Keep Pushing Those Pedals: A Loop to Moulton and back

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

A Loop to Moulton and back

Tuesday, 4^th March 2014: I seem to becoming a creature of habit – so to break the habit of constantly cycling along Lodes Way I decided to take a trip into the mountains – which is a loop out to Moulton and back. However when I was adding the pictures into this Post I noticed that almost to the day last year I had posted about this ride (well similar) – 3rd March 2013 – The Mountains near Moulton. So even when I try to break my habits I seem to stick with them.

I have inserted a map and Bike Route Toaster Link to the route. The course name is Newmarket Loop. You should also be able to click on the map to reach the same place. Whilst it is easy to become set in one’s ways change isn’t a bad thing and even if it is, if you can’t do anything about it then embrace the opportunity. Whilst it is tempting to think that things go on for ever on the Internet, they don’t always.

One of my main concerns about the Cloud is what happens when things go wrong with the company behind it. What happens to my data then. Even large companies change their plans and retire things that stop making commercial sense.

For instance, I still pretty much buy all my music on CD and then rip it and play it on my home network, depending upon where I am in the house. (I use Sonos – not cheap, but it works well. I started in the living room and have added a system in the kitchen.) This means I can leave all my music to my kids, should they want it – or they could sell it.

Now if I had bought all of my stuff on iTunes apparently, according to the currents T&Cs.

No Right of Survivorship

You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted. Contact iCloud Support at www.apple.com/support/icloud for further assistance.

This is a situation has already been faced as reported in the Daily Mail. Of course you can understand that perhaps some people use their iPads for the storage of more intimate stuff that perhaps they would not want their relatives to see (for the sake of the relatives). So the wipe clean approach may be the least contentious way to go?

Still back to the ride – I have shown it as a loop starting in Swaffham Bulbeck, it is just over 50Km (31 miles) in length and whilst my claim to mountains might be a bit over the top it does have one to two small hills to content with. According to BRT there is around 300m of climbing/descending in all. The good news is that what goes up can freewheel down if necessary.

As I was cycling along the Swaffham Heath Road out of Swaffham Bulbeck I came across a cache of BT phone books. They might want to re-consider how they distribute their books!

BT Phone Books – Dumped by the roadside – Swaffham Heath Road

Map of my Ride

The track alongside which the BT Phone books were dumped.

Pylons Marching over Swaffham Heath Road

A little further along is a bridge over the A14/A11. I was using my 100mm to 300mm lens on my camera so had to remember to stop well before I reach the bridge in order to take pictures. The effect makes it look like quite a substantial hill.

Daffodil Bridge over the A14 (Swaffham Heath Road)

There is nothing like a few daffodils to brighten the place up.

Daffodil Bridge over the A14 (Swaffham Heath Road)

I then enjoyed the undulations as I made my way over to Moulton. I also stuck to the roads, there are some very pleasant byways and bridleways in the area – but they can get a little sticky.

Swooping down the hill into Moulton was fun, I topped 50Km/h without trying – there is a T-junction at the bottom so you need to feel confident in your brakes. I took the Church Road down to the Ford. Whilst the River Kennett wasn’t a raging torrent the Ford was fairly deep. Not that that stopped me from cycling through it. I could feel the force of the moving water through the handlebars though. more than I had expected, but not enough to unseat me.

There is a rather nice packhorse bridge in Moulton a bit further down the river, which is well worth a look.

Ford – Moulton