Valencia bakes in the sun by day, smells of oranges at night and burns entirely once a year, during the world-renowned Las Fallas Festival, the city’s most important holiday – when the noise of fireworks and the stink of gunpowder fills the air for several sleepless nights in March.

Monsters walk the streets every March

Valencia, the third biggest city of Spain, is sometimes perceived as the “ugly sister” of Madrid and Barcelona. A grossly inaccurate comparison, but one at least that has helped it stave off the invading crowds who prefer to visit her aforementioned siblings. In fact Valencia is undeniably picturesque, the wriggling streets of its Old Town betraying both Roman and Arabian influences and punctuated with meticulously maintained orange gardens and open squares full of outdoor cafes that bustle until 3am. Girding the Old Town is the dried bed of the river Turia, a beautiful green belt of attractions including the amazing Bioparc immersion zoo and La Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias. The latter is one of Valencia’s most recognisable symbols, a futuristic white city designed by avant garde local architect, Santiago Calatrava.

If that wasn’t enough, the city’s never-failing weather (with an average of 15 degrees on Christmas Day!) and long stretch of Mediterranean beaches make Valencia even easier to fall in love with.

Best of the Beaten Track

Valencia’s heart remains in its medieval Old Town, and the best spot to start any walk is at its central point, the huge gothic Cathedral of Our Lady (you can find it located between two cosy, medieval squares: La Plaza de la Reina and La Plaza de la Virgen). Remarkably the Cathedral holds the very chalice which many historians believe to be the true Holy Grail (someone really should have told Indiana Jones), and after you’ve paid your homage you can enjoy some of the best views in the city by climbing the Cathedral’s highest tower, El Micalet. Casting an eye over the medieval architecture of the Old Town it doesn’t take much imagination to picture the city’s greatest hero, the Moor-fighting knight El Cid Campeador, being hoisted triumphantly through the city streets.

Take a walk in the Old Town

From La Plaza de la Virgen it’s good to take a slow stroll down Knights’ Street (Calle de los Caballeros). Here’s where the famous El Carmen quarter starts. Strolling down the narrow streets, crossing La Plaza del Negrito and heading South, you will reach the stone building of La Lonja de Seda: the old silk market and one of the greatest examples of lay architecture from medieval Europe. In front of La Lonja you can see the huge art nouveau Mercado Central building, one of the largest indoor markets in Spain. Fresh seafood is delivered here every single day, although nota bene: the city’s speciality, paella valenciana, doesn’t in fact contain any seafood whatsoever – originating from the nearby marshes true paella consists of rice, saffron, garlic, chicken and rabbit. Entire rabbits with no skin and plucked roosters’ heads make some of the market’s stands look quite spooky.

For a true Spanish experience the strong-stomached might want to catch a bull fight at La Plaza de Toros, the second biggest bull ring in Spain (after Madrid), located next to La Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the Main Train Station (Estación del Norte).

Hipster’s Guide

Streetwise in El Carmen

Surprisingly, El Carmen, Valencia’s most famous district, has managed to retain its authentic feel, despite its location in the centre of the Old Town and being a firm favourite on the tourist track. The district is renowned for its quirky look and late opening hours of its tiny bars, whilst the liberal vibe has also made it a Mecca for hippies. Two of the best spots to start a Valencian night out are on La Plaza del Negrito and Baja Street; but if you really want to escape fellow foreigners head to the surroundings of Ruzafa Street instead. Here inconspicuous bars, scenic squares and gardens excude a chilled-out atmosphere and you can often find live music by street musicians. One recommended place is Cafe Ubik, a small bookshop-cafe where you can pop in to have breakfast or start to your day with a glass of red wine (yup, Spaniards do it!), meet up with friends or just swap some second-hand books.

Experience & Events

It would be a sin not to take advantage of the amazing weather conditions that the city has to offer. No wonder that most of the Valencian’s favourite activities take place outdoors. A bike ride along the dried out river Turia is a perfect way to see the best of the green side of the city. Colourful cascades of flowers, exotic trees and fountains line the route eastwards to the final destination of Santiago Calatrava’s La Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias. At the far west end of the old Turia river’s bed, el Parque de la Cabecera is located. Nevermind the distance, because once you’re there, you will feel as if you were five again by taking a ride across the lake in a kitsch swan-shaped gondola.

