As regular followers will know me and Mrs Crusader like to have a summer adventure along a National cycle route. However what with one thing and another this has not been possible for the last two years. Therefore in 2022 we plan to super size our trip. The aim is to head to the northern tip of Europe in Norway and, roughly following Eurovelo route 7, see how far South we can get, hopefully finishing somewhere in Italy, with the target being Rome.
The original plan had been to get to the tip of Italy but thanks to Brexit we now only have 90 days before we get chucked out of Europe.
Our normal trips don’t take much organising, just download the cycle route to your Garmin, book a bit of accommodation and off you go.
However 3 months in Europe needs a bit more thinking about and as parts of it will be quite remote camping will be involved.
Bike packing has not been something we have done for over 20 years so I decided a few practice goes would be required. Therefore on Tuesday we set off on a practice trip to Cromer. We would be bringing the e-learning book to write down all lessons learned for the after ride debrief.
I put Mrs Crusader in charge of packing the bikes and she assured me she had spread things out evenly although on closer inspection I wasn’t sure how good a job she had done.
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| Bikes locked and loaded, lets bike pack. |
After lunch we set off into the unknown and it was slow going for me unusually arriving at the top of any hill with Mrs Crusader still with me.
After 20 miles we had a break at the excellent Reepham station cafe that I had recently re reviewed (See Egg Hunt). It was a very welcome cup of tea and excellent Rocky Road and chocolate cake.
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| Reepham Refreshments |
From here the route became more interesting as I had added some off road sections to make sure we got the feel for handling more difficult terrain while fully loaded. This did not gone down well and it was suggested going straight down the A 140 to Cromer would have been preferable. I made the first entry in the e-learning book.
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| Off road bits weren't popular |
We arrived at our campsite and checked in. I unpacked our gear and laid it out. Some was brand new and some were old friends from 20 years ago.
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| Now build a campsite |
I had kept meaning to have a practice putting up the new tent in the garden but had never got round to it but how hard could it be?
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| Tent assembly was easier than expected |
Fortunately it turned out to be fairly straight forward and within 30 mins our campsite, including light weight camping chairs, was ready for action.
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| Camptastic |
Foolishly we decided to celebrate with fish and chips but as everyone is on a staycation these days then all the chip shops had massive queues. I decided to leave Mrs Crusader in one such queue while I had a nice sit down.
Over an hour later we got back to the campsite, ate are chip supper and settled in for the evening.
The next big test was how a night in the tent might pan out, especially now my bladder was 20 years older too.
Not surprisingly not well as I spent the night either going for a pee or lying awake needing one. It also turned out the the world snoring championships were being held on our field with the tent next door having a real contender. In the morning Mrs Crusader claimed it was her worst nights sleep ever. Better sleeping mats, bags and ear plugs were added to the e-learning book plus the need to keep the number of camping stops to a minimum.
As I supervised, Mrs Crusader broke camp and remarkably manged to get everything packed back into the tiny bags from whence they came.
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| De camping underway |
We hadn't bought any breakfast or cooking gear with us so no morning coffee which was another big mistake as we headed to Alysham for breakfast 90 minutes away.
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| I took on the key management role in getting packed up |
It was a beautiful morning for cycling which reminded us of why we were doing this so, although tired we got safely to Aylsham for a mid morning breakfast.
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| Beautiful Norfolk morning |
I hadn’t been to Biddys for several years so thought it was a good chance to refresh my ratings.
I was blown away by the fabulous cake selection and opted for a nice cup of breakfast tea and giant cinnamon bun type thing, which were both very good. Unfortunately all Mrs Crusader wanted was a strong coffee and croissant of which neither were available, so out came the e-learning book with a new section re breakfast and not going to tea rooms at that time of day.
The outdoor courtyard was very pleasant and we felt a bit more refreshed after we had had some fuel.
It may not have been the perfect breakfast stop but Biddys would be an excellent stop for a normal bike ride and it improved its scores on my last visit as well.
Once back at Crusader Towers we reviewed our pilot trip. The cycling bit went better than expected but the camping is definitely work in progress so I have arranged another pilot camping trip next month to put the e-learnings from the book into practice as planning for next years big trip continues.
map of route
Click here to download 64 mile Norwich Cromer camping route gpx file for your gps
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