Meeting Place - Bromley South Station Forecourt
Time 08:30 for the 08:49 Train direct to Bekesbourne - ETA - 10:05

This will be a circular ride ...with the majority of ascent in the first 20 miles . Upon leaving Bekesbourne we will head more or less due south Bishopsbourne and Elham ...before turning East through Hawkinge ...and then a steady North East progression through Chalksole,Lydden, Shepherdswell, and Chillenden ...before turning North West through Staple , Elmstone & Preston .....after which we turn South West past Grove Hill, Wickhambreaux and Littlebourne back to our start point at Bekesbourne

The first half of the ride will be mainly through deeply indented valleys on very narrow lanes .....the second being on somewhat more frequented roads...albeit all still lanes ..the terrain now being much flatter and the horizons much futher away .

Overall our mileage today will be 41 miles and ascent and descent will be 2185 feet....a pub lunch stop will be sought after the half way mark when we have done the really hard work . We should be able to make it back to Bekesbourne before dark ....that's the plan anyhow!

Report

6 of us at Bromley South Station - Andrew, Ian, Ibrahim, Katie, Peter, Trevor alighted the 08:49 service to Bekesbourne, only to find Jan and William already on the train. At Bekesbourne we met up with two of Peter's friends (a relative newbie to our company) Mark and Ross and with this we set off for really our first autumnal ride of the year.

Andrew, as ever, did warn us we would have to put in some work for the first 20 miles or so, although it was nowhere near as hard as the first 20 miles of his Frant towards Pevensey ride! On mostly Sustrans route 17 we headed south through Bishopsbourne, towards Bossingham and Stelling Minnis where our glorious leader got us lost. It was at this point that Jan pointed out the Organic Farm and the possible idea of making merry on their cider for the afternoon. But Andrew soon put us on the right route and we were soon heading up a horrendous 17% hill (brief, but quite steep) where poor Ross's chain had slipped out which Ian gamely fixed.

We passed through the rather pretty village of Elham, through the rather uninspiring town of Hawkinge and thence onto Lydden, deep in a valley, for lunch. Our lunch stop was a great old-school, low ceilinged pub - Sausage and mash came to a reasonable £5.50. After William consumed his gorgeous looking dessert we continued the second part of our ride.

After some very brief climbing the next 20 miles contained plenty of pootling which was just as well as the weather (as predicted) started to come in. For me, the highlight was Andrew letting us stop (very briefly!) at St Nicholas Church, a stunning 12th Century church with elaborate carvings over the door and around the church. Nearing the end of the ride we passed through the pretty village of Wickhambreaux, where Trevor pointed out was the scene for Michael Powell's film, A Canterbury Tale. Mark suggested that perhaps we should do a ride based on the locations of the film, it would certainly be an attractive ride based on what we saw at Wickhambreaux.

It was just beyond this that we bid adieu to Mark and Ross as most of us headed back towards Bekesbourne and thus towards home. Many Thanks to Andrew Fergar for leading such a great ride and to Ian for his David Bailey antics.

Katie Collis - Bromley Cyclists Reporter