This morning, I left the family snoozing in our tent and took myself off for an early morning ride around the nearby villages. Our campsite is right next to Banham zoo and so far on our holiday it has been too cold to sit outside in the evening and enjoy the sounds emanating from the various enclosures. It was still super cold this morning and as well as multiple layers and thick gloves, I managed to squeeze a woolly hat under my helmet. It wasn’t the most chic of looks, but it will at least keep me warm.

Fortunately, my bike is much more stylish. I’m currently testing out my repainted and reassembled Peugeot Étoile, a late 80s racer that I bought a few years ago. Unfortunately, one of the chain stays broke and I had to get it repaired, but it’s been worth the investment. Today was the first time I was taking it out for a proper ride. In the summer, I hope to be taking it to France for ten days over the Alps, so I need to spend some time ironing out all the little issues that are bound to arise.

The cold helped me to set a reasonable pace as I started my tour of our local villages. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the colours were all bright in the low sun. My route took me through a dozen or so small villages, all with churches and most with at least one pub, and early on a Sunday there were a few cars around. I enjoyed the calm and quiet, and for the most part the only sounds were woodpigeons and the gentle whirring of my pedals. It was a morning to just let your mind wander.

I passed through the lovely little village of Gissing and headed north past Simpsons Maltings and on. The road started to undulate more and I found myself picking up the pace. Sometimes I find it easier on these gentle uphills than I do on the flats. At times the wind was at my back and it was near the top of one of these that I had my first mechanical, a dropped chain. It was not quite so straightforward to replace as one of my rack bolt was sticking through a couple of millimetres too far, so I had to loosen the rack off, remove the chain and then retighten. It happened a couple of kilometres later and I made a mental note to add a washer to the rack bolt and adjust the limiter screws on the pannier.

I was soon rolling again, through countryside that was pleasantly scenic rather than spectacular. Well-kept, pretty villages gave way to agricultural landscapes on a grand scale. I’m not used to seeing open fields often a kilometre or more square, with trees and hedges confined to the margins of the view. It was nice, but one landscape merged into the next and I found myself wishing for even a modest climb and a viewpoint. You can’t eat scenery, I guess, but there’s a reason the coast gets all the tourists.

I spent the last few kilometres zig-zagging through villages close to the campsite: Bunwell, Spooner Row, Old and New Buckenham, fighting into a fierce headwind as I went. All had tempting-looking pubs and, by coincidence, we ended up having a pint in my control, the Gamekeeper, later that day.

A good test for the Peugeot then, and a fun easy exploration of some of the local villages. My first time riding in Norfolk and, if they could just sort out a good view here and there, I would highly recommend it.