Presentation at The Suffolk Coast Tourism Conference, 7 March 2024
Inspired by the work of Cycling UK and the development of off-road cycling trails around the country, local cycling enthusiasts, together with partners, have designed a long-distance, multi-day cycling route for Suffolk, launching in Spring 2024.
Uh thank thank you David um and uh thanks for the invitation to speak today when I arrived earlier I was a little bit late arriving and um the the elevator uh pitch was going on so that’s really scared me straight away I thought I thought I was doing this in 30 seconds
But um I’ll whis through a few slides um there a switch here sorry that’s okay down one to move for a bit counter no that’s fine I always through um some slides around 10 minutes I’m sure you’re pleased to get off for some lunch but um I’m here to talk about the wolf
Way and introduce you to the wolf way now um we’re actually formally launching uh the wolf way uh at the end of the month so this is a bit of a sneak preview um there will be a few more other details that will will come out in
March end of March but uh I can give you a sneak preview today so um before I I I go into the um slides of where this originated uh from this concept of a a cycling route uh around suffk the Wolf Way um I was it was interesting Paul
Touched on the tour of Britain and the women’s tour earlier uh and I’ve been engaged in those events over a number of years and I got invited to a a launch of uh a a very similar longdistance cycling route in Norfolk in norch this was back
In 2022 so so this has been a a kind of a long project in gestation and um and it’s uh interesting because it’s been run on a Sho string to get there very much voluntary and uh cycling Community Based uh development uh but I sat in a
Room in norch and they were talking about the nor the noric Rebellion way as it’s called and just sort of thought you know why haven’t why haven’t we done this in suff why haven’t we created something that connects up all our fantastic cycling routes all our fantastic um assets and Heritage and
Storytelling about suffk so we we came away from that meeting I bumped into two cyclist who’ just done the route and that’s where we’ve gone for the last two years in times of trying to get this uh this rout um established um so what is uh the Wolf
Way um as you can see long distance multi-day cycling adventure around suff and I think the key word that you want to pick up from that slide is Adventure because this is all about bringing the experience of the the bringing the visitor an experience that they probably
Won’t be able to get if they’re in their car um if they’re traveling from sight to site this takes people you know off-road using some of those brightways those um byways the gravel tracks uh the cycle paths and so for and and some quiet Lanes uh as well but taking in
Really as it says there the most beautiful suff locations uh and hidden gems and I think that’s what I’d like you to take away today is that this is about a visitor experience um what does it look like so um there’s an outline I’m acutely conscious of
There just the question that just came in about how you reach rural uh sites and not just uh the coastal routs and I I’ll I’ll I’ll address that in a in a second but what you see there is the the outline piece of work um uh done by the
The cycling Community the cycle enthusiasts who have tested out and designed this these routs um there’s uh a summer route and a winter route to start with of that whole um uh uh multi-day uh route it’s a route that obviously can be segmented you don’t have to do the whole lot you’ll be
Pleased to know in one go um the summer route for example for the East Coast um takes on board board Z fery so lovely little experience getting across um there that’s not available in the winter uh and there’s some some slight adjustments in the winter route where it
Can get a bit squaty in some of the off-road uh activity but in addition to that there has already been some development around some segments some smaller segments there isn’t there is an East wolf which is not shown on this screen unfortunately uh on these slides uh but that would start itself at
Ipswich station and I’ll I’ll come back to that in a second because there’s a there’s a there’s a strong case of how we you know um utilize that sort of non-card travel for this whole sustainable uh uh uh route but there is an East there is an
East uh um an East wolf route there’s a there’s a uh there’s a wolverine B developed which is an even smaller Route Around the west of berry cman area so what I’m trying to say is is where you’ve got a route there don’t think
It’s um set in any stone what we try to do when we’re um uh uh talking about the route to our visitors is where you can go off to from the route utilizing some of those existing cycle networks that around probably some of those Inland Villages and sites and so forth so I’ve
Had a couple queries come back in in in the last few weeks about you know why didn’t you go through this place or why why now that was down to the you know the the cycling experts but I think oh I think Mary’s in the room from hipson I saw her in the
Elevator earlier yes so um and I know Mary you’ve already engaged with with with the project from from Beckle so you can you can engage with the project um you don’t have to be on that orange line um and there is more scope to to develop um when we set out on the
