A bit over three years ago, when I had just arrived in the UK, I met my friend Ben. We are both into cycling and even though cyclists rarely use bikes as an icebreaker, we somehow found out that we shared the same passion. We talked and talked about our cycling adventures and he mentioned he had just cycled the C2C. With a simple yet elegant “eh?” I got the answers I was looking for. He told me that there was this well-known road route connecting the Irish Sea and the North Sea, long and hilly, with breathtaking descents, empty roads and lots of sheep. He and his friend completed it in a day and had an amazing time. This adventure instantly found its spot in my bucket list and has patiently waited for its turn.
When Ben mentioned that the route went from sea to sea, I immediately had an idea: I could watch both the sunrise and the sunset over the sea in the very same day if I pedalled fast enough. I could attempt this on the longest day of the year to increase my chances. Apparently, this ingenious idea of riding from coast to coast at the solstice had been thought of by countless people before me. There is even an official event in the south of England where they do this. Yikes. Well, I did not know that. Let's pretend I am an original.
This year I finally felt strong enough to take up the challenge and I told my friend Lavi about it. She said yes without hesitation before I could even start telling her about the magnitude of the ride. Lavi is a wonderful and dangerous person to have around, since she is incapable of saying no to an adventure and I tend to have fairly questionable ideas.
After weeks of intense training and planning all the logistics, we got in the car and drove from London to Tynemouth. We spent the long drive preparing our riding playlists (each one carefully tailored to a specific degree of tiredness and mood) and eating crackers.
We arrived at midnight, so we only got three hours of sleep before our big ride (note to self: don’t do this again). We woke up and quickly packed some extra layers, PB&Js, bars and sunscreen in our front bags and headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was breathtaking. There was an explosion of colours on the horizon and because of the low tide there was a beautiful reflection on the wet sand. We could feel the warmth of the sun on our cheeks and the breeze was gentle and warm. The sea was calm and so were we. After some minutes the sand turned gold and we got on our bikes and cycled away with a pastel sky background. It was arguably one of the most cinematic ride set-offs of our lives.
The ride started off with quiet cycle paths (paved and unpaved). We did not want to stress ourselves because we had a long day ahead of us and we wanted to enjoy it. And we did. We soon got to the perfectly paved empty roads everyone had told us about. We were pretty much alone, it was so quiet. The sheep, the views and the tunes distracted us from the punchy climbs and we enjoyed every second of the smooth, fast and curvy descents.
The last kilometres of the ride were definitely our favourite ones, we were finally in the Lake District. The evening light made everything look even more magical: pink foxgloves everywhere, sweet lambs hiding in the ferns, the orange sky bathing the landscapes in glow and the sun hiding behind the hills in the background. It was a perfect finish for a whole day outside on the saddle. It felt a bit like Cumbria knew it was going to be our home for the next couple of days and it welcomed us by showcasing its best colours and light.
Lavi and I have decided to take up a solstice challenge every year after this experience. A challenge is less overwhelming and way more fun if you laugh it off with an amazing pal. On top of that, making up a tradition results in a new excuse for yet another adventure together and there are few things in this world that can top an adventure with my favourite cheerleader.