5 things to do in Britain at night
Author Dixe Wills reveals how to uncover the ‘dark side’ of Britain…
‘What hath the night to do with sleep?’ questioned John Milton in Paradise Lost, and given the range of activities one can get up to after hours, it must be said that he has a point. Here are five ideas to get you exploring the dark side of Britain.
1. Become a poet (or go mad) on Cadair Idris
Spend a night on any ordinary mountain and the most you can look forward to come the sunrise is a stunning view. Travel to the far southern end of Snowdonia to pass a night at the summit of Cadair Idris, however, and you’ll come down ‘a poet or a madman’ (or mad woman, if you prefer).
The legend is thought to have its genesis in the practices of Welsh bards who spent a night on the mountain in search of inspiration. You don’t even need a tent – there’s a spacious bothy at the summit that’s open all year round.
2. Spot the Devil and his Wisht Hounds on Dartmoor
The Devil, it must be said, gets a rather bad press. He does himself no favours though – take his behaviour on Dartmoor, where he has often been seen of a night leading a pack of ravenous red-eyed hounds on the hunt for human souls.
The brave and foolhardy alike can spend a spine-tingling night near the aptly sinister Wistman’s Wood near Princetown, from where the Devil and his hounds ride out each night. Camping is permitted in this part of Dartmoor, but a layer of rip-stop nylon is unlikely to be much protection from the hounds’ slathering jaws.
3. Ride the Dunwich Dynamo
If spending the night alone is not for you, join around 2,000 others on what must be one of the friendliest and laid-back cycle rides in Britain. The Dunwich Dynamo (the ‘Dun Run’ to regulars) is an annual ride starting in east London around 8pm and finishing the next morning on the beach at Dunwich in Suffolk around 115 miles later.
There is no official route – riders generally trust that whoever is in front of them is going roughly the right way – but there are pubs and pop-up roadside stalls in villages along the way to keep everyone fed and watered. The feeling of triumph experienced while collapsing on the beach is best enjoyed when not recalling the fact that one year someone did this on a penny farthing.
This year’s Dun Run starts at London Fields, Hackney on Saturday 4 July.
