Horsecroft,Nowton, High Green and Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

8.30am 7.5 miles in 1 hr 6 mins 25 seconds
Week to date mileage 27 miles
Month to date mileage 12
Average weekly rate 29.9 miles
Average monthly rate 130
Year to date 1309
Lifetime 10902

A nice bright day as I headed out for a run over a regular route which takes me up the Horsecroft road through Hardwick and Horsecroft.

Instead of cutting back over the Clare to Bury footpath I kept to the road and ran through the little hamlet of High Green.

There are only a dozen or so houses here including some almshouses on a aptly named rise. I headed down the hill and back into Bury via Nowton.

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Now playing: The Hippy Boys – The Hippy’s Are Here
via FoxyTunes

Horsecroft, Nowton Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

2pm 7.6 miles in 1 hr 2 mins
Week to date mileage 22 miles
Month to date mileage 132
Average weekly rate 30 miles
Average monthly rate 130
Year to date 1038
Lifetime 10631

At present BT and Tiscali are apparently working to improve and enhance internet connections where I live. The disruption is set to last a week and my access will be intermittent. This was bad timing as today I had planned to work from home and needed to log on to files from work but couldn’t!

So I headed out for a run over a regular route which takes me up the Horsecroft road through Hardwick and Horsecroft. Today I seemed to record a very quick time of around about 2 minutes faster than normal for this route. I didn’t feel as if I had run any differently or set out to run faster than normal. May be a one off fluke or perhaps recent training is beginning to pay,time will tell.

The Bury to Clare footpath section was hard and dry. Sometimes this can be wet and ankle deep in mud. I have had a shoe sucked off in mud here before!

Horsecroft, Nowton Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

8.10am 7.6 miles in 1 hr 3 mins 29 mins
Week to date mileage 17 miles
Month to date mileage 73
Average weekly rate 29.7 miles
Average monthly rate 129
Year to date 704
Lifetime 10297

As I set out this morning the weather was clear blue skies but soon changed as a breeze picked up and very quickly we had some clouds. I ran out of Bury on the Horsecroft road through Hardwick and Horsecroft. There were some wonderful poppies to be seen along the field edges.

My shoes need replacing. I have noticed a lack of spring in them to cushion my runs in the last week and this is sure sign along with the fact I have run 480 miles in them. The Asics Gel GT 2110 have been get for the mileage though if I was racing I would always prefer the New Balance 1060 I last had. So a bit of a poser as to what to buy next. I shall continue to buy from Joe Jogger
I have had always had good quick service from this company.

After the recent heavy rains the off road sections taking me to Nowton were wet. I stopped by the Hardwick Trig to get this short video. This is a pillar trig and has been placed here as a significant high spot in Suffolk at 84 feet.

Horsecroft, Nowton Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

4pm 7.6 miles in 1 hr 2 mins 46 mins

Week to date mileage 34 miles

Month to date mileage 20

Average weekly rate 29.6 miles

Average monthly rate 129

Year to date 651

Lifetime 10244

This is a good circular run that combines a run through the town centre with part of the Bury to Clare footpath and a run through the hamlets of Horsecroft and Hardwick. Unlike my last run over this course on the 19th of May I was back to a more usual anticlockwise route. This means running out of Bury on the Horsecroft road through Hardwick and Horsecroft. Running over fields to Nowton park and back through the town centre.

The weather was good and warm. This morning I was out at the Woolpit car boot and bought absolutely zilch. So I left my run until late afternoon to avoid the mid day sun.

Bury St Edmunds Friday 5

7.30pm 5 miles in 37 mins 41 secs

Week to date mileage 19 miles

Month to date mileage 5

Average weekly rate 29.3 miles

Average monthly rate 127

Year to date 636

Lifetime 10229

Tonight was the first in a series of Suffolk/Essex 5 mile evening races from Nowton Park Bury St Edmunds. The weather was surprisingly warm and dry after recent rain seemingly every day for the last couple of weeks.

Perhaps the combination of the good weather, the enjoyable location at Nowton Park and the excellent organisation all helped to swell numbers as even with a few minutes before the start of both the junior and adult races there were big line of last minute entries. The guys in the registration tent did a brilliant job as looking at the results on the Saint Edmund Pacers website it would appear the race entry must have exceeded 500.

The figure of eight course has a bit of everything – to begin with there is a mile and a bit within Nowton Park. As per usual most people belt of at a good pace partly to get good position as some of the corners are fairly narrow and with the volume of runners you can get stuck behind a group and overtaking is then not easy.

Things begin to settle down after emerging from the park and heading up hill to High Green. The course runs through a farm across rutted tracks and some puddles. . There is then a good downhill section near Nowton Church before another slight climb, more downhill before returning on to the same road and into Nowton Park for a sprint down the avenue of elm trees.

I took lap times but I haven’t made much sense of them and I think I must have failed to stop my watch at the finish as my overall time seemed to be more than the official time.

Anyway my lap times were

Mile 1 7.30
Mile 2 15.42 – 8.12
Mile 3 23.49 -8.07
Mile 4 31.00 – 7.11
Mile 5 37.56 – 6.56

I was slower than last year by 13 seconds by the official time. I struggled to get going and felt hot after the 1st 2 miles. I didn’t take enough drink at the half way point and would have better off stopping and having a drink. At this point the hot air balloon looked much more inviting than running.

