The Peddars Way on Gravel Bike – A Bikepacking option for beginners?…

In this episode we are taking to the gravel bikes for a trip on the peddars way in Norfolk.

We are tackling this in both directions over two days with approx 55 miles per day.

I think this is a great bikepacking or two day adventure ride for all riders, but especially for beginners looking for a taste of multi day riding!

I’m riding my on one freeranger and am joined by Chops, Dave, JC and Jason for this adventure.

Please like and subscribe to @Downhillsmoothtarmac if you enjoy my content

#bike #cycling #gravelbike #bikepacking #cyclist #trailriding

Hello folks and welcome back to another action-packed episode of downhill smooth tarmac in this episode we’re going to be taking to the bikes and checking out what I believe personally is the best route in the UK for a bike packing beginner now in all honesty we’re not

Bike packing on this trip we’re just doing it out and back so we’ve got somewhere to stay when we get to hunstanton because we are doing the ped’s way that it anyone tells you that norol is flat it’s not it’s got some lumpy bits in it you’ll see in the video

We’re going to be taking it on it’s 50 miles approximately between fford and old hun Stanton on the coast or vice versa uh we’re going to take on both and I’m going to talk you through the highs and lows and why I think this is such an accessible Adventure if

You’ve only just got your hands on a gravel bike so without further Ado we’re going to cut to me in a B&M car park in fford because me and chops forgot to buy water bottles but before that roll the credits let’s take a look at the ped’s way in Norfk Well good morning you wonderful people and welcome back to downhill smooth tarmac you join me outside you can’t tell I’m outside the legendary B&M Bargains in fford in Norfolk yeah we’re riding the ped’s way today and it hasn’t started off the way we might want because me and ch both

Forgot water bottles anyway B&M come to the rescue stick with us going have an amazing ride today weather’s good it’s cold all that stuff going to take you along head his way there and back two days don’t miss it here we go Roll okay so let’s start with the basics the ped’s way officially runs from ntiel Heath to Wells next the sea or some say old hunstanton as you can see we’re starting from thatford which is just a few miles down the road from Nal purely for logistical reasons and it seems to be

Where most people start the ride we’re blessed by good weather today and the one thing that we picked up on straight away was just how dry the trails were considering all the rain we’ve had lately the trail still felt quite loose Dusty and Sandy which is obviously the way the ground lies in

Norfork and the first piece of real trail that we encounter as we leave thatford towards nille is this piece of permissive Bridal way sorry byway and that’s important and will be relevant through a lot of today’s ride as you can see it’s loose it’s Sandy and there’s some deep ruts they’re going to

Get the blood pumping and get you focusing on the day Ahead sorry to drag you from the action straight away at such an early stage but I should probably explain that the mount that I use the outfront mount that I use on the on one snapped the uh alloy just failed completely bits went everywhere I cried got upset had to be consoled not

Really um had to wait until a suitable break for us to uh use a different Mount that Dave had made 3D printed for us to go on the stem uh for the insta 360 X3 that I’m using for filming on this if you’re into that kind of thing uh so we

Lost a few m miles on the way out but we got it all on the way back so without further Ado back to the action like this exciting times exciting exciting exciting times fix me GoPro mount with another one and we’re off we’re going we’re going to do some do some riding now

We’re only on 27 yeah 27 miles done we’re back on camera let’s do this here we go getting in the what’s up oh no oh Jason you got a flat tire me mate we getting back on the Pen’s way to stop and do your tire you can’t carry on like that mate

You’re going to go out the side door some real good squish okay you want to I think you need to stop all that is flat as a pan so with repairs done we’re back on the trail at sfam having fixed the camera into a different place so we can

Carry on and all that jazz let’s talk briefly about punctures you’re going to get them on this Trail it’s inevitable at this time of year not only you got Thorns to contend with as usual but the trails are very flinty in places there’s lots of sharp stone that can catch you

