Race-the-sun write-up Part 2 - Getting to the start line.

I aimed to get to Norfolk on 20th in plenty of time for an early night in preparation for an early start on 21st. Other things to do while heading in that direction came to mind in the days leading up to the Sun Run - show Ma the holiday snaps from Italy, visit the family graves at Castle Acre, fix up a security camera for sister Gwyn - so I ended up sneaking out not long after dawn on the Thursday.

Sneaking out just after dawn on Thursday

Noticing my increasing inability of late to get from A to B without going via C and D for no good reason, I took the opportunity of this run to try out different navigational aids. There's the relevant pages from a map in the tank bag, the waypoint list in the little holder on the handlebars, and in extremis, there is the quite sophisticated sat nav on my new smart phone.  During the course of the run, I tried all three ... and yes, I still managed to go via C and D!

















The early start certainly gave me a clear run. Purring along those dead straight Fenland roads in the early morning was particularly refreshing.  (One has to purr on these roads, not sprint. They may go straight for miles, but they flex as the millenia of peat under them expands and contracts. Going any faster than a graceful purr feels like being kicked at the base of spine at frequent but random intervals.)

Straight on 'till morning. Fenland straights are only 'straight' in the horizontal plain.

I called in on Ma to show her our holiday snaps. Not the best timing I've ever been guilty of, given that she's just had her eyes poked around with at the hospital. Still, I got to breakfast on copious amounts of bread and cheese and one of Ma's mamoth Eccles cakes.


Called in on ma with some trepidation; she always tries to nick my bike.
"It's just like my mobility scooter," she says.

Actually, seeing Ma try to figure out how to put my helmet on for this picture was way more amusing than my attempt at a humorous caption, here!












From Kings Lynn, I took the back roads to Castle Acre...



Isn't it funny how things you remember from your childhood

- like this lane between Southacre and Castle Acre -

alway turn out to be much smaller than you thought.

One object of my detour was to re-acquaint myself with this tucked-away beauty spot, a ford through the River Nar where children can paddle and catch tiddlers while the grown-ups picnic and take pictures of the ruins of Castle Acre priory.

River Nar, Castle Acre
(And yes, I did cop out and ride across the pedestrian bridge.)

Castle Acre priory across the meadows from the ford