Over the top? Never...

They say that every Valencia citizen is a fire freak, and this theory is certainly borne out by the city’s most important fiesta, the insane Las Fallas festival. Even though the festival itself lasts only around a week the preparations take place all year, so that, by the middle of March, the city is ready to turn into one vast, extremely noisy, street party. Every important square is adorned with its own Falla, a huge statue made of wood and plastic, often related to current political or social events. Between 15th and 19th of March no one works, children throw firecrackers in parks and public places, the streets are cut off from regular traffic and kiosks selling doughnuts and sweets appear all around the city. Some of the locals escape out of town, while others prepare for the upcoming sleepless nights, as the bars are allowed to stay open until 6am each morning. During the last night of Las Fallas, “la Nit de Foc”, the entire city burns as all the figures are set on fire at the same time. Only the winning statue is spared, and preserved in the Las Fallas Museum to be admired for all antiquity. Arguably the most impressive aspect of the festival is the impeccable state of the streets the very next day. Clean and empty, they confuse the visitor by giving the impression nothing happened at all and you just woke up after some crazy dream…

More festival madness takes place on the last Wednesday of August every year, just outside Valencia, in the village of Bunol, in the form of the world’s most famous food fight – La Tomatina. Armageddon with tomatoes.

Pillow Talk

Home Backpackers is located in the very centre of El Carmen district and, with its big kitchen and common room, is the perfect spot to make new friends and meet fellow backpackers. The only annoying thing is the lack of elevator (the building is 4-floor high), but in the end who cares when a huge sunny terrace greets you at the top of the roof? If you’re looking for a more intimate atmopshere you can go for Home Youth Hostel or Rooms Deluxe Hostel which offer nicely-designed customised private apartments and small shared rooms, instead of bunk beds and crowded dormitories. For the most demanding and sophisticated visitors, there’s nothing like the luxurious, Las Arenas Hotel, located at Malvarrosa beach. The hotel has become famous for its impressive gardens, terraces and almost one century old spa and swimming pool complex.

Fork Out

The Spanish equivalent of afternoon tea

The Spanish love food and the day’s rhythym is ruled by their eating schedule. A morning coffee with a sweet snack for breakfast, a solid bocadillo (baguette with plenty of yummy things inside) for lunch, then around 4pm (after their sacred siesta at 2pm) it’s time for delicious chocolate con churros (hot chocolate with a variety of a doughnut); and then finally a late, long and rather lazy dinner (most restaurants don’t open before 8pm) in the evening. Tapas is of course the famous food of Spain, and these small dishes can be served en masse as dinner or more often simply as snacks with beer. The best places for tapas in Valencia is La Tapeta del Carme (Calle Los Borja 4). The prices are very reasonable, the food is home-made and always fresh and the number of fully-booked tables tells its own story. Wednesday is the discount day at 100 Montaditos, another tapas bar (a bit more touristic, though), located at Plaza de la Reina. People start to queue for a table at 4-5pm, as you get any type of tapas you like for just one 1 euro (plus beer for the same price!). On the other side of the Square, La Taberna de la Reina offers an alternative way of having tapas. Pieces of bread with toppings of all kinds are displayed on the bar, skewered on cocktail sticks: you pick up the ones you like and pay once you’re done, counting the number of sticks left on your plate. If you’re searching for a more upmarket dining experience, the chic but friendly Ness restaurant is highly recommended, with Valencia-based, fusion cuisine at its best.