Out it reminded me a little bit of King Alfred’s way in that regard that you can get a neat little cut and that cut is going to make light work of either any inner tube or tubless repair so don’t forget bring your inner tubes your patch kit and your bacon strips for those

Running tubless oh my God it’s like syrup like a CH syrup go in the oh my God windy Madness ah it’s pretty stingy never said anything about H sh in h Jesus I not like oh yeah and weather is another thing to bear in mind being Norfolk it’s almost always windy uh as you can see from the clips before it was real windy um other than that we had some freak hail as you could see uh nobody was

Expecting that and I hope you enjoy the comedy value of it pelting me in the face and then within minutes we’re leaving Castle here just a mile on down the trail and it’s blue skies and sunshine once again you’ll find on the ped’s way that

A lot of the trail is this kind of Cart Road double track and a lot of it is as I’ve mentioned before byway it’s open to all traffic so you do find sections where you get very deep ruts caused by 4×4 vehicles and motorcross bikes you

Can see it here as a beginner this is going to give you a real challenge it’s going to give you something to think about it’s going to focus your mind and you are going to have to be careful take care on those bits of Trail make sure

That you don’t get stuck into those deep ruts bash your pedals and go Flying another thing to be aware of out on the ped’s trail is Farm traffic you’re going to get a lot of it be polite get out of the way they’re working you’re not that’s the way I see it but just be aware you flying down a

Trail you might come head-to head with a farmer busy on the land as they say okay so somewhere around the Sedgeford area you will glance something of the Sandringham estate and you’ll hit this double track this is used by all traffic again uh whether they’re supposed to or

Not I’m not sure I couldn’t find any signs this is a section that although these are the nicer bits this some parts here that you’re not going to enjoy in my personal opinion it’s been overridden by basically by Enduro and motocross bikes causing deep ruts which mean means that the going

Gets really really slow at times I’ve ridden this section on a fat bike with 4-in tires and a gravel bike with 38c tires neither proved as a great option for this section and it is if you’re riding out from the thatford end it can

Be a bit of a tiring end to the ride I’ll be honest but there are some good bits still to be had and there’s a couple of options to peel off for a pub around I think it’s great massingham area but something to make note of if you’re

Going to be riding it from the thatford Side At this point in the ride we’ve peeled off now the ped’s way at ringstead because we’ve chosen to stay in hunstanton in a static caravan Run for the night uh through Airbnb as it was the simplest option for us cuz we’re planning the out and back and actually it actually provided a couple

Of great bits of trail to bring us into hunstanton itself so it didn’t disappoint even though we didn’t get a chance to dip A Wheel in the sea this time an old H Stanton or Wells next to the Sea And rolling neatly into the Caravan park that is US done for day one what it’s left to do is sleep get up and ride it back again and what could possibly go wrong well good morning from a breezy windy hun ston as you saw from the video we finished the ped’s way last

Night what a great ride it was was was a bit of a tough finish but it was all good today we’re riding back so we’re leaving the site shortly where we’ve just had a caravan overnight we’re going to get on going to cut out the sing them area because the

Rots are just awful and we don’t really want to ride them again so let’s see how we get on stick with this we’re going to do it back the other way heading back for thatford let’s going with it so for our return route we sat night before and decided to cut out the

Sedgeford area of that double track we spoke about not one of us felt the need to ride it back the other way so we actually found some Road and some trail to bring us around that and give us a chance to see just a little bit more of

What this part of North has to offer so why not it’s our ride it’s our adventure and something that you might want to think about yourselves when you’re planning if you’re going to do this as an out and back So this is the point in sford where you’d normally take a right and get on to the first piece of that double Track Trail instead we took these beautiful quiet country Lanes with some amazing views and before we knew it we’re back anyway on the ped’s Way and with that we’re back on the ped’s way and cut out the lumpy roted crappy Bit With a healthy Tailwind we are flying back on this return route and we’re already as you can see at this point back almost at Castle acre and this is a spot on the ped’s way that deserves a special Mention So not only do you get a good mile or so of descent as you head back towards castlea what awaits you is a really beautiful little place with you know remains of a castle in the middle of the road as you do it’s also a great little Spa shop plent plent

