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 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.