Drop In

Mojitos at Malvarrosa

The motto of Valencia people, “vivir sin dormir” leaves you in no doubt of their life outlook. The bars are open all day long and they are followed by the clubs, which open around 2am and don’t close until the break of dawn. The party style has changed over the decades though. In the early 90s, La Ruta de Bacalao (suburban, beach disco houses, offering a great deal of drugs mixed with techno and rave tunes) echoed all around Spain. Those days are gone. Today, in summertime, all the bars along Malvarrosa beach throng with people, often still partying when the first rays of sun creep over the horizon. Las Animas Puerto is the best spot on the strip with great views from its numerous terraces, although sadly the music is a weak point. Outside summer the party is yet more raucous, partly because Valencia is the second biggest city in Europe when it comes to number of foreign exchange students (after Barcelona). The student club zone is Polo y Peyrolon Street and around here even a mid-week night can turn into a never-ending fiesta. For some alternative music seekers, Picaddilly Downtown club can be recommended. Previously a brothel, today it is a hidden club of the old town with some good indie rock music on. Located on Quart Street, Venial is a gay club that offers one of the best parties in town. On the same street a good electro spot can be found: 47 Social Club.

Getting There

The local airport Valencia-Manises is located just outside the city and it has been recently connected to a new, quick and comfortable suburban metro line, and now it takes only 20 minutes to get there for the price of 1,70 EUR. The airport offers cheap flights (Ryanair, EasyJet, Vueling) to most of the mayor cities of Spain and Europe (London, Milan, Paris, Oslo, Dublin, Rome, etc.) and regular airlines, such as Spanair or Iberia, that fly also outside Europe. The local train service is very reliable, yet the coaches tend to be cheaper. The coaches are the best way to visit the nearby cities, such as Alicante, for example. It takes about 5 hours to travel to Barcelona by train, and just 3,5 hour to get to Madrid by bus.

More Juice

Probably the best two sources of Valencia info online are Hola Valencia and Extra Valencia, whilst needless to say the bigs guns like Lonely Planet publish their content online.

Hard Copy

Published in 2010, the LP Valencia Encounter is a reliable companion for any rucksack or just-small-enough-to-count-as-hand-luggage trolley case. Valencia’s most famous son Vicente Blasco Ibanez is one of the most talented authors to put pen to paper, and his WWI epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will be worth its weight in gold, while Blood and Sand is surely the best novel ever written about the art of bullfighting. Finally the first novel written in Spain was penned and published in Valencia – check out Tirant The White, for the kind of chivalrous romp which Cervantes went on to parody.

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A number of talented new writers have also jumped on board the UTB wagon, including Sam Chimes who invited us on a trip around London’s weirdest travel attractions, Simon Taylor who took us on a tasting tour of Krakow’s best pierogi restaurants and Nick Hodge who was our guide on a subterranean adventure – also in Poland’s ancient royal capital – of Krakow’s legendary ‘piwnice’.

Importantly our collection of expert city guides has been steadily growing over the last couple of months too, with Emma Weinbren’s Madrid guide and Natalie Buster’s New York guide the latest additions… we’ll be publishing more in the coming weeks from established travel destinations such as Valencia and Paris, and some lesser known greats such as Cluj, Sibiu, Tbilisi and Baku. In the meantime you can get ‘The Juice‘ on 13 great cities around the world. The best neighbourhoods, bars, bolt-holes, and even hot soundtracks to the city!

And for those who can’t think of anything worse than concrete and car horns this time of year, you might be able to draw inspiration for your next break from Michael Bailey’s altruistic conservation work in Tobago, or Ben Rhodes’ indulgent lazing on Ibiza’s hidden beaches.

One other strand of travel stories that has been flourishing nicely this summer are our photo stories, and thanks to Krystyna Dul and Keven Erickson our readers can enjoy some arresting images of Sofia’s Zhenski Pazar (Women’s Market) and Krakow’s trademark trams. Monika Chodakowska meanwhile reveals the slow side of cafe life in Paris and the almost unchanged traditions that still take place in the Sicilian port of Castellammare del Golfo.

That about rounds up what we’ve been up to lately. As for what’s coming next… well suffice to say it will be more interesting than postcards from your ma and pa’s week in Devon. Even as we speak one of our more foolhardy reporters is busy writing up what happened to him when he bought a Super Soaker and signed up for a month-long water-gun assassination contest. Once you’ve signed up for Street Wars it seems you never know you might be knocking at your door!