However it was a good event and depending on work commitments I am know considering whether I can do any of the other events in this series of races.

Friday 15th June – Kirton

Friday 8th June – Ipswich

Friday 22nd June – Stowmarket (Haughley)

Friday 13th July – Great Bentley

The free race t shirts were very popular.

As per usual I will load up many other photos on my flickr site in due course.

Horsecroft, Nowton and Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

5.30pm 7.8 miles in 1 hr 5 mins 37secs

Week to date mileage 29 miles

Month to date mileage 65

Average weekly rate 29.1 miles

Average monthly rate 127

Year to date 579

Lifetime 10172

This is a good circular run that combines a run through the town centre with part of the Bury to Clare footpath and a run through the hamlets of Horsecroft and Hardwick. I decided to to the run in a clockwise fashion rather than my normal anticlockwise route. So I set of through the town centre and along Cullum Rd out to Nowton Park before taking the Breckley Ley pathway uphill.
At the top of this hill I pick up a pathway heading left to a small minor road before taking the first right pathway across countryside this being the Bury to Clare pathway.
I pass a trig point which is the Hardwick Trig at a height of 84 feet above sea level. This is fairly insignificant but has been chosen as a high point in Suffolk by surveyors. Trig points were a a surveyors tool to provide a reference point for surveying the UK before electronic positioning aids were available (GPS etc).
The trig point is called UKTP2801 or Hardwick.
Lat/long: N 52 13.049 E 0 42.531, Grid ref: TL 85146 61155 .

After this I carry on across a footpath through the middle of a field before reaching the minor road at Horsecroft. I turn right and head back into Bury passing Hardwick on my right.

Nowton Park and Bury St Edmunds Town Centre

8am 11.5 miles in 1 hr 35 mins 13 seconds

Week to date mileage 24 miles

Month to date mileage 86

Year to date 478

Lifetime 10071

Nowton Suffolk

8.30am 10.2 miles in 1 hr 25 mins 3 seconds

Week to date mileage 23 miles

Month to date mileage 23

Average weekly rate 30.1 miles

Average monthly rate 131

Year to date 13

Lifetime 9616

As I was setting of light rain was falling and I decided not take the camera. I set out towards Nowton Park and continued on past the country park before turning at Low Green to run on to the main A134 .

I ran on to Sicklesmere before turning up Hawstead Lane. On the right hand side you can pick up a footpath across fields which takes you back to Low Green. I decided then on a run around Nowton Park before returning through Bury and home

Nowton Park Bury St Edmunds

8am 10.2 miles in 1 hour 26mins 23 secs

Week to date mileage 35

Month to date mileage 99

Average weekly rate 30.5

Average monthly rate 132

Year to date 1284

Lifetime 9304

My route this morning was to head through the town centre along Cullum Rd and on to Nowton Park. I decided I ws going to run a couple of laps of the park but changed my mind half way round. Instead I picked up a path at Nowton Lodge Farm at Low Green and headed up towards Sicklesmere.

This pathway is mainly farmland with a few horses. I will return another time as I see you can run all the way out to Sicklesmere this way which is a nice alternative to runing along the A134.

I returned into Nowton Park and completed a lap before venturing into the town centre and returning home.

The weather continues to be mild, damp and misty and all the talk is of green taxes to cope with global warming. We are nearing November and the grass is still growing and the temperatures continue to hover around 18c.

Horsecroft Nowton and Bury St Edmunds Circular Run

8am 7.5 miles in 1 hour 2 mins 25 seconds

Week to date mileage 14

Month to date mileage 47

Average weekly rate 30.1

Average Monthly rate 131

Year to Date 1232

Life time 9252

I set of for my run up Hospital Road past the statue of Ouida. This statue has seen better days and could do with a clean anyone listening?? Its design is to provide a drinking trough for dogs and horses. Her real name was Louise Rame and she was born in Bury St Edmunds in 1839 died 1908.

This memorial stone was placed in 1908 from funds raised by national newspapers . Apparently several thousand people came from all over the country came to pay tribute to this author who was one of the most popular novelists of her age.

Has anyone ever read one of her stories? They appear to be romantic tales perhaps a bit Catherine Cookson and include

Under Two Flags (1867), Moths (1880), and In Maremma (1882). Her stories for children include Two Little Wooden Shoes (1874), Bimbi (1882), andthe Dog of Flanders (1872).

One of her quotations was “A cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run.”

She made a lot of money from her books but apparently squandered it in London at Langhams where she held large parties. Apparently she wrote a number of her books at Langhams surrounded by candles writing with a quill on purple paper. She died in near poverty in Italy.

Her statue is largely forgotten these days.

I continued my run through Hardwick Heath which has some wonderful trees including large Cedar of Lebanon trees and was once the home of Italian prisioners of war.

I soon picked up the Hencote Lane path which takes you across the centre of farms which I presume belong to the Horsecroft farm. In the middle of the field there is a fourway crossing point where the Bury to Clare footpath meets the Hencote Lane path and I took the former back to Nowton. The pathways were particulalrly wet and my feet were soaked.

Back past Breckley Ley House and along by Nowton Park into Bury through the graveyard and the town centre and

home.