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Each year, a pilgrimage of cyclists rides from London Fields in Hackney to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. It’s called the Dunwich Dynamo, a ride that began twenty years ago when a group of couriers decided to cycle until they reached the sea one day after finishing work. They rode all night, running with the wind, until they reached the sleepy village of Dunwich 120 miles later. Each year more people hear of it, more riders join it. It’s not an organised ride. There’s no sponsorship, no timetable, no support vehicles — just lots of people with the desire to ride their bikes.

I have ridden the Dunwich Dynamo for the past two years, and I will be doing it again (this year it’s on Saturday 20^th July). It’s a fantastic ride, and the sight of an endless snake of flashing red lights stretching ahead along the country lanes alone is worth staying up all night.

But even without the hundreds of people, an overnight bike ride is something to experience, wherever you start and wherever you end up. Nowhere on our island is more than 130 miles from the beach. Get a couple of friends and after you finish work one Friday, get on your bikes, and see where the wind takes you.