Posts tagged Norfolk
Completing all Norfolk parkruns

There are currently 22 parkrun events in the present-day county of Norfolk of which I have completed 2. The first was Gorleston Cliffs which started on April 25th 2009 and the newest is Fitzmaurice Park which started on March 29th 2025. The name for having completed all parkrun events in the county is That’s All Folks (for both Norfolk and Suffolk).

Gorleston Cliffs was park of the Historic County of Suffolk but is now in Norfolk.

Numbers exclude any events that are not open to the general public such as prisons or armed forces facilities.

Norfolk parkrun events

The interactive maps below take you to the approximate location for the course, typically the centre of the park. See the course instructions in the parkrun page for each event for specific directions to the start. Course maps show the route at the time that I ran it and may have changed since then.

Blickling

 

Brundall

 

Catton

 

Colney Lane

 

Dereham

 

Downham Market Academy

 

Fitzmaurice Park

 

Flegg High

 

Gorleston Cliffs

Gorleston-on-Sea, including its iconic cliffs, was historically part of Suffolk, with the traditional county boundary running along the River Yare and Breydon Water, placing the land to the south (Gorleston) firmly within the northern reach of Suffolk. This historical county division was noted as far back as the Domesday Book. However, as the port of Great Yarmouth (which was in Norfolk) expanded and became the dominant civic and economic centre of the area, the administrative geography was adjusted. Gorleston was first brought into the Great Yarmouth parliamentary constituency in 1832 and officially incorporated into the Municipal Borough of Great Yarmouth in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. While the borough itself straddled both counties for a time, a final administrative change in 1891 placed the entire borough, including Gorleston, entirely within the county of Norfolk, thereby moving the coastal cliffs permanently to their current county

 

Great Yarmouth North Beach

 

Holkham

 

Hunstanton Promenade

 

King’s Lynn

 

Lingwood

 

Loch Neaton, Wattonham

 

North Walsham

 

Norwich

 

Sandringham

 

Sheringham

 

Sloughbottom

  • I completed this event on: November 5th 2022 with a finish time of: 25:43

  • Other routes touched (walk): Cross-Norfolk Trail, Marriott’s Way

  • Inaugural: May 11th 2019

  • Links: Event Home Page, Course Page

 

Swaffham

 

Thetford

  • I completed this event on: July 30th 2016 with a finish time of: 25:17

  • Other routes touched (walk): St Edmund Way, Little Ouse Path, Thetford Architectural Trail, Thetford River Trails Purple Route

  • Inaugural: February 23rd 2013

  • Links: Event Home Page, Course Page

 

More parkrun posts

parkruns are free, weekly, community 5k events all around the world. I started in December 2012 and have been obsessive about it ever since. See my parkrun Collection page for details.

Featured and popular parkrun posts:

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Richard gowerRun, parkrun, Norfolk, EnglandComment
Cycling The Icknield Way - Pirton to Knettishall Heath
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Start: The Motte & Bailey, 1 Great Green, Pirton, Hitchin, SG5 3QD
Finish: Knettishall Heath Nature Reserve, Knettishall, Thetford IP22 2TQ
Overnight stop: The Black Bull, 27 High St, Balsham, Cambridge, CB21 4DJ
Distance: 141 km (87 miles)
Elevation Change: + 1768 / - 1823m. Net -55m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other Routes Touched (walk): Icknield Way Walking Path, Greenwich Meridian Trail, Harcamlow Way, Lark Valley Path, The Great Barrow Walk, Angles Way
Other Routes Touched (cycle): NCN 11, 12, 50, 51
Maps:
- OS Explorer Map (193) Luton and Stevenage
- OS Explorer Map (209) Cambridge, Royston, Duxford & Linton
- OS Explorer Map (210) Newmarket and Haverhill, Barrow, Clare and Kedington
- OS Explorer Map (229) Thetford Forest in the Brecks
Guidebook: The Icknield Way Path: A Walkers' Guide
Links: Icknield Way Wikipedia entry, National Trails page on the Icknield Way Trail (Rider's Route and Walker's Route)
www.icknieldwaytrail.org.uk, www.icknieldwaypath.co.uk, Euston Park on Trigpointing

Post-Camino withdrawal symptoms were kicking in and the wife was away for the weekend. A new adventure was needed. My "Adventure Ideas" folder is constantly overflowing so there was no danger of lack of inspiration. This time my completer-finisher urge took over: I needed to finish the Icknield Way.

I had already walked the first 30 miles from Ivinghoe Beacon to the Northern edge of the Chilterns at Pirton. There was still another 87 miles to go and the rest of it was relatively flat. This would be a cycle trip rather than another walk. Pirton is a really good place to start the cycle trip as the Icknield Way walking path and riding trail intersect here. The Chilterns Cycleway also passes through it.

Having snuck in the Dunstable Downs parkrun (also on the Icknield), I met my friend Brian at 10:30. Brian joined me on the previous 20 miles at Christmas and also featured in my Peddars Way adventure a few years back. It seemed only right that he join me on the route that connects the two.

