By Bike Along the Waterfront and Over the Hills: A Half-Day Route for the Soul

Some bike rides are training. This one is an excuse: for cake, for a view and for watching the sun go down with slightly tired legs and a clear head. We have now ridden versions of it in several seaside towns, on hired bikes, and the shape always works. Flat along the water, a long coffee, gentle hills, then back to the sea for the sunset. About 25 km in all, and easy enough for anyone who can ride to the shops.

The shape of the ride

The first time was almost by accident, on a September Saturday on the south coast. We set off along the seafront at the pace of people with nowhere to be, stopped for coffee because it was there, then turned inland up a lane because it looked pretty. It climbed for longer than we expected. We pushed for a bit. At the top there were sheep and a long view of where we had been, and all the fretting from the week had quietly gone.

The order matters. The flat section warms you up, the coffee comes before the climbing rather than after, and the hills are done while you are still fresh. Then you have a long roll back down to the water, with nothing left to do but find a place to sit.

By the second hill I had stopped checking the time. By the sunset I had forgotten which day it was, which was rather the point.

How to build it in almost any seaside town

• Find the flat bit. Look on a map for a promenade, harbour path or old railway line running along the coast for around 8 km. Whitstable's coastal trail towards Reculver and the path from Cascais to Guincho in Portugal are both good examples.
• Find a way up. Look for a quiet lane heading inland, ideally with around 100 to 150 m of climbing in total. Avoid main roads, even if they are shorter.
• Find the sunset. You need a beach, pier or headland with a clear view west. On an east-facing coast, finish on high ground looking back inland instead.
• Ride out into the wind. Check the forecast and start in whichever direction blows in your face. You will thank yourself later.
• Finish near your start. Keep the sunset spot within a kilometre or so of where you left the car or the hire shop, so you have only a short ride in the dusk.

The timed plan

Work backwards from that day's sunset. This version assumes a sunset at about 7pm, which is roughly right for late September on the south coast. In midsummer, start around 17:00; in October, around 13:00.

Want to adapt it? The route template gives you a blank version to fill in for your own town.

What to bring

• Two bottles of water, and a snack for the top of the hill.
• Front and rear lights. You must have them to ride on UK roads after sunset, and you will be out at the moment it matters.
• A warm layer. The temperature falls quickly by the sea once the sun drops, and you will be sitting still.
• A helmet, a lock for the coffee stop and a small pump and puncture kit, or the hire shop's phone number.
• A route saved offline, because signal can vanish in the lanes.
• A little cash for the coffee and the chips.

Why bother

You could, of course, drive to the top of the hill and buy your chips in ten minutes. It wouldn't be the same. Four and a half hours at the pace of a bicycle does something to the head that a car doesn't, and you will sleep very well afterwards. If you liked this, a Sunday for yourself offers a gentler version on foot, and a city without a plan applies the same thinking to streets.