A Short Wenhaston Circuit

I've written about the back route from Wenhaston to the nearby town of Halesworth, with it's new (ish) cycleroute cutting out the unpleasant big roads. This is a short circuit taking in a lot of the above route, but allowing for a bit more back lanes on a pleasant sunny day.

Here's the map, with the circular route in blue with my clip below going clockwise from the start in Wenhaston.




And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:20 Rough road
0:25 Back of Blackheath
1:12 Bramfield
1:26 Railway bridge
2:26 Holly Tree Farm turn
2:53 Edge of Walpole
3:37 Mells Lane
3:41 Route to Halesworth on left
4:0 Letting car through
4:18 A lot of slippy sand
4:32 Heath Road
4:47 Back Road


Bramfield Road, which loops west round the back of Wenhaston and Blackheath from the centre, gets pretty rough near the farm entrance. A look across at the amount of very large vehicles parked up at the farm gives some indication why this is.

At the next junction, we join Regional Cycle Network route 42 which has come from Dunwich (see other videos and blogs) and Snape before that. Then the Low Road through to the back end of Bramfield is full of wildlife and sometimes pretty farm buildings. This continues on the back loop around Bramfield to the Warpole Road.

The Walpole Road is probably the most likely place to experience poor driving as it's a bit wider than the other lanes. However, it's few and far between. Remember, always ride wide of the hedgerow, as per DfT BikeAbility instructions, you are better seen. The two short slopes go up to Holly Tree Farm where the turn north towards Halesworth appears. Now on National Cycle Network route 1.

This is a lovely route with some nice views, and drops down at the end. Take care as the road is littered with sand and gravel that makes it hard to stop by the main road at the end. There's a quick nip and back on the main road up to the corner before getting back onto a small lane.

Again, more pretty little nooks and corners until the main A road into Halesworth. A short distance to the other side is the turn onto the quiet cycleroute to Halesworth, a welcome relief from the A road. This is where we leave National Cycle Network route 1.

Then, the remains of the journey along Mells Lane into the back of Wenhaston. Note I see a lot more cars here, but none are scary or do silly things. At one point I get a car behind me and decide to find a place to pull over and let them through. I've no desire to have them wobbling around behind me, I'd rather the peace and quiet! Note that this is as I'm heading up hill, if I was in a going downhill at speed I'd keep going. Mainly as I'm going as fast as any driver at that point.







* How to go HD.

Bamburgh at New Year

At the New Year I was lucky enough to share a house with friends in the north-easterly town of North Sunderland, whose coastal area is the more famous Seahouses. This is the location of the great historic rescue by Grace Darling on the Farne Islands.

During our time there we had mostly great weather, including some windy, windy days (great for beach walks) and some fantastic sun-bathed days (also windy). I found the time to take 2 bike rides taking in the sites from this part of the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. as well as being more socialable and going on 3 lovely walks. Some of the photos and clips have captured a bit of this fantastic light.

Anyway, this is the area map, with a few details. Click here to see the map bigger.

Map includes my ride in blue, NCN1 in yellow, Bamburgh Castle, Seahouses Pier, Doddington Moor walk, and St Cuthberts Cave walk

The rides provided some stunning views. I took photos along the way as well as taking screen captures from the video footage. The clips and photos are below.

The walks on Doddington Moor and to St Cuthbert's Cave also gave some stunning views. Doddington Moor has a number of ancient Cup and Ring markings with some description here. St Cuthbert's Cave also is full of history as well as good views nearby.Visit Northumberland also says that:

It is reputed that the monks of Lindisfarne brought St. Cuthbert’s body to this place to rest for a short period in AD875 following Viking raids on the Island and the subsequent abandonment of the saxon monastery.

I've put all those photos here from those two walks, along with a windy beach walk to Bamburgh Castle and here are a few highlights (Google seems to be killing embedded pictures, sigh. Click the caption links underneath if they aren't there for you!).

St Cuthberts Cave

Doddington Moor

Seahouses Beach

Rides

The rides were fun, and the latter quite windy! I did the first one anti-clockwise and used the road along the sea between Seahouses and Bamburgh. This gave some fantastic views of Bamburgh Castle as I got nearer and nearer. It was marred a touch by too many close passes by people driving, I just didn't let that get at my enjoyment. Here are the photos from that.


The beach north of Seahouses, looking north


Distant View of the Farne Islands


Bamburgh Castle from distance


Bamburgh Castle from the edge of the village


Bamburgh Castle last distant view


Bike shadow


Bamburgh Castle close up


Bamburgh Castle close up


Bamburgh Castle close up


Bamburgh Castle from the village green

And here are some of the stills from the video footage.