Project these are the kind of the kind of key objectives we wanted to look at yes of course we um of course we wanted to uh make sure we maximize the potential of a suff wide um cycling route Adventure um we wanted to connect in with uh
The the experiences we have you know one of the things when I looked at when I was looking at the Nori experience first one I thought you know we’ve got all of that and more you know we’ve got some fantastic stories about um you know our
Past our heritage we can we can make those Link in we can use digital technology to make that available for people on the route they can click into this they can use their mobiles to understand really the environment they’re in the Landscapes we have um uh and our heritage and culture and of
Course how it can support our hospitality and I think the key thing is it’s a year round product as well for for you for you to engage in and utilize um oh who’s involved in uh I’ve probably covered some of this but the key names to take away from this are Chris power
And Sharon Colton there are cycling enthusiasts our expert route advisers uh they would have been here today um uh but they’re cycling around Europe probably getting loads of other cyclists to come over I dare say knowing them um uh We’ve also worked with cycling UK uh and they’ve been brilliant in bringing
Their experience to guiding the shape of the route and uh colleagues from uh both East suff Council actually as well as suffi County Council have supported us on making sure those routes are okay um the brid away use and and foot and the path use and the gravel paths they’re
All Okay so we’ve got the the kind of rubber stamp on the routs uh that will all be available to you by uh looking at the the website link and there’s GPX tra down downloadable files for you to look at and so forth um and uh our role was
Really just to bring this together over the last couple of years covered this briefly already really but um it’s really important I heard heard heard this mentioned a couple of times today about sustainable visitor economy and so for we’ve done a lot of work at that um from from s
Growth partnership um and I think you know um the promotion of cycling active travel for both residents um Leisure visitors within suffk and visitors outside of suff is a really important part of this equation and I mentioned um you know part of the routs coming in coming into it station railway station
For example is really important for us going forward we’ve mentioned a year round potential of the uh the route um the potential really from here that we’ll talk about is how you can link in uh how you can engage in the uh I guess the the model of of the Wolf Way
Link it with your marketing the events that Paul mentioned just uh just a moment ago uh food and drink Trails all those sorts of things lots of opportunity there uh for you and I guess it adds as Paul said to the growing reputation of suffk as a as a cycling
Destination a host of major events and glad to hear that’s uh that’s still coming back to suffk uh in future years I will just mention the piece around health and well-being at the bottom there because um that would be what our cycling enthusiasts who kick this this
This uh activity off with that was where they were driven from um they were driven from you know really understanding how brilliant it is to get out there um on a bike in the rural areas appreciating the landscape you know all those benefits are really good uh mental and physical health and
Wellbeing and uh we we mentioned earlier about impacts um and the the potential growth of um cycling tourism uh and as I said we’ve got a launch in a couple of weeks and we already have um we’re doing a little media ride beforehand a little The Wolverine is being ridden it’s a
Nine a 9 Mile metori tour around beron Edmunds um but we have uh at least half a dozen uh Dutch and Belgium cycling enthusiasts coming over some of those are you know quite interesting um influences around cycling they do their own uh blogs their own Vlogs and so forth um and I think
That’s a really important market we’ve already spoken to visit east of England about how this can be positioned in their travel trade work so I think there’s a there’s a good opportunity you know people aring from harage turn our way not the other way uh I think is the uh the
Ask what we’d like to do is to get some better stats around what cycling tourism looks like for um for suffk and for East suffk so it’ be great if we could work that into some of the tats um work that was mentioned earlier um how can it benefit your business um
Well uh I’ll I’ll show you uh some of the things we’re going to look at at the moment but as I said you know real opportunity there for um both International visitors local visitors um to use the wolf way to get cycling um and very much you know what we want to
Do is to adapt it to those shorter Leisure markets uh as well so here’s where you come uh come into the equation uh and if Nikki was here she’d be able to sort of go through a lot more detail than I can but um you can always contact us afterwards around
This but what we’ve done is we’ve designed a a range of uh of social media assets um um and um hopefully providing you with some good uh content uh and some themed content uh across uh sector interest so some of the uh uh assets that we’ve produced will relate to hospitality to
