Transport Details :

Meet at London Bridge by the main ticket office by around 09:20 for the 09:38 train - Hopefully someone will come forward to be my official meeting person - but if not ...enough of you know what the form is for it not to be a problem Or - Meet Andrew Fergar on Bromley South Station forecourt by around 09:15 for the 09:32 Orpington train - which meets the London Bridge contingents train - with ten minutes or so to spare .

The Ride

This ride is going to be fairly easy ...with only 1127 feet of ascent and 1080 feet of descent during the 39 miles planned route - last time around we were easily averaging 13.5 mph for most of the ride . I am thinking of the Bell at Frittenden for our lunch stop ..although it's only 17 miles in ( due to lack of suitable places further in ) We set off in a Northerly direction from Paddock Wood passing through Pikefish , skirting Yalding and then through Hunton ...before turning South and passing through Chainhurst then Marden ...and then going broadly West through Staplehurst ...jinking South to Frittenden and Bettenham Manor from here ....and then rising NorthEastward again up to Smarden and Biddenden Green ...then we pass South of Pluckley Station ( but you could cut short the ride here at the 30 mile mark - avoiding the hills that we encounter after this point ) and North around it via Rippers Cross , Hothfield , Little Chart ..before plunging into Pluckley Station for the train home .

My mobile number is 07717 693 701

Report

I met Ibrahim and Burak at Bromley South station at 09:15 ..and we duly purchased three reduced rate network returns to Pluckley - cost £7.65 . We then got the 09.32 train to Orpington and saw Ian (of Orpington )waving at us from the other side of the station and went over to join him , the train for Paddock Wood soon arrived and we all boarded - meeting Ian Pendleton once ensconced ...there would be 5 for our ride today.....mayhap the prospect of bad weather has deterred a larger attendance?

The weather seemed to promise rain and gloom ...but apart from being damp(ish) at times the only real rain came when we were lunching in the Bell & Jorrocks at Frittenden at the 19 mile mark .....the food was tasty and well priced ...with real ale for those that wanted it ...the pub sports ..amongst other thing ..part of a Heinkel 111 bomber's propeller ( shot down near there in 1940) and a voluntary Post Office ...very much a "local" pub and friendly as well .

We emerged an hour later and set of into a slight drizzle - quite refreshing really ! ...enjoying the flat nature of the ride ( most unusual in Kent) and soon found ourselves in the village of Smarden ....which has some stunningly well preserved Tudor and Seventeenth Century buildings ...which we paused to admire ...nipping into the local church as well .

Once on the road again we made our way to Ripper's Cross...which signalled the start of the "hilly" part of the ride climbing past the 14th Century church of St Nicholas at Hothfield ( that we tried to visit last ride )

and through the village centre climbing once more ...before dropping into Little Chart ...from whence we made what we thought would be our last ascent of the day .....before racing downhill to Pluckley Station .......where ....Caramba!...we just managed to miss our train!

Having determined that an hour's wait at Pluckley Station would be wet and chilly experience, despite the knowledge that the Station building was virtually the oldest in the UK ( built in 1842 )...we thought that an hour's gazing at it would be excessive ...so we duly decided to climb Pluckley hill and visit Pluckley village ....and quite a hill it was ...adding another 300 ft ( or maybe 100 m) of climb ...duly warmed up at the top we popped into the church ...noting the signs of the local Dering familes 900+ year hold on the area ( they died out in 1928) .....before swooping back down to the Station in good time for the 16.27 home .

Total mileage was 42.2 ..and I will restage this again in the months to come .

Andrew Fergar