Sea view from North side of Seahouses


Bamburgh Castle distant from south


Bamburgh Castle close up


Bamburgh Castle close up

Then, I made my way inland, catching NCN1 for a little while, then back south along some very frosty lanes. This. This gave an added excitement of taking it very carefully on slippy-looking surfaces. I skidded only once as I was stopping by stupidly turning the front wheel slightly too much at 5mph and sliding for a foot until I stopped. Also, picking lines through ice puddles avoiding going on surface that might crack or large lumps of broken up ice.


Bike Shadow


Icy Puddle


Slushy puddle and shadow

Here's the ride in full. There's no need to watch it all, unless you wanty a nice relax, I've linked places of interest below.

Maximise for HD & turn the sound up or down, depending on your preference!

The first ride

00:29 Seahouses
00:44 Coastal View
01:15 Bamburgh Castle Distant View
02:44 Bamburgh Castle View
03:45 Bamburgh Castle Close View
04:15 Bamburgh Village
04:55 Sunny Inland Route
07:03 Turning South
08:44 Icy Puddle
09:35 Slight Skid
11:15 Turning Back onto NCN1
14:11 Credits




Later Ride

Later on I got to do the route again, this time clockwise. There was a ferocious south-westerly wind and I wanted to get that bit out of the way first. It was hard just going along at 8mph! In this first bit I also found a farmer doing their traditional winter work of hedge trimming. They were good to stop for me to pass, although I pretty sure I picked up a slow puncture here.

Here are some stills from the video footage.


Tractor trimming

Once turning north, the wind had changed to being directly across me, hindering me by blowing me across the road. However, there was some great shadow pictures!


Bike Shadow

I also found a car behind me at one point. This is a narrow road and there really isn't space to just pass. The driver seemed to get this, possibly because I was quite a long way out from the hedge, controlling the lane. I didn't want to hold them up as it spoils both our enjoyment. So I found a good place, checking the road surface ahead for a good 100 yards, and pulled over signalling the driver to come past. All went very well!


Signalling Driver to pass


Car passing close but planned


Car passed fine

Finally, turning back towards the coast and Bamburgh Castle and I got the benefit of the wind! The road gave fantastic long distance views of the castle as it was going directly towards it. I decided to go all the way into the village to get the castle close up once more.


Bamburgh Castle distant from East


Bamburgh Castle close up

Finally, I turned back through the village and headed for the NCN1 route south towards North Sunderland, simply to avoid the sea front road with it's rushing drivers. It's longer distance and time-wise, but quieter and less hassled.

Maximise for HD & turn the sound up or down, depending on your preference!

The last ride

00:24 Onto NCN1 going south-west
03:15 Passing a Hedge Trimming Tractor
04:10 Turning westwards off NCN1
06:30 Earlier Skid Corner, Easier Now
07:35 Earlier Icy Puddle, Easier Now
08:35 Car Passing
09:35 Turning Back Towards Coast
10:25 Bamburgh Castle from the West
11:00 Bamburgh Castle Slightly Closer
11:15 Bamburgh Village
11:30 Bamburgh Castle Close Up
11:42 Back into Bamburgh
12:05 NCN1 Route Back to North Sunderland
16:00 Credits

Halesworth to Wenhaston

Halesworth has recently put in a new cycle route and converted some of the riverside fields into a recreational area. This seems to be very popular for all kinds of outdoor activities, as well as giving a great way to avoid a rather unpleasant A-Road route.

Here's the map with the journey on to Wenhaston.

View Wenhaston to Halesworth in a larger map

The red line represents the old way of getting to and from town. It's a distinctly unpleasant road environment.Busy, often speeding cars. I've been doing the 30mph speed limit and had cars flash pass me far too close. Used by lorries too.

Additionally, it's a small hill with a bit of a slope. Not enormous but still not ideal for commuter-style cycling, especially with kids for school or a full shopping load. I've clipped this route before in blogger (Halesworth to Mells Lane) as part of a bigger route so just how unpleasant it is can be seen.

And here are the clips showing just how the route has changed for the better. The cycleway is the yellow route on the map, with the single track road onto Wenhaston as the blue route.

From Halesworth to Wenhaston

Open in YouTube at the start or at the start of the single lane track

From Wenhaston to Halesworth

Open in YouTube at the start or at the start of the cycleway

A Few Photos along the Cycleway.


A "Get off and walk" sign on NCN1. Sigh. I've put it on Cyclestreets. Surely, amongst a space that was once wide enough to have a road along it, there is space to put a 3m wide cyclelane down the middle.


Blossom in mid April


Woven Wheels


Woven Wheels


Note the segregated space for people walking (probably just missing a gate) and riding. Also the cattle grid approach for bikes. This looks wide enough for most cargo bikes and chikd carriers. All in all a really good example of properly built active field separation. I've put it on Cyclestreets