Food and drink some will relate to Heritage to to accommodation and so forth and you’ll see some of those examples in a second but um we’re also producing some promotional videos so after March the 22nd when we launch you’ll see some some nice videos some short stings on social media that again
Hopefully you’ll be able to pick up on follow and engage with um with on the more physical side I’ve we will be producing some uh window stickers and posters if you’re kind of proximity to route you want to you know show that you’re engaged with wway and
Linked with wway uh if you want those physical assets you can have but there’s loads that are digitally based for you as well um so what we you know we we’d encourage you to have a look at this uh look at the assets uh those are on the
Web web link that’s on your program I think in in the bottom of your program there is a web link gives you access to all of those assets um and um just engage in the ways you would if you want to utilize those and use your existing website and uh newsletters please do
Here’s some of the examples of some of the assets that we’ve produced used uh to date and as you see we cut across um various different themes this is the starting point love to get your feedback in in future weeks around this about how these can change um we’ll be doing our
Promotional doing some videos uh around the route and what we’d like to do um uh is is cover um the route seasonally so um some of these shadings will change they’ll become more automnal um uh and also what we want to do is include some of the U businesses and venues across
The route so if you’re interested in being part of the wolf way and some of the promotional videos and stings that we’re producing do give us a shout we’ll be doing that over the course of the next few months and then into into we’ll do some more in the Autumn to get more
Of an Autumn feel around uh some of the promotions as well um and what we’d really love you to do of course um as part of that and many of you already do this is to uh become Wolf Way cycle friendly and we’re not asking you to um uh invest millions of
Pounds in this but just to think about how if you’re on the route you’re engaged with wway how can you really retain and uh that that kind of cycle tourism visitor um we think it’s going to grow we think um all the signs are cycle tourism in suffk is a is a really
Positive aspect to be involved in um so if you’re providing accommodation Hospitality for cycling visitors um you know do do link into the to the wolf way be Wolf Wolf Way cycle friendly look at what you can do in terms of storage bike security um if you can offer uh
Essentials for cyclists like you know just having to hand things like repair kits like and bike pumps and stuff like that refilling of water bottles it’s all standard stuff and of course what you can do is um we’ll be producing some of the uh detailed information that you can
Print off and have in a pack at your Venue or attraction if you you’d like to and um yeah well you all the creative so be creative with the wolf way um you know look what you can do in your destination across with nearby venues you do that sort of thing anyway don’t
You but do it in the context of the of the the cycling visitor I guess um and uh hopefully you’ll extend their visit in near your location or indeed extend itself as we said off the route on another one of those wonderful suffk cycle networks um uh uh to extend their
Visit so uh those are some of the the things you you you can do and I’m going to leave you here but um as I said we’re launching on March 22nd keep an eye on the social media for um the announcements in the meantime you can access the assets on the on the
Website one other thing to look out for in um which will be announced at the launch um will be around a charitable fundraising uh ride of the entire wolf way so there will be it will be coming um down the coast uh and along the route
That you saw uh and it will be um quite highly media covered we’ve got some interesting Media Partners engaged in that charitable fund ride so that will be announced in a couple of weeks but that will be in June another opportunity for you to engage uh with the social
Media around this so that’s it from me um it’s a Whistle Stop tour I hope that was okay for you but on M on March the 22nd raise your glasses and welcome the wolf way thank You excellent um just a uh a quick one uh Richard you mentioned Mary’s kind of grabbed hold of this as soon as she heard about it so um I wonder Mary if you could just give us a quick snapshot of how you’ve actually used this in your
Business well we um we don’t of we don’t normally do one night stays in our Boatyard but I thought this was quite an interesting um project and I’m a king cyclist so that’s probably why so I’ve spoken with our restaurant that we work with locally a lot Oak fried pizza and
We’re going to put together a one night package for people to come and stay if they’re doing the wolf we we’re only going to do one night packages for Wolf Way cyclist and it will include a 50 voucher off their meal at the pizza restaurant which is literally a 3 or 4
Minute walk from the Boatyard so we thought that could be quite nice and promote two businesses promote beckles and um you know it’s not that far off the route as we talked about so we thought give it a well why not thank you very good Richard thank
You and thank you for stepping in on behalf of Nicky