Meeting Points

Meeting Place : Bromley South Station Forecourt 08:29 for the the 08:49 direct service to Adisham - ETA :10:09   - NB Return tickets to Adisham needed - although we are actually returning from Faversham ( its on the same line )

The Ride

Our ride today starts at Adisham then progresses in a generally Southerly direction via Barham , Elham , Lyminge and Postling before turning Northerly in direction towards Shalmsford Street via Stowting , Hastingleigh and Waltham . From Shalmsford Street we then progress to the West via Shottenden & Sheldwich ...before turning North at Painter's Forstal and thence to Oare ....then a quick side trip to look at the RSPB nature reserve just across from the old Harty Ferry Inn ..before crossing the river into the old and fascinating Cinque Port of Faversham ...which, I for one propose to have a look around.

Take the trains home ... Faversham has trains going toward Rochester and Bromley South . The entire ride will be on lanes - no off road sections or A&B roads ................but ..there will be plenty of climbing ...over one stretch we climb almost continuously for 14 miles ...albeit quite gradually ..so please bear this in mind before coming on the ride ....another point being that the ride has no opt out points .

Our overall distance covered will be 45 miles and we will climb 2708 ft during the course of the day ...damned good exercise! ...We will find a pub for lunch at an appropriate time . So ...be there on the 18th for an exploration of a part of Kent few will ever see!

Report

photos

2 of us at Bromley South – Captain Andrew and Katie, and at Chatham Ian P alighted the train. Arriving around 10.am. we set off down the fast flowing roads and traversed through Barham, Elham (where there seemed to be mass garage sales going on), Lyminge, before heading north again. Andrew promised us plenty of ascends, but not of the class A variety, there were certainly though some climbing to be done before lunch. A particularly gut busting one exists around Brabourne, where I told Andrew afterwards that it seemed like I was on the stepper machine at the gym where  it was informing me, 'Congratulations, you have reached Mt Kilimanjaro'.

We were not quite at those heady heights, but it did feel like we were astride the roof of Kent itself, Ian saying 'well it is part of the North Downs way'. A quick look at the map revealed that we were mere miles from our pub lunch. The beauty of a small group is that there is less likelihood of stopping and in hardly any time we at the Compasses pub in Sole Street at just gone noon. This delightful pub (dating back to 1480 and apparently is haunted by the ghost of a monk) had a great  and wide-ranging menu to choose from. Andrew and I had what could only be described in the cycling world as 'nouvelle cuisine' and we wistfully watched Ian eating his steak and kidney pudding.

After lunch it was time to push on, this began with a jaunt through Eggringe and Denge Woods which was rather attractive, particularly as the landscape around here is festooned with bluebells. We then had a gigantic and wonderful descent towards Shamsford Street and then had a lovely slow ascend towards Selling (Ian and I taking an alternative route to Andrew's GPS which sporadically decided to work, it was having issues today) before heading on to Sheldwich.

Heading still further north we decided to make a stop at the stone ruin just between the major A road and the railway line. It is the only Roman temple in the UK to be converted into a church and continued to be used right up to the 17th century. It was thence on towards the nature reserve and we spotted an egret, which Ian and I have seen in places like India and Egypt but not in Britain. A day of firsts methinks. After stopping at the church and admiring the windmill we were now reaching the beautiful town of Faversham. This is definitely a town to spend some more quality time in, but the pub was calling to us, so we headed towards the wharves and settled on a modern pub (well when I say modern, the pub was only 400 years old compared to the other pubs here) and supped a few beers before heading home.

Many thanks to Captain Andrew for leading a fantastic ride around this most glorious part of Kent, and to Ian for taking the pics. Favourite ride of the year so far, what is going to top it?

Katie Collis

&nb