Of History if you like that kind of thing coffee shops places to stop and probably one of my favorite little bits of the trail as you can see here going down by the river it’s just cool it’s pretty and on my last trip it was nicer

And warmer and we actually sat down here for an hour or so just taking it in it’s a real nice spot Man I wish I just got that on camera that was the nicest man walk in his dog ever chatting to us asking how far we’re going saying good luck well done more people like that in the world please or Awesome back to swam the halfway point already here and what awaits you is just one of the best bit of single Track Trail on the whole ride particularly if you’re riding it from the coastal side because it’s got a slight gradient downhill and you can absolutely fly it is beautiful

Sublime smooth single track if you don’t enjoy this you’re not riding the bike right I guess just enjoy it is probably one of my favorite parts of the entire ride just look at it fast flowing grip for days everything you need so the next point we’re coming to on the

Trail is Shadwell and this is where we need to make a little safety note for you cuz something we came across is there is a railway Crossing at Shadwell it’s got lights it tells you when it’s safe to cross if the lights are out please make sure that you pick

Up the phone and you ask for permission to cross we did this had to wait as a train flew past us that we would have had no chance uh of spotting otherwise uh as you’ll see in a sec though we did give Jon a little bit of stick for his official

Tone can not CR hand oh they’re off to ruin it then hello um we’re looking for permission to cross level crossing all the lights are out um the location is Shadwell um there’s five of cyclists we are all clear of the crossing we’re all clear of the crossing

Over well calling Cambridge Shadwell for Cambridge [Laughter] over this is Shadwell 359 get off the line get off the line this is an emergency so with that Mickey taking done so is the ride almost and there’s one more thing to take note of remember we mentioned about some of the trails being permissive

Byway that means that you’re going to come up against this that’s right motorcyclists motorc crossers and inur Riders some of them are going to be more accomplished than others and more considerate than others just like anything else just be aware keep left keep your eyes peeled and you will get used to sharing

The trail with them it’s just a little unusual particularly for a new Rider and they do explain why you get these deep rots because there’s an awful lot of motorized transport using these Trails as Well Okay so there you have it two days of riding both directions of the ped’s way 110 miles approximately and a lot of fun had despite tasty headwinds and deep rutted Trails I still like it I’ve done it twice now as I mentioned before love it it is for a

Beginner if you want to feel like having an adventure that you’re out there you’re in the thick of it then the pedis way could just be the thing that does it for you booking overnight Campsite in Hunt Stanton something like that it doesn’t take much just to nudge off the

Trail uh ringstead this is what we did as you saw or ringstead is because they shorten everything in over and and and just book somewhere book a caravan book a B&B whatever I’m sure logistically you people have the technology sort that out it’s a great ride I have a couple of

Other contenders that may be waiting to knock it off its perch but we shall wait and see because gives me excuse to ride them I’ve already attempted with another cheeky little rout that I found which is a loop stand by for that one I’m going

To sign off and say that I hope that your next ride is downhill with smooth Tac keep your wheels spinning keep your rubber on the road keep your novies on the trail go out ride for an hour ride for a Day have an adventure go somewhere

Do it from the doorstep we love all of that if you get minute it would be absolutely amazing if you’d like And subscribe it really does help me grow my channel if you like all things cycling I think I’ve got it covered if you like a bit of

Running I’ve got some videos of that uh they’re not the most popular thing I make but they’re out there but yeah if you could take a minute to like And subscribe that would be amazing but and it’s a very big butt it’s the kind of trunk space you want in an late

Model car but don’t let it get in the way when you’re getting out and riding your bike until next time thanks for watching folks N