Bearsted Circular - - Saturday 12th July 2008    ( Nb Buy Return Tickets To Bearsted !)

Gather at London Bridge Station in sufficient time to get the 09:18 train to Bearsted - say by 09:00 ...next to the main ticket hall - As yet I have nobody to serve as my official rep ..so hopefully someone who's been before before will gather the London Bridge contingent .

.or for those in the Bromley South area - Please be on the station Forecourt by 09:20 for the 09:34 train to Bearsted - Andrew Fergar hopes to see you there .

NB - The London Bridge train arrives at Beasted at 10:11 - you will have 7 minutes to wait until Andrew and the Bromley contingent arrive .

The ride will drop south through Bearsted village and thence through Langley Heath and then a bit further south before heading East to Broadstone, from here we will proceed to Egerton ..which is quite a charming village , thence to Pluckley and on to Little Chart . Upon leaving Little Chart we will head East Towards Hothfield then North toward Westwell ..............going East from here into Charing  ... ..which is roughly the half way point ...and has a station ...some may wish to go back from here ( I will point the way you need to go to you ) .
Once past Charing we will ascend a rather steep hill to the Bowl Inn at Vent Ho ( probably Vent House ) ..which serves food all day and is 2/3 into the ride ...this will be with the prior agreement of all ...as you may wish to eat earlier ...but we should be able to get to the pub by 1.30 - 2pm

There's a beer festival at teh lunch stop. It won't turn into a massive quaffing session, but it might be interesting.

http://www.bowlinn.co.uk/6.html

Upon our depart from the Bowl Inn ( if we go there ) we will have another 12 miles to go ...much of on a high plateau ...with a stunningly swift descent into Hollingbourne 4 miles from the end ...followed by a 3 mile stretch of the Pilgrim's Way .

At this point we shall be at Black Horse in Thurnham ...where I will see if anyone wants an ale or two ..with those that wish ....but ..fear not we will see that you all get to Bearsted Station again ..which is only 1.5 miles away down a steep hill ( 12 minutes maximum journey ) .

I will look out the various train timing and have those ready at hand - for the homeward trip .

This ride has a fair few lumpy bits ... only one of great size  ...but nothing that a reasonably determined cyclist cannot cope with ( except Charing Hill which you may want to walk up )

Overall Distance - 39 Miles

Total Ascent 2404 Ft

Total Descent 2397 Ft

My contact email is : kayacan@aol.com
My Mobile is : 07717693701

Report

The day was a little overcast ...and remained so for most of the ride ...but we were spared from precipitation of any kind .... 

Anyhow ....having walked the minute or so from my home to Bromley South Station I found Helen , Tom , Ibrahim and Sue already there ..and we were soon joined by Burak and Ian ....which gave us a group of seven ...not bad I thought .  

Upon arriving at Bearsted I cast my eyes around and concluded that there had been nobody from London Bridge able to get out today ....but this proved to be a false assumption as we braked to a halt by the deli just down the road from Bearsted Station and found four more riders ....Bill , Simon , Andy and Alan .( to whom I issued the last of the ten maps of the route that I had optimistically brought along )...once coffee and croissants were finished ...we rode off southwards to Langley Heath ..at which point I started to have slight problems with the fact that I had been forced to replan the route from memory onto my Gps ( having very recently bought a new PC )...and discovered that the programmed route was a tad different from the one that I had memorized a few weeks before on a recce ride ...this threw me into considerable consternation ...and I nearly mislaid my trusting flock as a result! 

Anyhow ..during the next bit of the ride we became somewhat strung out at times - due to the differing ability of our group ....a situation that was brought under control by Ian of Orpington ..who valiantly filled the role of back marker for the remainder of the ride ...not only that but he mended Sue's puncture near Egerton ...a true gentleman! 

Onwards we journeyed until nearby the village of Westwell the swifter members of our group decided to make a dash for the pub - The Bowl Inn above Charing ...such was their enthusiasm for the Beer Festival .....so they duly texted me and we were reunited soon after....finding them already supping strong ales ( Wassail at 6% abv in one case!) 

After dining on simple fare from the BBQ in the pub garden ...three of our party made an early departure for journeys' end ( aided by their maps ) and the rest of us had another forty or so minutes relaxation ...before setting off on the much easier last leg to Bearsted , passing the free camping field over the road from Bowl ..dotted with around 15 tents   and quite a few folk ...who were no doubt waiting for the band "Mental Floss" to start their gig later in the afternoon  

Somewhat later....at Black Post I was discovered to have accidentally cut off the corner of the route that passed the Ringlestone Inn ...much to Tom's chagrin ...he semed most keen to go back and make good my omission !. 

.Eventually we drew near the end of the ride ...and found ourselves next to the Black Horse Inn at Thurnham.......where we stopped again for more refreshment ...before swooping down the hill into Bearsted

for the train...which we made with three minutes to spare ! 

So ...an enjoyable day was had by all ....onwards to the next ride!