The ride starts at finishes in Edenbridge at Edenbridge Town Station (there are two stations in Edenbridge).

From Edenbridge the ride heads north crossing the M25 and climbs the North Downs and travels along the ridge for 5 miles. The route then turns south through Godstone, Lingfield and Dormansland before turning north gain and heading back to Edenbridge. We’ll take a short detour before returning to Edenbridge to look at Hever Castle.

Dormansland at 18 miles and Cowden at 30 miles are possible jumping off points for cutting the ride short.

This is a hilly ride (76 feet of climbing per mile), entirely on roads and is suitable for any kind of bike.

Bring lights.

We’ll find a pub for lunch.

Report

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The temperature had just pushed up to 2 Celsius as I left home. I pushed to the back of my mind the certainty that it would be 3 – 5 degrees lower in the countryside. Despite the low temperature we had a turn out of 5 riders at London Bridge and 2 more joined the train at East Croydon.

Ian, Liz, Jane, Jurek, William, Stuart and Paul all resembled artic explorers as we left Edenbridge with only Jurek showing any flesh below the mouth.

Hever Castle was given a miss. We went there last week only to find out there was no view of the castle from the road. The fields were covered with frost, but as we came into Markbeech after descending the first of the climbs the fields were green again. Was the frost confined to the Eden Valley or had the temperature climbed a notch or two. Whichever it was we were all feeling warmer, but it was mainly as a result of the effort of getting up the hills. From Markbeech we went to Cowden and then followed Kent Water through a pretty little valley before emerging at Dormansland. From Dormansland we went to Lingfield and then Crowhurst where we started the climb out of he Weald up to the North Downs. The climb was split at Godstone for lunch at the Hare and Hounds. My Steak and Ale Pie was £8.75.

Jane bade us farewell and left us to the stiffer part of the climb up the North Downs which goes up 550 feet in the space of about 3 miles. The viewpoint from the top of the North Downs at Woldingham is spoiled by 2 barbed wire topped fences. Even if you get close and peer through the first the second then obstructs what would be a very nice vista. Stuart left us on the ridge to ride home.

As we descended the North Downs a kid stuck his head out of the passenger window of a car that passed me scowled and yelled either, “Get a car” or “Get a life”. I couldn’t help noticing that he had both and looked decidedly unhappy. I though, had a big smile on my face brought on by the exhilaration of the fast descent which I think he noticed as his scowl turned to a look of confusion -something for him to think about. As far as I’m concerned you can keep your car and your life kid.

Once we had crossed the M25 it was a short ride back into Edenbridge where we unfortunately had to wait for a train for 40 minutes. There’s only one an hour on this line. 

Stats
34.2 miles
3 hours moving
4.30 hours total
11.5 mph moving average
10.0 mph overall average
33.1 mph max speed
2640 feet of climbing
72 feet of climbing per mile
880 feet max elevation

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Ian Pendleton