As usual you can keep up with what’s going on by following us on Twitter or Facebook…

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

The Editor

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“They know what I’m doing but they don’t talk about it.” These are the words Richard Reynolds uses in one video to describe his preparations for a “strike” on a busy area of central London. He is dressed in non-descript clothing as he slips on a pair of gloves. On his choice of location he says, “We need somewhere that is going to have maximum impact, maximum disruption.” A small group gathers around him, ready for the task ahead. What is this nefarious activity he describes and exactly what trouble has Urban Travel Blog got me into this time? Guerrilla gardening.

Criminal damage

We met at the heart of London’s Elephant & Castle, not the most attractive part of London but a fine place to demonstrate the spirit of the endeavour, since Reynolds himself is accountable for many of flowers you see growing there. The crowd were a mixture of seasoned gardeners (guerrilla and otherwise), aspiring beginners plus a good number of the merely curious. London being London they came from up and down the country and a not a few from other shores. I certainly wouldn’t say that the party was buzzing, but everybody had purpose, everybody had a smile and a number of people had trowels.

Digging in...

In small groups of six or eight we set off on our quest to make London a little greener. So far the highlight of my gardening career had been killing my mother’s streptocarpus through excessive watering so my hopes weren’t high. I soon found out that though that planting sunflowers is not the most complex of manoeuvres. All we would do was walk along keeping half an eye open for any ugly pieces of dirt. The planting involved nothing more than scraping away whatever garbage was in the way and dropping a seed or two into an inch deep hole in the dirt. Rain was forecast for later in the day so we didn’t even need a watering can. All in all it seemed as much a chilled way to get outside in the sun with some friends as it did a neighbourhood crusade.

By fair means or trowel

For a few hours we wandered the streets of SE1 until, not far from Kennington Park, we parted company. Some headed home, some to the pub but all carried away a small sense of civic pride. An inch below the surface seeds were waking up with thoughts of germinating.

Bloomin marvellous!

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New York. Concrete jungle where dreams are made, the city that never sleeps, the big apple. Traversing New York City is like finding over 100 different countries fit into one small island, 13 miles long and two miles wide. Including all five boroughs, this city of 8.2 million people has such a wealth of diversity and opportunity that whatever you’re in the mood for you can find it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yoga in Union Square

Best of the Beaten Track

New York City is a much safer place now than it was, say, 10 or 15 years ago. Where at one time, visitors were warned to stay away from areas such as Central Park and Times Square, now they have become tourist hotspots. Although some native New Yorkers despise the “Disneyfication” of Times Square, violent crime there has decreased by 75 percent since 1990, while Central Park should be considered a must-see for anyone visiting New York.

New York park life

If you must visit Times Square, do so to procure a discounted Broadway or off-Broadway ticket at the TKTS booth located at 47th Street in the heart of the square. Get your ticket quickly and avoid the overpriced touristy restaurants for some cheap and ethnic cuisine two blocks west on 9th Avenue.

The Statue of Liberty is another must-see for first timers. If you wish to avoid the ferry to the island itself, take the free Staten Island Ferry which leaves from Battery Park. Make sure to stand on the northern side of the ship to get the best view of Lady Liberty.

Hipster’s Guide

New York City is a city of green spaces, especially in the summer. Union Square Park is a great place to check out the freakishly dressed, aspiring musicians and artists, as well as the gigantic farmer’s market which takes place every Wednesday and Saturday. During the summer, there is free WiFi available, and even free yoga and fitness classes.

Poor exhibits...

Experience & Events

Jazz is the soundtrack of New York, so to partake in some live music visit the Village Vanguard, one of the most venerable spots for jazz in the city. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra plays every Monday night and tickets are $20. The Blue Note is also a hotspot in the Village. For less expensive or touristy options, head uptown to Smoke, where you can find nights with no cover or Cleopatra’s Needle which never has a cover. Summer is always a great time to visit NYC thanks to the street fairs which take place every weekend. It is also a great time for innovative theatre festivals. The Midtown International Theatre Festival and the Fringe Festival offer new works from cutting edge playwrights, all for about a quarter of the price of standard Broadway fare.

