In Bury St Edmunds: Mendelsham OAB

June 26, 2022

So far we like Bury and our apartment here a lot. Easy to orient to, very cycle friendly, attractive, well positioned, it belongs in the box with places like Menton, Narbonne, Ithaca, and Annecy where it is very easy to imagine us enjoying a significantly longer stay.

The weather is fine today, but once again quite windy with a 15+ south wind predicted to blow steadily throughout the day. I had previously mapped out three candidate out and back day rides to the north and south, but we scrap all of them and draw a new one to the east when Rachael wisely points out that we’ll have a better time with a crosswind.

Our ride begins by cutting behind the cathedral and past the Abbey Gardens. Within a block of our apartment we’re on a cycle path that takes us three miles to the outskirts of the city. It impresses us again with how accessible by bike Bury is - this route seems every bit as appealing as the one we rode in on yesterday.

The People’s Bank, built in 1846 at a time when local savings banks were a fairly recent innovation. The building was designed by Lewis Nockall Cottingham, a renowned architect who specialized in renovations of medieval buildings, including the Rochester Cathedral and Saint Mary’s Church and it’s Norman tower here in Bury. Saint Mary’s is just to the left of this frame.

Between the cathedral and the People’s Bank is Saint Mary’s Church. It’s origins are Norman but the present church was erected in the early 1400’s and restored in the 1840’s by Lewis Cottingham, the architect referenced above. This is a very large and important church - it claims the second longest aisle and the largest west window of any parish church in the country. Also, Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII and the Queen of France is buried here; so I suppose we’ll need to find time to look inside before leaving town.

It isn’t that surprising that this route seems as nice as yesterday’s, because it actually is the same route we rode in on. I hadn’t noticed in drawing this route that it began by backtracking the last five miles of yesterday’s ride. I wasn’t certain of it this morning until we came to the zigzag railroad overpass we crossed yesterday, the one Rachael chided me for last night for failing to take a photo of it.

I love it when life deals you do-overs. This is the railway overpass I failed to photograph yesterday.

It’s an out and back so once Rachael has hung around long enough to assure I’ve taken an overpass photo or three she’s off, not to be seen again until she’s turned back from the end of the marked route.

The ride is similar to much of yesterday’s, which is a good thing. Quiet relaxing roads through open agricultural land, interspersed with villages with colorful houses and well maintained gardens make for a very pleasant outing. And Rachael’s right, of course - an east-west ride is perfect for the day. If there’s going to be a strong crosswind this is good country for it as so many of these small roads are lined with trees or hedgerows that break the wind. It’s not a problem at all today.

Another beautiful summer’s day in Suffolk.

Rachael’s almost a mile into the return when I catch up to her but she agrees to turn around and ride with me to the end at the 15th century church in Mendelsham. We find a bare patch of grass in the cemetery where we don’t appear to be sitting on anyone’s head to break for lunch and then bike home nonstop, returning to the apartment about three.

Video sound track: Groovin’, by the Young Rascals

For dinner we walk two blocks to Francela, a restaurant that sounds like it would be French but is actually Greek. We’re given a spot by the open window onto the street and enjoy an excellent meal at a table that feels outdoors except that it’s inside out of the wind. I look admiringly at the gallery of photos from Greece on the wall and ask the owner Sal where they’re from. Simi!

We biked across Simi in 2013 on our second tour of Greece. It still stands out in my memory as one of my favorite spots in in that country. Over dinner I remind Rachael of the highlights of our too brief stay there, and late into the night my mind is still mentally tossing out ideas of how we might get back to Simi again someday.

Our street, Bury St Edmunds. The entrance to our apartment building is just to the right. I was remarking to Rachael that the street made me think of Greece, and then I remembered its name: Atheneum Lane. Hmm - Greece.

In Francela, a Greek restaurant in Bury. The owner Sal tells us that the photos are from his home, the island of Simi - one of my favorite spots in Greece.

I should have taken photos of our excellent mains (lamb kefte, garlic marinated king prawns) but at least we can appreciate the baklava.

After dinner we walk through the Abbey Gate for another stroll through the gardens marveling at the ruins, the magnificent trees and the flowers, and then call it a day. If we lived here I wouldn’t be surprised if we spent many evenings strolling through these gardens - it’s just right for a leisurely after dinner walk.

The Abbey Gate was erected in the early 1400’s, replacing the original one that was damaged in 1327 in riots by townsfolk enraged by the powerful monastery who ransacked the abbey and kidnapped the abbot.

Saint Edmundsbury Cathedral, from the abbey gardens.

Ruins are almost all that remain of the vast St Edmunds Abbey, built a thousand years ago as a shrine and burial site for King Edmund, the patron saint of England. It was a major pilgrimage site for centuries until the dissolution of the abbeys under Henry VIII.

The cathedral, and ruins of the once-great abbey.

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Ride stats today: 43 miles, 1,200’; for the tour: 385 miles, 16,300’

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 385 miles (620 km)

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