Walking & Cycling

Cavendish View is well-connected to the Thurston area for both pedestrians and cyclists, with many local facilities being within walking distance, along with the National Cycle Route 51 right on your doorstep – leading you all the way into Bury St Edmunds.

Walking

Walking is a great way to get about and has multiple health benefits. Did you know it is recommended that adults should get 150 minutes of exercise per week? Walking is the easiest way to achieve that.

There are safe walking routes to your local amenities including, the local convenience store, Post Office, train station and the village centre which are all within a 14-minute walk. There is also the Black Bourn Valley nature reserve just outside of Thurston, towards Norton. Open all year round, this reserve is a great spot for a leisure walk.

Take a look at the local area map on the right for the location of local amenities.

Dates for your diary…

#Walkthismay

May is National Walking Month, it’s also just a few weeks away from summer officially starting! So make sure to get on your feet, get outside and get involved in some type of walking event this spring. You could go the extra mile and raise money for charity…

Other than it being National Walking Month, there’s a more specific event available to the residents of Suffolk – The highly anticipated Suffolk Walking Festival.

Suffolk Walking Festival takes place across Suffolk County between the 13th and the 28th of May. To learn more, and book your tickets, visit the website here.

May also brings another great walking event, aimed at children – Walk To School Week.

Walk To School Week takes place over 5 days, from the 15th to the 19th of May. This goal is to inspire children to be more active in their day-to-day lives. You can sign up to this great event through the Living Streets Website.

Some useful websites and apps for walking:

• Go Jauntly – Are you looking for walking routes near Cavendish View? Go Jauntly is a free walking app that shows you some nearby routes to walk around. You can also record and curate your own walking routes.
• The Ramblers: The Ramblers Association provides a variety of regular programmes of walks. For walks around Suffolk and more information, visit their website.
• Open Street Map – This is good for people who are looking or finding footpaths around their area.
• Discover Suffolk – The Discover Suffolk website suggests walking routes across the county. There is also an app available for IOS and Android devices.

Cycling

Did you know cycling is three times faster than walking?

Cycling around Thurston is easy and convenient. It is also an excellent way to get about and is a great alternative to walking. Local amenities are easily accessible around Thurston.

There are a great combination of road and traffic free cycle routes in the area, some of these are part of the National Cycle Route 1. National Cycle Route 1 is a 1264 mile long road that runs from Dover and all the way up to Scotland, passing by some of the most stunning scenery in the UK.

You can also follow National Cycle Route 51 into Bury St Edmunds which is a 31-minute cycle journey. If you haven’t already, claim your £150 voucher which can be redeemed at Decathlon (or similar) to get yourself some active gear or even use it as a contribution towards the cost of a bike!

Some useful websites and apps:

• Love to Ride: Love to ride has something for everyone. Similar to Go Janutly, you can record your rides and compete in competitions. You can also make new cycling buddies.
• Sustrans: This is a UK based charity that aim to encourage walking and cycling, and is a UK wide network of signed paths and routes for walking, cycling, wheeling and exploring outdoors.
• Cycle Streets: This is one of the most comprehensive cycle route planners. It is free to use and is also available as a mobile app.
• National Cycle Network: To find a route on the National cycle network, or to find out whether the route is traffic free.

Cyclescheme

This is a travel incentive imposed by the UK government to encourage people to cycle. You can save 25-39% on hiring a new bike and equipment for work. When your hire agreement ends, you can even keep the cyclescheme package you hired by making a small additional payment. Learn more here.

Free Cycle Training

The Suffolk Road Safe Team are now delivering sessions for families who want to cycle more regularly, whether to keep fit, to commute to work or school, or to go and visit friends! 

The session will be about 3 hours long and free of charge. They will come to you, chat about what you are trying to achieve, and then work on your route or specific challenges that you have.

Some of the things you’ll learn include:

• how to ride with your children so that you can help them gain confidence;
• a simple system for remembering how to deal with different road scenarios;
• how to improve your safety at any junctions you use;
• how you can use your road position to control other road users and enhance your safety.

Find out more here.