Pillow Talk

Want to a learn a little during your hotel stay? Located just steps from Grand Central Station, The Library Hotel offers guests rooms stocked with art and books representative of the ten different categories of the Dewey Decimal System. The Empire Hotel is a luxurious oasis located in the heart of the Lincoln Center area, complete with one of the most exclusive finds in the city, the infamous Pool Deck that was featured in Sex and the City. Big Apple Hostel is a great choice for those who want to stay in a great location, in the centre of Times Square for a fraction of the cost of some of the higher end hotels.

Fork Out

Italian fare at Arthur Avenue market

Drop In

Rockin' at Rodeo Bar

Getting There

With three major airports, pretty much every major airline flies into New York City. You can take the city bus from LaGuardia into the city, or hop on one of the shuttles which drop you off at Grand Central Station. Penn Station and Grand Central Station are hubs for train travel, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal welcomes in buses.

More Juice

Time Out New York is the go to guide for New York City events. Published weekly, it lists events for the week, as well as theatre and movie reviews and museum and gallery guides. Some online resources include Pulse JFK, Postabon, Daily Candy, and Flavorpill, all free, and all of which detail free, often obscure/alternative, New York City events.

Hard Copy & Silver Screen

J.D. Salinger is the ultimate New York author, so any book by him, especially Catcher in the Rye would be worthwhile reading before arriving in the Big Apple. I’m a sucker for DK Eyewitness Guides, and the New York City one offers gorgeous photos coupled with some great suggestions. For a peek into New York’s seedier past, check out The Godfather (the novel, which inspired the film). Films-wise take your pick from the works of Scorcese, Woody Allen and countless others.

Soundtrack to the City

Take the A Train – Ella Fitzergerald
New York State of Mind – Billy Joel
Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
New York City – John Lennon
Park Avenue (Killer Bitch Soundtrack) – Dead Family

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I’m going to the pub tonight, specifically the Inn on the Park in London Fields. I’m going to ride my bike there, sink two or three pints and then, at about nine pm, point my bike north east and keep going until I reach the sea, somewhere past Ipswich. Then I’ll have another pint and maybe a fry up, as it’ll be early morning by then. Thankfully I won’t be the only one idiotic enough to do this, there’ll be over a thousand others doing exactly the same thing…

This is the Dunwich Dynamo and has been the cause of many a sleepless night and panic attacks for me of late. Legend has it that, in 1993 on a balmy Friday night in July, a group of cycle couriers went to the pub after work and decided to cycle to the sea. Since then it’s become a bit of an institution, with more and more cyclists joining in on the none-too-bright idea each year. At 120 miles it’s twice the distance of the ever popular London to Brighton bike ride with the added bonuses of:

· Taking place at night
· Having no backup or organisation whatsoever – you break down, you’re on your own
· Ending up in, err, Dunwich

Sounds great, right? For some reason, I’ve decided that this will be a ‘fun thing to do’ and ‘an experience’ – I then proceeded to mention it to everyone I knew so that I couldn’t chicken out without feeling a bit of a tit. I’ve done a bit of preparation. I cycle to work every day – about 10 miles each way, and I’ve bought a big bag of Haribo and a massive torch. The most I’ve ever cycled in one go is about 40 miles, and that was quite a while ago. Oh dear…

What could possibly go wrong?

So, at about 5:30pm I bundle on to the train to Cannon Street and stand conspicuously opposite another guy with a bike. “You’re not going to Dunwich by any chance are you?” It turns out he was. David is a fellow commuter who had been egged to do it by his mates. He has a lot less stuff than me though. Just a tiny saddlebag with some tools, a water bottle and a couple of energy bars compared to my mountain bike with rack and rucksack containing a tonne of tools, food, drink, clothing and water. David is now worried that he’s under-prepared. I’m now worried that I’m over-prepared and lugging around a load of pointless weight. Not the best start.

