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2026

Dunwich Dynamo 25/26 July by Paul Fitzsimons - Photos by Kevin Barclay

Several months ago, while it was still wet and dreary, several of us were at an elevenses stop and got talking about summer destinations. Kevin let slip that his bucket list included The Dunwich Dynamo and that he'd like to give it a go this year if any of us were interested. For those that don't know, the Dunwich Dynamo is an overnight, 115 mile, unsupported, unregistered, turn up and go ride from Hackney to Dunwich beach in Suffolk. Both Bob and myself expressed interest so we checked the date and booked it into our runs list. I'd previously done the ride about ten times up to about 2010, staying at Blaxhall YHA on the Sunday night and riding home on the Monday. This made a wonderful weekend ride, the route home being especially enjoyable. I'd only stopped riding when I couldn't book the hostel which, I understand has now closed.

Although the ride is not organised and is completely unsupported, return coaches and vans are available to book to get yourself and the bike home. Kevin and I booked up but Bob decided he wanted to explore more of Suffolk. He wanted to stay with friends for a couple of days and explore so he booked a train home for Friday and was going to drive over with his bike, ride around for a couple of days, leave the car there for his return journey on Sunday and bring the bike back by train ready for Saturday night. Unfortunately he became increasingly concerned about night time cycling as cataracts were decreasing his night vision worryingly. Sadly he confirmed he was pulling out of the ride with a couple of days to go. This may have been a wise decision.

Kevin and I met at London Fields, with the aid of What Three Words at about 20:15 on Saturday and after a few minutes decided it was time to go. As a turn up and go ride people just move off as suits them between about 18:00 and 22:00. Usually a critical mass accumulates at about 20:30 so we were just ahead of this.

The weather was ideal for cycling, really in the Goldilocks Zone, although there was an overcast sky. The ride through Hackney out to Woodford is on suburban roads with the usual Saturday evening traffic but there is safety in numbers. Once out of Epping Forest and Epping, traffic thins out a bit and we were whizzing along with a nice tail wind. Essex is mostly rolling country so we made excellent progress with locals coming out to cheer us all on in the many villages on the way. Lots of pubs boosted their annual takings considerably as many were crammed with thirsty cyclists and care was needed passing them because of overspill of customers out onto the pavements and streets.

Ghost Bikes.

As night fell it got very dark as the overcast sky obscured the moonlight, justifying Bob's decision not to ride. At Great Dunmow we stopped briefly for coffee and snacks then topped up our water. After having a chuckle when we heard a passing cyclist ask his mates how much further the beach was (about 80 miles) we were off again.

Apart from the lack of moonlight it was ideal cycling, it never dropped below mid 60's all night. The ride was extremely well attended and we were seldom not in a bunch of a couple of dozen cyclists. There were lots of different bike types, tandems, a couple of Ordinaries. All types of cyclists with inceasingly elaborate lighting and clothing. Quite a few lady riders, several obviously riding alone. Occasionally you'd hear a loud rumbling zooming sound and see two lights coming past at a rate of knots and mistakenly assume it was a car. The noise carbon frames and wheelsets make is incredible, my steel 531 is a stealth bike by comparison.

Paul Overtakes Bromptons.

After a nice downhill into Sudbury we stopped for eats and a chat and watched the steady stream of colourful lights go by. As I know it gets colder at about 02:00, and my bag was already open, I decided to put my gilet on as a precaution and we were soon off again. By now the only traffic on the roads was bicycles, lots of them, all going in one direction. The overcast sky was gradually clearing from about 02:00 so it did get slightly lighter.

At about 04:00 we saw a sign offering coffee and cake in 300 metres, then one for 200 metres, by the time we got to 100 metres we'd both already decided to stop. We pulled up and it was The Greyhound in Framsden, a community owned pub I have shares in. By now there were several bikes coming in the opposite direction as it is not unusual for some to just turn round and ride back. We had coffees, topped up our water bottles, used the facilities, agreed I'd made a sound investment and set off for the last 25 miles.

The Greyhound, Framsden.

The sun came up soon after we left and by about 05:00 it was fairly light. We got to Dunwich Beach at about 05:30, congratulated ourselves, took a few photos and looked about to see where we could check onto the return coaches. By now a light, intermittent drizzle had started but once you've finished you're on too much of a high to worry much about it, just cape-up and get on with it. Various queues formed but turned out to be in the wrong place for the coaches. Eventually we found the right one and were in the first dozen or so to check in. We were given a numbered ticket and told to leave our bikes on the pink van and come back by 08:45 for an 09:00 depart. The bikes were stacked two deep in a removals van, separated by corrugated card. Fortunately as ours were on the bottom layer they were packed in tight without room to move about so came out unscathed.

Paul.

Kevin.

Bikes on the Beach.

We then decided we'd earned a pint so went off to The Ship which had already been open since 02:30. It was fairly packed so they must have made it worthwhile opening up. It was soon time to go so we went back to the coach and boarded early to get a good seat. After getting stuck in traffic congestion due to Blackwall Tunnel closure, we got to the drop off point by Millwall Football ground shortly after midday. The van was probably about 20 minutes later and, as our bikes were first on they were also last off. We agreed again that it had been superb ride, exchanged farewells and set off home.

Breakfast Run by Paul Fitzsimons

I had heard that The Trevor Arms in Glynde had reopened after about 5 years so thought it would be nice to give that a try again. As it is a long ride, one of the longest days of the year seemed appropriate, so on 21 June I booked it as our Breakfast Run.

I'd arranged an 06:00 start at Purley with breakfast at Wetherspoons in Burgess Hill, but unfortunately The British Heart Foundation failed to check our runs list and scheduled their London to Brighton Ride for the same day. This I only discovered the previous Sunday when I saw road closure notices at Gatton Bottom. I tried contacting them to get confirmation of where we could cross their route but got no reply. It was too late to sort anything else out by then so we just had to go for it anyway.

