Sunday 8th September
Had an uneasy night’s sleep, at about 1am a tractor fired up nearby and was cultivating. Coming from an agricultural background it was slightly foolish of me to think that I wouldn’t be disturbed in a farmer’s field as of course farmers never sleep; they are the droids of the land, breaking backs since the beginning of time to put the food in our mostly thankless mouths. So naturally with machinery working so close by this left me a little on edge and I had to be in a position to bolt should the tractor head in my general direction.
As luck would have it the tractor remained out of sight on the other side of the hedgerow thus allowing me to rise early undetected and evacuate the premises leaving nothing but some home-made fertiliser in my tracks.
Was certainly feeling it in my legs today, in fact my kneecaps felt as if they were considering bursting from their joints, this accompanied by some boisterous saddle sores for mostly non-equal measure. It was difficult to decipher if I was doing my body more harm than good with all this sudden exercise that was being forced upon it. I reaped comfort by dwindling upon the ‘No Pain, No Gain’ motto, I was doing my body the world of good, surely!
Today however would be a relatively short journey allowing me to rest up upon arrival in Norwich. I cycled the Marriott’s Way from Reepham to Norwich which I wasn’t aware of until I got to Reepham that I could have actually joined back at Aylsham. But not to worry, it was a delightful little route along a disused railway track with zero road traffic, just the occasional cyclist. It wasn’t until I broached Norwich that cycling traffic picked up and became slightly more manic. The majority out for a Sunday morning stroll, I appeared to be getting the curious eye from the bulk of passers-by due to the sheer amount of luggage I was hulking along the track with me as I bulldozed my way through the conglomerate masses. One American ushering the words ‘The Journeyman’ to me as I passed, which I felt to be more of a compliment than the kid with his dad who said ‘He’s slow Daddy’. With time and experience I feel I would like to work my way steadily toward ‘The Road Warrior’. But these were early days, it’s for the best that one doesn’t get ahead of one’s self.
The national cycling route meanders through Norwich city centre and all the way to Whitlingham Broad Country Park on the outskirts of the city. This essentially being the beginning of The Broads, an area of lakes and waterways that span some 117 square miles across mostly Norfolk and a little of Suffolk.
For my first and only night of my miniscule voyage I camped on official camping grounds in Whitlingham Broad for a meagre £6.50, this included a shower and a shitter, which was key. For the rest of the day I explored Norwich city centre and then retreated to my tent and thought what better time to start reading ‘I, Partridge’. So I did. And that’s what happened.
Start: 06:15 Salle
Finish: 11:00 Norwich
Distance: 27.5 miles
Calories burnt: 1115k
Total Run time: 19:28
Tokyo to Tokyo 