We cycle from Cannon Street to London Fields (couple of wrong turns – this will become a bit of theme for the night), picking up a few more stray cyclists en route. Once we arrive, we all go our separate ways to meet our mates and settle in for a couple of warm-up beers. My crew consists of George, who arrives with his hybrid, Stuart who has a cyclocross bike that we all want to steal from him, and Justin and Suzanne, who have both turned up with proper bikes. Racing bikes. Quick bikes. Even before we start the rest of us make a decision not to bother trying to keep up with them. The simple fact of it definitely not being a race really does change the atmosphere of the Dynamo. Sure, there are the few super-fit nutters who’ll arrive on the beach at 2am, but the vast majority will get there when they get there.

Responsible pre-ride preparation

The atmosphere in the park is great; hundreds of bikes and people in bright clothing sitting around, having a Lucozade/beer and filling their faces with bananas. A sneaky look around reveals that the majority are riding on racing bikes, with the rest being hybrids, mountain bikes on slick tyres and a few nutcases on fixies, Bromptons or rusting Halfords-specials with big knobbly off-road tyres. One guy is there with a sandwich delivery bike and a very excited spaniel in the front. Even if it’s not a race, he definitely wins in my opinion. There are people from all over taking part, including a cycle club who have ridden down from Cambridge, a couple from the south of France (why are they here when the Tour is on back home??) and Marco, an Italian guy who has booked a holiday around this. “It’s not too bad for me,” he explains, “once we get to Dunwich I don’t have to worry about getting back to London, I’m just going to carry on.” Marco is a nutter.

People start getting on their way at about 8:30pm, which catches me by surprise as I have to neck the remaining half in front of me and don’t have time for a pee break. Five minutes in, Stuart and George take a wrong turn, but they catch up a few minutes later. Although the photocopied route guide is pretty clear, reading it while cycling is a bit tricky and following the person in front doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to right way. Riding out of London is fun because of the oddness of being in such a huge group, but the traffic is a pain. As we start nearing the outskirts of the city, I start getting into a nice, steady rhythm, but I’m dying for a wee. First pub stop it is then. Justin and Suzanne carry on while we drain a cheeky Foster’s and buy some more Haribo. Back on the bike and as the sun starts to set, it feels like the ride really begins. This is what it’s all about, a big adventure in the dark. It’s nice to see the line of flashing red LEDs snaking off into the distance and people are now starting to be able to ride side by side and have a bit of a chat. Spirits are still high and everyone’s eager to get some miles behind them. I’d been warned about how dark the country lanes are, and that a decent light is essential, so am glad to have the powerful torch I’d strapped to my handlebars (even if it did keep switching itself into strobe mode). People flock to those with lights like moths, eager to avoid any potholes hidden in the shadows.

Responsible refuelling

We decided that we’d try and get another beer in before closing time, so when we see a country pub packed with cyclists emerging out of the night at 11:00pm, we pull over for our second stop and last bit of alcohol for the evening. Probably a good thing – if the pubs were open all night along the route, I doubt I’d get much more than half way. When we’re about a third of the way into the route, we stop on a village green and I tuck into the cheese sandwiches I’d brought along. They taste heavenly after all the bananas and sweets. The man with the dog is there and I feel faintly embarrassed that I’m not quicker than him, but then remember it’s not a race. I chat to a guy who has a nasty cut on the palm of his hand. He stacked it at the edge of the road, taking two others out with him. It’s the only accident that I heard about on the run thankfully – other than when I clipped my right foot out of my pedal and leaned to the left, falling straight on to a grass verge.

The next stop is about an hour down the road, the fabled feeding station at the half way point. Spurred on by the idea of a cup of coffee we head to the entrance, see the massive queue and have a lie down on the lawn instead. Elton, a friend of George’s sits with us, we bump into him quite a few times over the rest of the trip as he speeds off into the distance and we then catch him up. He has pick ‘n’ mix sweets, so quickly becomes my new best friend. It’s strange, even though there is estimated to be around 1,400 people doing the ride this year, we find ourselves passing the same people over and over again. As we leave we’re joined by a bloke who has done this before and feels the need to give us a running commentary. We go through a village about 10 miles later and he points out the town hall where last year’s food stop was. “So hang on, which one is half way then? This one, or the one we stopped at?” I asked worriedly. “This year’s is at 52 miles in,” is his crushing reply. I decide I don’t like him anymore and pull ahead.

