I've posted about this ride before. It was an idea I had several years ago:
On a weekend close to the Summer Solstice - shortest night; A nighttime coast to coast:
Watch the sunset over the sea at Hunstanton - a seaside town on the Northern, Norfolk side of the Wash, so it faces West; then ride through the night 'racing the Sun' to see the sunrise over the sea on the East Norfolk coast - I chose Hemsby, because I had family ties to the village.
It's about 65 - 70 miles in about 7 hours. The extra miles from and to stations puts the total for the ride to around 100 miles.
The first time I tried it I delayed by a few weeks because I had a cold and the weather was terrible on the 'correct' weekend, so I had longer to do it and got to the beach before the sunrise. - Cheated.
The times I have done it near to the shortest night I have failed - poor navigation, so took too long, punctures, stung by nettles and unable to change gear, cold Northerly wind and not enough warm clothes, etc.
This year, 2023, probably getting too old for it, and no big rides for ages, I managed it! I packed warmer clothes and a sleeping bag and bivvy, so I used the gigantic Dawes Galaxy.
Sunset
I stopped at The Gin Trap Inn for a couple of pints and a water top-up.
Wildlife was mental - loads of deer, swooping barn owls, hares that would run along ahead of me, cats that would sit in the road and calmly watch me ride by, almost constant rustling from hedgerows and woods along side me - the weirdest was five kittens playing in the road, about a mile from any noticable houses.
I wasn't sure if I had packed my map, so navigation was a bit by guesswork.
Some stunning 3am mist scenes through the broads (Bloody cold and probably not enough light to capture it on camera).
Anyway, I bloody did it - I beat the Sun (yes, I know it has to go the long way round, but it's bigger and more powerful than me...)
I stopped at an entrance to the dunes, to have a museli bar before wheeling the bike to the beach - and the rim of the sun just surfaced...
... so I wheeled the bike, the best I could, down and across the dunes (on an approved route) to the beach.
Only Bloody did it!!!
(Route on my Strava)
https://www.strava.com/activities/9280394432
