues south.

The farm track leads to a metal footbridge that crosses the manically busy Bypass and as I reach the end just after taking a self-timed photo, I notice my front tyre has gone completely flat. As it now feels hot in the sun, I walk down the tree-shaded path and find a comfortable spot to work in and get my repair kit out.

The tyre doesn't want to come off and I wonder what it'd be like doing this job in the dark on a cold, wet night. My plastic levers almost snap before I've prised the tyre off the rim and it takes ages to do what is a simple job.

I later pause at a church in the dinky village of Aslacton, simply because the tower is round. The front door is locked, so I make do with taking a snap in the grounds. It turns out this is an 11th century structure and the round tower is a predominantly Norfolk feature, with roughly 130 in the county. With its crenelations around the top, this one makes the church look like a castle.

Leaving Wymondham on a bike path bridge over the Bypass

The 11th century Church of St Michael, with its round tower, in the village of Aslacton

Ruins of St Mary's Church, just south of the village of Tivetshall St Mary

Small lanes form a beeline and it takes me until 5:30 to get to one-street Dickleburg, where my friends live. There are two cars in the drive and a tubby cat is walking around inside, but nobody's home.

I ponder my options and decide to enquire at the nearby pub about a room. The place is having some serious remodelling done and the landlord says they don't have any spare rooms tonight, so after writing a note and leaving it secured on my friends' gate, I decide to try my luck in the town of Diss, about 10km away. I can ride back here tomorrow.

I'd always anticipated going to Diss and have a route marked up that's quiet. After getting across the busy A140, I follow a winding lane until reaching a turning to a farm track. It's part of what's known as Boudicca Way. There must be a story there, but I don't know it.

The rough track drops steeply and crosses a stream and becomes just a walking path, but it wiggles to the eastern edge of Diss and from there I ride into town in search of a hotel.

It turns out Diss is short of them and the one I ask in is full and the other is on the far edge of town and if it does have a room, it's going to be silly expensive, so I decide to ride back west to the train station and see what departures there are. I'm now seriously tired.

Fording a stream on the way west to Diss, along Boudicca Way

The station manager or whatever you call them tells me the next train goes to Norwich. It's in the opposite direction to what I want, but it seems it's a good place to find a room and Google Maps says there's a Premier Inn just across the road from the station.

It's a big hotel that looks sad. The clerk at the check-in desk confirms they have a room and it's £84 without breakfast and asks for my phone number. It seems odd that it's required when she has already my Visa card. My patience is wearing thin, but she becomes belligerent and I have to check my little book to see what my number is as it's just a supermarket phone that I got recently. Sure enough she then calls me from behind the perspex screen to make sure it's right. The point of all this is totally lost on me.

Premier Inn in Norwich - £84:00 without breakfast

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 445 km (276 miles)

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