The next few hours go by like a very surreal dream. It’s very dark as, even though there’s a full moon, the cloud cover is very thick. On the flipside, this means it’s pretty warm, so I’m still fine in shorts and a t-shirt. My left crank had started to develop a weird ticking noise – I wasn’t worried about it falling apart, but after an hour or so, my mind has warped this into a strange Richie Hawtin-style minimal techno track that I can’t not listen to. Top tip if you’re planning on doing something like this – make sure your bike has a tick, it really helps. “Hold on for the best downhill of the Dynamo,” a voice shouts out of the dark. A mad descent into a village for a few minutes really lifts my spirits. My computer clocks us at over 35mph. The lights turn red at the bottom of the hill. Bugger.

Hallelujah!

At some point around 5 o’clock it starts getting lighter. We’re three quarters of the way there and the sun is coming up. I’m feeling great, we’re so close that I can almost taste the fry up in the café. Oh, hang on, no we’re not, we’ve still got 30 miles to go, and that’s a good couple of hours in the saddle. It’s safe to say that the last part was the hardest for me. It was now daylight, so my mind thought we should’ve finished but we were still chasing down endless (albeit beautiful) country lanes. A smattering of people cheering us on from the roadside cheers me up immensely, but not as much as a sign saying ‘Dunwich Dynamo Bacon Rolls’ outside an enterprising family’s house – without a doubt the finest tasting plastic cup of tea I’ve had in my life. After a good rest, we press on with what now must be my tenth wind. Elton joins us for the remainder of the ride, having met up with us again at the bacon sandwich stop. I also see David again, his lack of luggage doesn’t seem to’ve hindered him, but then all the crap I’ve brought with me hasn’t bothered me too much either, so we both needn’t have worried.

Sand of hope and glory

A few short but fairly brutal hills later and we come across the sight I’ve been dreaming of for the last hour. A simple road sign stating ‘Dunwich 7’ – beautiful. I have a pee behind a bush to celebrate. The last miles fly by and soon we’re coasting down towards the sea. I count at last 40 people cycling back the other way – some are off to the train station to get home and others are cycling all the way back to London. I don’t even consider joining them, 120 miles is enough for me. We pull into the car park and collapse in a heap with Mars Bars and Red Bull. There’s a café and there’s a beach, other than that it’s just bikes and happy, tired people. We meet up with Justin and Suzanne who finished a good hour and a half before us, even though Suzanne had two punctures – I’m glad we didn’t try and keep up. The ride couldn’t have gone any better for us. Not one puncture and the only thing that snapped off was the left arm of my glasses. The weather was good and the wind was behind us the whole way.

The sea that launched a thousand bikes

We chuck our bikes into the furniture lorries and head down to the water. If you’re going to ride 120 miles to the seaside overnight, the least you can do is go in for a swim. The chap with the dog arrives and they both enjoy a splash about too. After a sleep on the beach, a fry up and a bottle of cider, we’re on the coach back to London. It’s all very efficient and we easily pick our bikes up at the other end, and have a chat with Barry, the man behind the whole thing. He’s pleased with how it went and isn’t worried about it becoming too popular and getting out of control, what with the ever increasing numbers taking part year on year. “Cycling makes people better. I don’t mean that in some gushy way, just that doing something like this makes a person brave. And if they’re brave they’ll be more respectful.” We strap our stuff back on our bikes, say our goodbyes and head off to our respective train stations. At London Bridge I’m welcomed with the news that there are engineering works on my line. Sod it, it’s only another 10 miles, and everyone knows commuting is quicker by bike…

More info on the Dunwich Dynamo, what to bring, how to prepare, tips and FAQs here: www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk/dunwich.html

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