At the start I met Greg, Bob and Kevin and told them I intended to go via A23 to Horley and then via Balcombe, Cuckfield and Ansty to Burgesss Hill.

As the London to Brighton starts at 06:00 from Clapham Common we were already ahead of their early starters so crossed their route unimpeded at Merstham. From there we made good time on fairly empty roads in the nice weather, got to Wetherspoons at about 08:15 and all tucked into a nice cooked breakfast with bottomless coffees, bravely resisting the temptation for a pint. After filling ourselves, risking a caffeine overdose and killing an hour or so we decided to move on.

Fortunately we were able to easily cross the London to Brighton route a second time as the junction I had been worried about had temporary traffic light controls just for the event. From there on it was pretty flat through Balcombe Cross to Ringmer, but there then is a bit of a slog over a hill to Glyndebourne, where Bob was not impressed by my rendition of Nessun Dorma.

Rolling down past Glynde Place and The Old Forge we got to The Trevor Arms, but unfortunately it was still only just after 11:00 and they don't open till 12:00, so we had an hour to kill. We decided to go and sit and wait in the sports field but as we passed the station I saw the new pub there was already open so in we went. It was very pleasant with Long Man and Dark Star ales in stock. After a sit in the shade and a couple of pints we went to the sports field to eat our lunch and it was soon time to head back.

On the return we went east of Ringmer, to avoid the lump by the opera house, and via Isfield, Piltdown and Horsted Keynes to East Grinstead. Greg wanted to stop for coffee but was worried the cafes would be closed. I reminded him that Wetherspoons does coffee so we went there, and as other drinks were also available the rest of us had beers of varying strength.

Kevin needed to leave us early so he went on alone after a quick drink. The rest of us took our time, both at the pub and on the rest of the way home. Greg had by now got his second wind and was moving along nicely.

Kevin's GPS of the Route.

All in it was about 92 miles from the start and all agreed that it was a good day out.

Dieppe Raid

A reminder that this years event will take place in September rather than June.

Here's the latest Facebook post from the organisers - despite having 2025 in the title it does refer to this year!

2025

Dieppe Raid 2026

Please note the following post from the Tour Des Trois Vallées Facebook page;

Paul F reports on a train assisted ride to Essex with an unexpected appearance by Elton John in Roxwell!

Early in 2025 I invested in a community pub, The Chequers in Roxwell, near Chelmsford. I'd discovered the pub while riding with the West Kent CTC about 15 years ago on one of our trips out via the Dartford Tunnel. It had been closed for about 4 years and the community had launched a share offer to fund their buyout. I thought it was worth a punt of £250 to keep a decent village pub from being lost so chipped in. As things turned out we had a ride scheduled to Finchingfield on 29 June 2025. By pure chance this just happened to coincide with the reopening weekend of The Chequers after a substantial refit.

Only Bob and myself rode that day. We met at Liverpool St and got The Elizabeth Line to Shenfield, free on a London Freedom Pass. We rode out through fairly flat country to Hatfield Forest Country Park for 11's and then took the old railway line to Great Dunmow and rode on to Finchingfield. We had our sandwiches on the green there but decided it was too busy and a bit noisy so decided not to try the pubs there. I suggested we go back to Shenfield via Pleshey and Roxwell to see if The Chequers was open. Passing the pub in Pleshey they had a Queen tribute act performing a truly awful version of "Don't Stop Me Now", the irony was sweet and not lost on either of us. It was also a spur not to slack up on the climb. As we got to Roxwell there was a lot going on, the place was buzzing and the pub was really busy. Elton John songs were blaring out performed by a good look alike and sound alike outside the pub. Of course we stopped and found the beer, Mighty Oak Gorgeous George, to be highly palatable. It was £4.50 a pint so decent price too. Bob had a good chat with "Elton" during a break between sets and we spent an hour or so soaking up the sun and another couple of pints before returning to Shenfield.

My other investments, The Greyhound in Framsden Suffolk and The Ivy in Heddington Wiltshire are a bit too far for a day trip visit so will have to wait for a mini tour.

2024

Breakfast Run by Paul Fitzsimons - Photos by Rachel Birchall

On 23 June five of us - Paul, Greg, Bob, Zhan and Kevin met at Purley for the 6am start and rode via a fairly quiet A23 as far as Horley where we turned off for Staplefield and Anstey.

We were making good time in the still, warm morning air so could take it easy and appreciate the country lanes. Skirting round Hurstpierpoint College we still got to Hassocks shortly after 9:15 and following a bit of confusion met Rachel who'd got the train there but was waiting at the down side exit. Breakfast was just around the corner at the nurseries where we filled up on a variety of items.

We rode via Clayton, Pyecombe, Patcham and Portslade to the coast road but, unfortunately taking a dreadful cycle path beside the A27. We carried on along the front to Worthing and sat on the beach for a good bit of relaxation, sandwiches, snacks and so on. Rachel pressed passers-by into photographers for group shots.

Made it to the Coast!

We decided a thirst needed tending to so had a couple of pints in Spoons before setting off for home via Steyning, enjoying some magnificent views from the Downs.

Kevin peeled off at Partridge Green for his own route home. At Maplehurst we had more to eat at "bus stop cafe" and washed it down with another beer at the White Horse.

Refueling!

Bob Getting Bored and Looking for Something to Read?

Bob and Zhan peeled off just before Leigh and by Coulsdon Rachel had had enough and headed for the station. Just Greg and I from there on home.

Everyone enjoyed the day and in the end we did a round trip from start of 102 miles.

Norfolk - Easter Tour by Greg Robertson

Horsey Windpump.