Category: Rides

I planned another ride around the lovely lanes in the Smarden / Pluckley area. But, as has happened before, I hadn’t checked that all of the route was actually on roads! The weather was beautiful – sunny and warm. Shortly into the journey my Garmin told me to turn right here: The sign next to the gate says “PRIVATE DRIVE”. I had a quick look at the Garmin to see if there was a way around, but there wasn’t a short alternative. I couldn’t believe that the mapping software would lead me up someone’s ‘garden path’! I was more inclined to believe that it was a public right of way and the sign was just there as a deterrent. So I rode up it anyway. The path led me past a huge country house (which I later discovered was Godinton House) and then through what seemed like a country park. I was soon travelling on a rough path and over cattle grids.

I still didn’t really know if I was allowed to be there, but it  was a lovely ride so I carried on.

Soon I came to a nice spot by a river (The River Spinney), so I sat there for a while in the sun and spotted some interesting wildlife, including a grass snake swimming up to the bank and a frog leaping for its life. I also saw lots of beautiful flying insects that I subsequently discovered were darters, a type of dragonfly.

I met several dog-walkers who confirmed that it was a public right of way.About half a mile later I was back on public roads for the remaining 15 miles of my journey. It had been another interesting unplanned off-road excursion.

I planned a route to explore the nice quiet lanes around Pluckley. I also included 2 climbs at the end – the first one climbing the Greensand Ridge at Sutton Valence, then dropping all the way down again before climbing the very steep, but uncharted by me, East Hall Hill. The day started cloudy, 18°C. There was a westerly breeze that was in my face for the first part of the journey. By the end of the ride the sun had come out, 21°C.

I took it fairly easy, averaging 15.3 before I got to the hills. Around the 30-mile mark I started to flag slightly and didn’t relish the prospect of the two hills that I knew were coming up. I stopped and had a while I took in this lovely view:

Whether it was the 2 JBs I had just before climbing the first hill, or whether it was the Mule Bar I’d had about 7 miles before that, or whether it was my , or whether it was the that I was using for the first time, I don’t know, but I climbed both hills with no problem. In fact I went up both in second gear. Don’t get me wrong, East Hall Hill was no picnic. I was out of the saddle the whole way, but I settled into a rhythm, taking in huge gulps of air with every pedal stroke and my legs just on the verge of, but not quite screaming “STOP!”. At the top of the hill I recovered quickly. The even better news was that when I got home I felt totally fine, like I had just been for a brief stroll or something! It’s really great when that happens!

This time not so leisurely:

That’s Botany Bay, Kent, by the way, not Australia! It was a beautiful sunny day and not too hot – ideal cycling weather. I was considering riding to Whitstable and then ride the Oyster Bay Trail coast path all the way to Botany Bay (those names sound so exotic don’t you think?), but I realised that I would have to ride 20 miles along the coast path shared with other users and the going would be really slow compared to roads. So I decided against it. Here’s the route I eventually took: Apart from a lumpy section between Charing and Canterbury the route wasn’t very hilly. East of Canterbury and onto the Isle of Thanet, in particular, was very flat. [In case you’re wondering why it’s called the Isle of Thanet it’s because in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly 2,000 feet (600 m) wide River Wantsum.]

The first part of the ride, the hilly bit, was full of beautiful rolling hills and far-off views. The last 20 miles or so were largely flat and featureless, which didn’t inspire me to stop and take photos. I found this ride quite a slog, which it shouldn’t have been given the distance and flatness. Maybe I didn’t eat enough. I had one banana and two slices of fruit loaf – doesn’t sound a lot really! Because of the warm weather I was determined to keep hydrated – I aimed to drink 2 bidons by the time I got there; by half way I had drunk about half my supplies so I was on target, but I still had too much left at the end of the ride – it’s so difficult to judge. I arrived at Botany Bay at 7pm, just in time for the evening sun to be casting a golden glow across the sands. It’s quite a secluded beach, being sheltered by chalk cliffs. I stayed on the beach for a couple of hours having a barbecue with friends and watched the sun go down.

Cloud and mist earlier in the day had given way to a sunny evening for the Summer Solstice. I went out for this leisurely ride:

It was the first time I had ridden around Brenchley. There is an amazing view from Crook Road where there’s a nice lookout point with benches and a 3D model of the view to help identify things in the distance.

Shortly after that I was enjoying an exhilarating descent down Pixot Hill and had reached 40 mph when I glanced down at my Garmin and noticed that I needed to turn left at a lane that  I was already right on top of. There was no way I was going to be able to slow down quick enough to make the turn so I overshot and slammed on the brakes, or at least to the extent to which you can do that on a road bike; which is to hardly any extent at all actually!

Using data from my Garmin I was later able to work out how long it took me to stop – 90 metres. The stopping distance for a car from 40 mph is 36 metres! Actually I could have stopped faster; I didn’t really brake hard until after I had passed the turning and even then it wasn’t exactly an emergency stop. But it still would have been significantly worse than a car.

The best part of this evening was when I came to climb Barn Hill. I was really in the mood for it and went up most of it in third gear and blitzed my previous best time by 33 seconds.

All in all it was un bon solstice d’été.