A weekend’s camping, not too far away, but rich in nice places to ride and interesting places to visit. The historical towns of Whitstable and Canterbury are not far away from the campsite and the Viking Coastal Trail Cycle Route along the north coast of Kent and around the Isle of Thanet is one of the best around.  

The Camp Site:
The camp site is only 1 mile from the centre of Canterbury

Canterbury Camping and Caravanning Club Site
Bekesbourne Lane
Canterbury
Kent
CT3 4AB

 01227 463216.
No calls after 8pm please. 

Location - map

OS Map Reference: 179 - TR172577
Latitude: 51.277
Longitude: 1.1128 

Prices are £6.95 per person per night and the price includes use of the showers. I spoke to Michelle on the phone who said there is no need to book. It is the sites policy not to turn away back backers (includes cyclists)

Getting there:
Train from Victoria or Bromley South to Canterbury East
Train from London Bridge to Canterbury West – usually the last four coaches because the train splits at Ashford.
Make your own travel arrangements and book (if you book) your own pitch at the camp site.

The Rides:

Day 1 Saturday 24^th May - Viking Coastal Trail - 52 miles
The route goes up the Crab and winkle Way from Canterbury to Whitstable and then heads east hugging the coast line with many miles on beach side traffic free paths. We go through Herne Bay before visiting the historic ruins of Reculver and then on through Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate before heading back to Canterbury along quiet Kent country lanes

Day 1 memory map track

Day 2 Sunday 25^th May – The Miners Trail - 55 miles
A route that loops around the old mining villages of the East Kent Coalfield. As well as the Miner's Trail route we'll visit Fowlmead country park and pop into Deal find somewhere for lunch and ride some of the coastal path before heading back to Canterbury.

Day 2 memory map track

Day 3 Monday 26^th May – Chartham and Canterbury - 20 miles
A short ride that head over Chartham Downs and down to the river Great Stour at Chartham. The ride then heads back into Canterbury along NCN 15.

Day 3 memory map track

Phone Ian - 07 534 935 633 – note new phone number - for more details and to let him know that you are coming.

Day One Report

day 1 slideshow

We wanted a weekend of camping that wasn't too far away and we only wanted to carry our gear to the site. So the campsite was only a mile or two from Canterbury East and about the same distance from Bekesbourne (Andrew pointed out). So the camping gear, clothes and cooking gear only had to be carried 2 or 3 miles depending on where you caught the train in London or 60+, if like Ray you decided to ride there.

Andrew and myself went down on the Thursday, taking advantage of the sunshine to get a day sightseeing in Canterbury and a day doing a couple of nice small rides, one in the shady valleys to the south of Canterbury and one up to the coast at Whitstable. Ray arrived late afternoon on Friday and Teri while we were in the pub at Bekesbourne. Sue also arrived Friday evening but we didn’t realise until Saturday morning.

A couple of calls from people who were coming down for the day had us rendezvousing with Katie, Trevor, Borak and Ian in Canterbury and a call I should have taken more notice of had us looking out for Jane, Simon, Jurek and Alan who had taken the decision to go round in the opposite direction in order not to be heading into a gale force wind along the coast. .

The Crab and Winkle Way took us looping out of Canterbury to the north; fantastic views over the town and of the cathedral from here might be ruined by a caravan sight - planning permission applied for so get the view while you can. Up the Crab and Winkle to Whitstable and into the wind. Terri (training for a triathalon) was persuaded not to do her 200 metre swim here and we struggled on down the coast to Reculver where she finally took the splash while the rest of us had lunch in the café. We didn’t watch the swim but we heard that the sea was so rough it carried Terri onto the beach a couple of times - better than being carried the other way.

As we approached Birchington we took the decision to turn inland – the wind was so strong our progress was too slow for us to do the planned 50 miles. Shame because it looked as if the ride would have been kind of exciting with the waves ahead of us breaking over the promenade. Jane who had gone round the other way told me they had got very wet. It was nice and warm though.

So inland we went and made our way back to the campsite. Borak, Ian and Katie went home for the Eurovision song contest, Trevor, Andrew and I went to the pub in Bekesbourne for dinner and a drink and Terri, Sue and Ray did the full camping thing by cooking at the campsite.

Day Two Report

slideshow day 2

It rained all night from midnight until 8am. It’s the best time for it to rain when you’re camping, as long as it stops when you want to get up and as long as your tent keeps you dry. Everyone in our group faired well and stayed dry.

By the time we set off on our ride, the strong winds of the day before had disappeared and the worst weather conditions we were faced with were dull skies. We headed off through Bekesbourne to Adisham where we joined the Miner’s Way Trail. This route which ‘meanders through beautiful countryside linking the industrial heritage the former mining villages of East Kent, the Coalfield Parishes isn’t signed so if you want to follow it yourself you’ll need to download the route map from the website above. Although the countryside is beautiful the mining heritage isn’t obvious. In fact apart from our visit to Fowlmead Country Park it was completely invisible. Fowlmead Country Park is built on the spoil heap of Betteshanger colliery and has a small visitor centre with coal fossils and information on the history of mining in Kent. Also at Fowlmead Country Park is a paved cycle way and the National Junior Cycling Championships were being held here during our visit. We stayed in the park for about an hour before heading off over the hill to Deal. We had a short ride along the coast and then headed back inland to Miners Trail and eventually looped around to our starting point at Adisham.

The evening was spent enjoying the full camping experience of beans, spam and pasta.

Miners Way Cycle Trail

Coal mining in Kent

Coalfields Heritage Initiative

Day Three Report

It rained all Monday Morning. We thought we'd wait for it to stop so that we could do the short 20 mile ride over Chartham Downs but it never stopped and in the end individually we packed up our gear and rode for the station.