Cycling to Work

Inspired by the hardy bunch of cycle enthusiasts who set out each year on the 'Dunwich Dynamo', a London to Suffolk overnight run that ends up on the beach with a swim, snooze and a greasy breakfast, I decided to slip away from my usual car dodging frenzied route to work and opt for a longer, more winding and pretty approach.

I've been following audio clips of the Dunwich Dynamo, recorded by the iPhone wielding participants of the ride, made possible with a handy little app. downloaded onto the phone called 'audioboo'. Posted online, these little minute and a half audio blogs expose you to the build up, the half way pit stops, the twitterings of birds as dawn breaks on the road, and the sounds of early morning waves lapping on the shore at Dunwich.


The thought of cycling that kind of distance for me is hard to imagine, the longest I have ever ridden is a 26 mile return trip to the Wicken Fen nature reserve north of Cambridge, a trip that I remember for the flat, cold, featureless landscape, and the pain felt in my leg muscles that are more tuned in to brief 10 minuite cycle rides around a small market town.

So today was a heart stopping 20 minute ride that took in the famous 'Backs' of the Cambridge colleges, the quiet path that curls past the University Library and onto a car free cycle motorway that skirts along open fields, crosses a real motorway and ends up at a little village called Coton.

I took the picture above because the air was full of Skylarks, so you will just have to imagine them when looking my photo, which I admit doesn't inspire much. Oh, and there was a herd of cows in the distance which you can't see either, but you can see two trees in the foreground which look at a bit lonely and add an air meloncholy to the view. Okay, you've got me, it's a boring photograph of an empty field, but it beats looking at cars. You can listen to the audioboos of the people who rode the Dunwich Dynamo here and view before dark and after dark photos on Fliker here