Hyde Wood and Fornham Circular Run Suffolk

4.45pm 10.2 miles in 1 hr 25 mins 25 seconds

Week to date mileage 31 miles

Month to date mileage 37

Average weekly rate 30 miles

Average monthly rate 131

Year to date 815

Lifetime 10408

Before setting out on this run I measured the course using MapMyRun.com. I was looking to run a 10 mile course and this one is slightly more so was ideal.

It was quite warm and I missed the Wimbledon final which apparently was a classic match to do this run. Anyway I had more interest in the Tour De France which this year started in London and is one of the great events of the year.

Hyde Wood was slightly cooler to run around the perimeter with a little shade offer by the trees. My time of 8.20 miles seemed about right and I was tired but pleased with the effort and run.

Hyde Wood Circular Run Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

10am 7 miles in 54.51

Week to Date mileage 23

Month to date mileage 98

Average weekly rate 32.7

Average Monthly rate 142

Weather: Sunny & cool

A lovely sunny day but still cold enough to require gloves and a hat along with tracksters and a sweatshirt. The route takes me from
County Upper School over to Howard Middle School and I then pick up a footpath which takes me over fields until I reach the Westley Road. This part of the run isn’t great as I run along side the busy B1106 until I turn sharp right on the road to Risby. As soon as you turn though the road is nice and quiet passing the Crematorium on the right and what can only be described as Pig World on the left. Hundreds of pigs were sunbathing and rolling around around in glorious mud. The next landmark is the lovely Hyde Cottage and it is just past here that you turn right again.

You soon reach Hyde Wood which is a
very square shaped wood. Before I reached it I could a lot of shooting going on. This wood is often used for pheasant shooting and today they were out in full force. I saw several pheasants make their escape as the guns blazed and I wondered if I should carry on thinking that it would only take one stray shot and I could say bye bye.However I spotted the shooters and they were some distance into the centre of Hyde Wood.

Eventually you leave the road beside the wood and emerge into a fairly lofty position looking down over miles
of landscape on the Hyde Road. The Sugar Beet factory could be seen in full production steamy smoke rising from its tower.

The Hyde Road leads into Fornham All Saints and from here I run back into town and the County Upper School.

Previous times on this course

19 Nov 54.09
22 Oct 52.44
17 Sep 52.20
16 Jul 53.43
11 Jun 53.25
21 May 54.26
9 Apr 55.31
22 Jan 55.15

So today’s run was rather slow but it was very enjoyable and that what matters.

County Upper/ Mere Road Circular Run Bury St Edmunds

10am 7 miles in 54 minutes 09 seconds.

Year to date mileage 1166

Month to date 76 miles

Average miles per month 110

Average weekly rate 25.3

Weather:Cold foggy morning .

Course: From County Upper School I ran through the Howard Estate and on to the Golf Course before reaching the B1106 Westley Road. Turn left here and right heading towards Risby past the Crematorium. At Hyde Cottages turn right and then run around Hyde Wood. The Hyde Road takes you back to Fornham All Saints and from here head back into town to the County Upper School.

A very mist morning couldn’t really see much and the camera let me down it failed to produce any pictures. Oh well for a digital camera which only cost about £15 I shouldn’t expect much and to be honest in the fog there wasn’t anything to see.

I got my running number this morning for next weeks Hadleigh 10. I will probably take it fairly easy this week prior to the race. I got number 274 so I expect there could be a good turn out just hope it remains dry and cold rather than wet and windy. Now I have said it I have probably cursed it !

County Upper/ Mere Road Circular Run Bury St Edmunds

10am 7 miles in 52.44.

Year to date mileage 1046

Month to date 96 miles

Average miles per month 108

Average weekly rate 24.8

Weather: Dry dull and cool.

Course: From County Upper School I run through the Howard Estate and on to the Golf Course before reaching the B1106 Westley Road. Turn left here and right heading towards Risby past the Crematorium. At Hyde Cottages turn right and then run around Hyde Wood. The Hyde Road takes you back to Fornham All Saints and from here head back into town to the County Upper School.

The sugar beet harvest is in full production, the photos above show a field of sugar beet and nearby a store of beet awaiting collection and delivery to the factory.

Bury St Edmunds has the largest sugar beet factory in the country it can process 12,000 tonnes of beet a day, with about 1.85 million tonnes being processed each year. This beet comes from 1,300 growers, who receive a total of £58 million payment in an average year.

Sugar cane was the world’s sole source of sugar until 1748 when a German scientist, found a way of extracting sugar from the root of the sugar beet. Before this sugar beet had been grown only on a small scale as an animal feed.

If the wind is in the right direction and you are standing in town then you can’t help but pick up the smell of sugar beet from the factory. It is a warm, sweet smell that can be overpowering to those who are not familar with it.

Personally along with the smell of the Greene King Brewery I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.

County Upper Mere Road Circular Run Bury St Edmunds

10am 7 miles in 52.20.

Year to date mileage 905.

Month to date 95 miles

Average miles per month 106

Average weekly rate 24.4

Weather: Dry sunny but cool

Course: From County Upper School I run through the Howard Estate and on to the Golf Course before reaching the B1106 Westley Road. Turn left here and right heading towards Risby past the Crematorium. At Hyde Cottages turn right and then run around Hyde Wood. The Hyde Road takes you back to Fornham All Saints and from here head back into town to the County Upper School.

On the Risby Road you pass a pig paradise loads of pigs wallowing in the mud. Near Hyde Wood there was a lovely smell of onions rows and rows of onions had been harvested and some of those that had escaped and fallen of the back of lorries had been squashed and trampled in to the ground.

16th July Hyde Wood Circular Run

8am, 7 miles in 53.43. Year to date mileage 598, month to date mileage 63 miles. Again hot and sunny wonderful weather.

Course – This run heads out from the County Upper School in Bury towards the Golf course and Westley Road. The Westley Road is always busy and you run for a half mile against the traffic before turning right towards Risby. Go past the crematorium and turn right at Hyde Cottage. You then run round Hyde Wood on a narrow road. Here you hardly see a car though you can see plenty of pheasants.

Not so long ago I was doing this run when I cam across a group of men all walking down one side of Hyde Wood. This part of the run is nearly always deserted and you don’t often so another soul. These guys all had large shot guns drooped over their shoulders and I said hello as I usually do when I pass any body. There wasn’t a murmur as I went past but I can tell you I did feel a little exposed knowing that I was running in a deserted location with a wood on one side and a group of men behind me with shot guns. I think I understood their slight aggression to me when I run round to the other side of the wood as there was literally hundreds of pheasants. The beaters had been through the wood and had cleared the birds to one end ready for a big shoot. As I ran past the birds shot up in the air many of them making outwards away from the woods – I was kinda pleased!

The course follows in a circle along the Hude Road emerging at Fornham All Saints from here head back to Bury and home.