From the city to the sea
- Ian Ryder
- Oct 4
- 7 min read
If you are an avid road cyclist in the South East of England you are very likely to have heard of the Dunwich Dynamo. You may even have taken part - and if you have, you might even have become a convert - returning year after year to participate in one of the most magical experiences that cycling has to offer.
I head heard tales of 'the Dynamo' ever since I first joined Horsham Cycling, but though I had to admit they sounded intriguing, there was plenty to make me cautious. Not least of these is its piece de resistance - it's a dusk to dawn ride of around 112 miles, mostly covered in the dead of night. The Dunwich Dynamo is an informal ride starting from London in the evening and ending shortly after dawn at Dunwich beach in Suffolk.
The Dynamo has been a regular feature of the Horsham Cycling calendar for many years, and the club has a cohort of regulars (viewed as mildly eccentric, verging on nutters by others who think they know better) plus a regular feed of folk interested to see what all the fuss is about. So we usually have a full minivan of cyclists leaving Horsham around 4pm on the day of the ride, with another van to take the bikes. The ride starts informally from London Fields in Dalston, North London - and we were fortunate to have a magnificent sunny evening for the grand depart. London Fields was packed, and all around you could spot lycra clad eager beavers of all ages, smiling and sharing the mounting excitement. There is no specific departure time so groups of riders drifted off at intervals from around 7pm onwards, weaving their way through the busy streets and cycleways of Dalston and chatting to each other and bemused locals along the way.
It turned out that the first ten miles or so to Epping Forest were quite relaxed - much of the roads had decent cycle paths to follow and the traffic was not especially heavy and on the whole pretty courteous. Once we had reached Epping itself the ride settled into its typical 'quiet country roads' mode, with only light traffic - maybe people knew the ride was on and had decided to give the route a clear berth... but whatever the reason, it made for peaceful and really enjoyable progress.
The first 'fuel stop' came around 25 miles in, as the sun came down at Fyfield. Here we discovered a magnificent spread laid out by the Ongar Road Scouts, at extremely reasonable prices. II should explain at this point that there is no entry fee for the Dynamo - it is a completely informal affair. However, being well established the ride is fully supported by a whole raft of local organisations and establishments that use the stream of hungry and thirsty cyclists as a way to generate a bit of well deserved extra income. As a result, you get pretty much all the facilities you could possibly need throughout the night ride, and it all works marvellously.
It was also at Fyfield that people started turning on the festive lights on their bikes - and some of them were quite amazing. As a newbie, I came equipped with just a high power front light (A Cateye 1100 which gave great light for the entire ride, and still had charge to spare) and a flashing rear light. I must arrange some more exciting illumination for next time!
Early in the evening we had seen occasional families out at the side of the road to cheer us on - their kids all excited to see the stream of cyclists going by and sharing the odd 'high five' as we passed. But as the evening wore on it was past the kids bedtime and the roads became quieter. I had elected to ride with just a normal cycling jersey and arm warmers - the day had been really hot and I had believed the optimistic forecast of overnight temperatures. However, as the evening turned into nighttime I realised I was going to be a bit underdressed. A combination of the speed of the ride and a growing chill in the air made me regret my choice and look enviously at wiser and more experienced souls who had extra layers to pop on as needed. The route is undulating but with nothing that you would call a really steep of challenging climb, and when I was on the tops of the hills it felt quite bearable even in the middle of the night - but as soon as you started on a descent you could feel the temperature drop fast, and I was gritting my teeth until the next hill arrived and I could climb to warmer air. It was strange to to dreading the descents and longing for the climbs!
I had expected to start to feel tired on the ride, but a combination of adrenaline and a refreshing chilly breeze helped to keep me well awake. Indeed, I was quite surprised to discover that I had no real problems with tiredness throughout the night - though this seems to be a personal thing. Some people coped really well, and others were clearly struggling with the lack of sleep. I guess you won't know what type you will be until you try it...
Our next stop came at Great Bardfield, around 40 miles into the ride. By now it was fully night, but you couldn't miss the festivities at the Bell, with a host of cyclists grabbing coffees and cake to fuel them for the next stage of the ride. In fact, there were many different options for places to stop and eat, so we passed quite a few more than we stopped at.
We were soon back on the bikes and heading for our next stop at Sudbury Firestation - this was probably the largest and best equipped stop on the route, but we used it just as a loo stop and quickly pressed on, setting quite a strong pace so that we passed most of those on the road, with just a few young bucks leaving us in their wake.
So after another 40 miles from coffee at the Bell we arrived at our next food stop in Needham Market - the highlight of which was a really tasty and quite humungous sausage in a bun from the local burger van - definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
It was only another 8 or so miles from here that we started to feel a bit tired - still not as bad as I had imagined I would be by this stage, but certainly finding it harder to resist the lure of roadside cafes - so we stopped again at Gosbeck for the final refuelling of the night. We had around another 20 miles to go and it was by now close to dawn, so we lingered here a bit longer than we had at the other stops, warming up again and getting ready for the final push.
Shortly after leaving Gosbeck, we detected the signs of dawn. The light started from the east (obviously), and within 30 minutes it was properly light. The roads had been almost deserted for the entire night, aside from isolated groups of cyclists, and it was eerily quiet as we rolled along the darkened tarmac following our headlights and the occasional tailights ahead. In such conditions you reach somewhat of a zen-like state, and the miles rolled by almost unnoticed as your legs felt as though they were working independently while you relaxed in the stillness of the night. But the dawn brought the birds' obligatory chorus and some welcome warmth to cheer our spirits - The night had been truly magical, but it was also a relief to see the sun once again and know that the destination was within sight.
Just a few miles further on we passed through Framlingham, the last sizeable village on the route and the heartland of the popular BBC comedy 'Detectorists' - if I had prepared better beforehand I might have spotted some of the filming locations, but that will have to wait for some future occasion. In what seemd like no time, we were dropping down a steep and narrow road to out final destination - the shingle beach at Dunwich.
It was overcast and a bit chilly, but this didn't stop the hardiest souls taking a dip in the North Sea as everyone relaxed and shared their stories of the previous night's adventure. We were certainly weary, but exhilarated too - the night had been a magnificent adventure, and quite a magical experience - unlike anything else I have done on two wheels. If you have any qualms about riding at night, I would suggest that you consider the Dynamo as a great way to give it a try - provided that riding 100+ miles is within your capabilities, everything else about this ride felt very safe and straightforward.
So all that remained now was to get home... the Horsham Cycling elves had this well sorted, and we found the vans just a couple of miles out of Dunwich, ready to pack the bikes and an opportunity for a pleasant doze as we were ferried back to Horsham.
All told, an exceptionally grand night out was had by all - think I shall definitely be doing this again in future - not so sure about taking a dip in the North Sea at the end though!
Finally, if you would like to know more, you'll find plenty of info on the informal Dunwich Dynamo site and in the rather old but still excellent post by Barry Mason. This will tell you all you need to know - but I think the best advice of all is the Barry's final recommendation...
'Just love it'
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