Weekender: The Wolf Cub route

Start/finish: Outside Bury St Edmunds Abbey.
Grid ref: TL 85670 63935.
Maps: OS Landranger 155, 144.
Ride length: 101km (63 miles).
Climbing: 400m.
Bike type: gravel bike, rugged tourer, hybrid, hardtail MTB.
Ride level: regular.

The Wolf Way, co-created by Cycling UK members Sharon Calton and Chris Bower, is a welcome change from hillier bikepacking routes in Britain’s north and west. It winds its way 400km (228 miles) along flat bridleways, byways, gravel tracks, cycle paths and quiet back roads through Suffolk. 

The Wolf Way is named for a legend. After refusing to renounce his Christianity to Viking raiders in AD 869, Edmund, then king of East Anglia, was beheaded. The story says his head was later found being guarded by a wolf, and when reunited with his body, miraculously fused back on. 

At 101km, the Wolf Cub is a shorter version of the main bikepacking route. It’s a good route if you want to travel a bit slower and make a weekend of it. Or if you're happy to push on, you can do it in a day – as I did this spring. 

Though Suffolk is mainly flat, there were stretches that required more chunky tyres to deal with the mud. I would suggest waiting until the trails have dried up. The route described here does not include ‘The Grundle’ – a hollow way on the edge of Stanton that takes its name from Grendel, the Norse monster that resided in low-lying, watery places. If it hasn’t dried up, cycling here feels a bit like taming a monster and is best avoided. The rest of the route was, despite being flat, amazing fun even in spring.

1. Bury St Edmunds Abbey

Start and finish your ride in Bury St Edmunds at the extensive remains of one of the richest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. Admire the complete 14th-century Great Gate and Norman Tower, as well as the impressive ruins and altered west front of the church. The shrine with the relics of martyred Anglo-Saxon king St Edmund became a place of pilgrimage years ago.

2. Pakenham Water Mill

You can’t miss the windmill even if you cycle past it. Or you could stop for refreshments in the tearoom at the water mill, the oldest surviving flour mill in Suffolk. Open to visitors during the summer, you can have a look at all the machinery. A friendly guide will show you around and explain how it all works.

3. The Well, Hopton

A very short detour off the route, this small, notfor-profit coffee shop in Hopton is an ideal lunch stop if you cycle the route in a day. You can either sit outside or indoors, and choose from a range of home-made, fresh and local produce and baristastyle coffee and speciality teas, while chatting with the friendly volunteers

4. Knettishall Heath, Nature Reserve

Watching the ponies grazing on Knettishall Heath while I passed by via road and bridleway was one of my highlights. Having changed little since the Anglo-Saxon age, this ancient landscape of lowland heath, grassland and woodland offers a unique mosaic of habitats, home to some of the UK’s rare

5. The King's Forest

The route takes you around the edge of this forest, which was named to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary in 1935. The chalky soil supports a prolific flower population, including wild thyme and bird’s-foot trefoil. If you ride the route outside the drier months, expect mud.

6. Deadman’s Grave

After Berner’s Heath you'll pass a little hillock called Deadman’s Grave. Be mindful of hundreds of rabbits crossing your path as you ride by. Deadman's Grave is traditionally believed to be the burial place of a man and his horse. As revenge for being denied a Christian burial, he is said to have haunted the mo