Day 1 was straight-forward, passing through small Hertfordshire towns and villages. Pubs on the route were few and far between, although I'm sure we could have found more with some minor diversions. The first pub we found was in Melbourn, 20 miles in. We were glad we stopped for lunch as we wouldn't pass another one for another couple of hours.

We were following the GPS route linked from the Icknield Way Trail site. It was accurate except for one short stretch when you hit the A505 South of Melbourn. The path through a field must have been blocked since the GPX file was created so we needed a diversion. The simple workaround is to take a left on the A505, then first right at Flint Cross and you're back on track.

The weather was perfect for cycling except for a 30 minute downpour about an hour from our overnight stop. We hid in a pub until it stopped and cancelled our plans to go into Cambridge for the evening. All we wanted to do now was get to our hotel and find ways to dry us and our clothes. The Black Bull at Balsham is a great overnight option. It's more or less half-way and there's few alternatives. As it happens it's a really nice place. We got dry very quickly by sitting in front of the open fire with a few drinks while we waited for dinner.

The morning of day 2 was lovely. The misty morning soon became sunny with clear skies. This was Cambridgeshire with long straight, flat stretches of road that helped us get a few miles under our belt. The final 20 miles were really tough. We were now in very rural Suffolk and spent most of the time on sand and gravel farm tracks. We made very slow progress all the way to the end point at Knettishall Heath.

The end of the Icknield Way is a bit of an anti-climax. There's a car-park with a sign but nothing else. From here you can continue North up the Peddars Way to the Norfolk Coast or take the Angles Way East to Great Yarmouth. For us, we'd had enough adventure for one weekend and took the road West to Thetford. From there its an easy trip back to Pirton, taking the train to Hitchen and a 20 minute cycle back to the cars.

Having revived myself with a pasty at the train station I felt a genuine sense of completion. I'd now conquered the Ridgeway, Icknield Way and Peddars Way. These 3 form a single ancient trail from Avebury to Hunstanton. The obvious follow-on adventure is the Wessex Ridgeway, starting back at Avebury and heading South West to Lyme Regis. Brian didn't seem too impressed with the idea when I mentioned it on the train. I think I'll leave it a couple of months before I bring it up again ...

End Point at Knettishall Heath, Norfolk

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Richard gowerCycle, NCN, Trig Pillar, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, EnglandComment
Beacon Hill: Norfolk County Top
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Significance: Highest peak in Norfolk (Historic County Top)
Parent Peak: Haddington Hill.
Nearest Higher Neighbour: Great Wood
Member of: N/A
Elevation: 105m
Date climbed: July 31st 2016
Coordinates: 52°55′30″N 1°15′05″E
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Map: OS Explorer Map 252 Norfolk Coast East
Guidebook: The UK's County Tops (Jonny Muir), Walking the County High Points of England (David Bathurst)
Links: Wikipedia (Norfolk), Wikipedia (Beacon Hill), Peakbagger, Hillbagging

A few miles south-west of Cromer is Beacon Hill, the summit of a famously flat county and another on my list of Tops to be done as part of another adventure. We bagged Beacon Hill on a small diversion from our Peddars Way and North Norfolk Coast cycle trip. The summit is easily found as it’s marked with a huge flagpole on a clearing next to the National Trust Car park at Beeston Regis Heath. The bench near the summit was a nice place for us to rest, look out to sea and contemplate the final stage of the trip.

 
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Richard gowerUK County Tops, Norfolk, EnglandComment
Cycling The Peddars Way, Norfolk
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The idea for the Norfolk Inn Way came from reading an article about the Peddars Way in Outdoor Fitness Magazine. I was also looking for an excuse to visit Norfolk to bag the underwhelming County Top at Beacon Hill and the combination resulted in a new weekend adventure.

The Peddar’s Way is an ancient road starting near Thetford and continuing roughly straight to the North Norfolk Coast at Old Hunstanton. Arriving at the start point, an obscure car park on a country road, I noticed a link to another recent adventure. This car park is also the end point of the Icknield Way, a 105 mile route that stretches from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire, also the end point of the Ridgeway. I’d done 100 km of the Ridgeway 2 weeks before for the Race To The Stones Ultra-marathon. I could immediately see 2 more adventures that i needed to do: the Race From The Stones (completing the Ridgeway from Lewknor to Ivinghoe) and then cycling the Ickneild Way to link the Ridgeway and Peddars Way. I added them both to my mental list for 2017.

It had been a year since I had read the article about the Peddars Way. From memory, it was described as a challenging route, yet do-able in a day. 46 miles felt short compared with rides in recent years so the plan was to do Peddars plus 20 miles to Wells on the first of the 2 day trip. I was joined by Brian and Ray, 2 of the survivors of our LEJOG adventure a year ago.

