‘The Run to the Sun’
Making the most of the longest day for an epic ride
There’s nothing like the satisfaction of reflecting on a proper day’s ride as the sun sinks over the ocean, especially if your day began with it breaking cover across the sea. So what better way to maximise the experience than by riding coast-tocoast, from sunrise to sunset, on the longest day of the year? You’ll be looking at around 450 nonmotorway miles to traverse the country from its most easterly point, Ness Point near Lowestoft, to the most westerly, Land’s End. That’s around nine hours in the saddle with on average 16 hours of daylight to play with, giving ample opportunity for rest breaks, pit stops and maybe even some sightseeing. Stonehenge on the A303 should fall pretty close to the halfway mark, about the time the sun passes overhead, and would make a significant point of interest given the ancient stones’ relevance to the pagan calendar. Naturally it’s an early start, sunrise is about 4.50am, so you may want to rest up somewhere close by the night before. Likewise, it would be a good idea to have accommodation sorted for the finish, as a lack of forward planning could make for a real headache – it may seem obvious, but having spent the latter part of the day riding towards it, you’ll be dog tired once the sun goes down and the euphoria of the moment wears off. You’ll need to be happy that your bike will get you there, and as a back-up plan check that your breakdown cover will recover you should a major failure occur. There are of course other coast-to-coast routes, but they may leave you having to plan something of a meander for the full effect. The 121 miles from Redcar to Workington via the A66, for example, can be knocked off in under 2 1/2 hours, so whilst that may be a fun ride in itself, why not mark the ‘big one’ down as a must do in 2022?