Looking from Kett's Heights over the city of Norwich, with its twin cathedrals and castle dominating the cityscape, I paused to think, what's in a name? Shakespeare famously had starstruck lover Juliet thinking about roses and Montagues at the time when she posed that same question. Had she been a keen cyclist, standing where I was and about to embark on the Rebellion Way, her thoughts might have veered from flora to bike packing. And she would be right to scratch her head and wonder how a route winding through the flat lands, royal palaces and broads of Norfolk deserved the epithet "Rebellion Way".
The Norfolk of today doesn't scream rebellion, but its past is home to some of the more rambunctious characters of British history and it is from them it takes its name. Most people have heard of Boudicca, queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, who, when wronged by the Roman occupiers of Britain, rampaged her way towards London from Norfolk, demolishing legions, towns and cities until she was finally defeated and executed. Fewer have heard of Robert Kett, a 16th century noble who sided with the people against the then royal policy that oversaw extensive enclosure of common lands. He led a force to the Heights I stood on and captured Norwich, only to be defeated and meet a similar grizzly end to Boudicca. Fortunately, my rebellion, like that of the many others who take to two or three wheels over four to explore the UK, is only a small act and one not destined to a bloody finale at the hands of the authorities!
This story is from the June 2023 edition of Cycling Plus UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2023 edition of Cycling Plus UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Objectives of desire
Ned ponders his affection for cycling on a ride from London to Minehead
ONE OF A KIND
Project One combines premium-quality customised bikes with an endless palette of colours and designs from the creative experts at Trek. It's a winning formula. Here's why...
Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 Driftless
£2,700 Aluminium bike-packing-friendly gravel bike
Gower Peninsula, Wales
A rider powers up the Cefn Bryn ridge on south Wales' Gower Peninsula.
Slow commotion
Downing Street targeting 20mph zones is attacking popular policy
Black Series Multistrada
£5,629 British designed, all-road speedster
Helmetcam militia
Hey, bad drivers! Want to be in the movies? Then smile as you close-pass us while on the phone
Rolling horizons
2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas tells us about the joy of discovering new routes
ENTER THE DRAGON
It's one of the toughest sportives in the UK, but did climb-loving cycling author Simon Warren have the legs to slay the beast of a sportive route in 2023?
LOFTY GOALS
Higher, harder, longer... the road-sportive calendar gets ever more extreme. Here are 10 of the toughest single day rides to enter for 2024