Day 1: Knettishall Heath to Wells Next The Sea

Start: Car Park at Knettishall Heath, Unnamed Road, 2SG, Thetford
Finish: YHA Wells Next the Sea, Church Plain, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1EQ
Distance: 100 km (62 miles)
Elevation Change: +845 m / -870 m. Net -25m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other Routes Touched (Walk): Icknield Way, Angles Way, Via Beata, Hereward Way, Great Eastern Pingo Trail, Nar Valley Way, Norfolk Coast Path
Other Routes Touched (Cycle): NCN 1, 13,
Guidebook: Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path: National Trail Guide (National Trail Guides)
Maps:
- OS Explorer Map (229) Thetford Forest in the Brecks
- OS Explorer Map (236) King's Lynn, Downham Market and Swaffham
- OS Explorer Map (250) Norfolk Coast West
- OS Explorer Map (251) Norfolk Coast Central

The first 3 miles definitely ticked the “challenging” box. After a couple hundred metres, the path narrowed, got muddy and was tightly closed in by bracken and nettles. The Peddars Way would make sure that we remembered it as we were itching the stings for a week after. After 5 miles we’d been going for an hour and were starting to wonder whether this was going to be do-able in a day. We were also wondering what time of year the article was written in. It can’t have been summer with the same level of nettle growth otherwise that would have been a major feature of the article.

Shortly after the path widened out and became a more pleasant mix of country road a farm track. Our nettle problem turned into a “where do we get lunch” problem. The guide book we were using told us that the Peddars Way had fewer food and drink options than the North Norfolk Coast. We soon realised that this meant “next to no” options as we saw nothing until a petrol station/McDonalds site about 25 miles in. There were probably more options years ago, judging from how many villages had pub-looking houses with signs like “Formerly the Red Lion” on them.

The combination of the challenging route, hot day and some lack of fitness in the group meant that we were ready to call it a day by the end at Old Hunstaton. Some energy had been restored after fish and chips at the Lighthouse Cafe on the beach, but Brian was on a mission to find a hotel. I was sceptical that we would find 2 rooms for 3 smelly cyclists at the height of the summer season, but it was worth a try. The best we could find was a single room just down the coast. Rather than taking the North Norfolk coast to our overnight stop at Wells Next The Sea, we stuck to the A149 coastal road for the remaining 20 miles.

The YHA Hostel, our home for the night at Wells, was clean and friendly with a pub 5 minutes down the road. Compared with our lively post-cycle pub evenings of the LEJOG trip, this was much quieter. We stared at our pints for about 15 minutes, mostly in silence, before heading back to the hostel for a long sleep. A big part of the cause of our tiredness was being kept awake for most of the previous night in the hotel at Bury St Edmunds by a couple having very noisy sex for hours. We figured that at least a small coastal town like Wells would be quiet. It probably would have been if not for us arriving during the summer music festival that rocked the town with loud cheesy Americana until midnight.

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Day 2: Wells Next The Sea to Knettishall Heath

Start: YHA Wells Next the Sea, Church Plain, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1EQ
Finish: Car Park at Knettishall Heath, Unnamed Road, 2SG, Thetford
Distance: 127 km (79 miles)
Elevation Change: +1,105 m / -990 m. Net +25m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other Routes Touched (Walk): Norfolk Coast Path, Weavers Way, Marriotts Way, Wensum Way, Hereward Way, Via Beata, Angles Way, Icknield Way
Other Routes Touched (Cycle): NCN 1, 13
Guidebook: Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path: National Trail Guide (National Trail Guides)
Maps:
- OS Explorer Map (251) Norfolk Coast Central
- OS Explorer Map 252 Norfolk Coast East
- OS Explorer Map (238) East Dereham and Aylsham
- OS Explorer Map (237) Norwich
- OS Explorer Map (229) Thetford Forest in the Brecks

At our breakfast route briefing in the Bang Cafe in Wells we discussed a few options for the day. Given the condition of the boys the previous evening and second night of poor sleep, I suggested a contingency plan of taking a direct road route back to the start. The original plan for cycling the North Norfolk Coastal Path felt too optimistic and, besides, we’d already skipped 20 miles of it getting to Wells. I’d also worked out that the Path was really only for walking and that cycling it wasn’t going to be an option. The plan that we decided on was to pick up the North Norfolk Coast Cycleway which follows NCN Route 38 a few miles inland from the Coast. We found this fairly easily after cycling about 15 minutes to the South East from Wells and followed it all the way to Cromer.

A few miles before Cromer is Beacon Hill, the summit of a famously flat county and another on my list of Tops to be done as part of another adventure. The Top is easily found as its marked with a huge flagpole on a clearing next to the National Trust Car park at Beeston Regis Heath. The bench near the summit was a nice place for us to rest, look out to sea and contemplate the final stage of the trip.

After Beacon Hill we completed the final couple of miles into Cromer and had lunch near the sea. The final leg of the trip back to the car park would be a pleasant but uneventful trip down small country lanes and small villages. By 19:00 we’d reached the cars again, fully nackered but also refreshed after 2 days in the countryside on a new mini-adventure.

The Complete Route

Red - Day 1, including the Peddars Way, Blue = Day 2

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Richard gowerCycle, NCN, Norfolk, EnglandComment