14th December 2025 - Rideout to Wells Beach Cafe - Dave Robins

Ten wholly real, corporeal, and solid riders assembled at the consumer emporium for the shortest ride on our calendar, on the oh-so-nearly shortest day of the year. A good turnout for a week before the Winter solstice, assisted no doubt by the not-particularly-wintery weather. Now whether we are winter riders at this point is debatable; the Met Office has decreed so, mainly for accounting convenience; tradition has Astronomical Winter starting at the Solstice; while the Druids have Winter bounded by the festivals of Samhain (November 1st) and Imbolc (February 1st). Regardless, the weather today is rather more clement than it has been recently, being both dry and almost into double-digits of Celsius. Today's route takes us, in two groups, to the Wells Beach Cafe via some nice North Norfolk B-roads and back lanes. Away from Fenland's lack of foundational stability and the toll of heavy traffic, these are in reasonable condition - but they are still damp and cold and in places slick with mud or strewn with gravel, so it's best to be mindful. For me, at least, 'making progress' both keeps the attention focused and 'sparks joy' in this otherwise slightly gloomy time of year. The Beach Cafe is an oasis of warmth and light and provides excellent vegan sausage rolls and fancy hot chocolate among the Christmassy decor. Warmed by food, drink, and good company, riders then make their own various ways home. Along with a few others, my return route was via the coast road. The mix of intensely technical twisty bits (heightened by the intermittently slippery surface) punctuated by slow village transits results in an interval training-like ride, albeit diminished slightly by the dullness of the Snettisham bypass. A short report of a short ride on the (nearly) shortest day - a bright spot in the murk of (nearly, maybe) Winter.

Dave.