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Wheelers Spring Kent Tour
3-5 April 2009

This weekend was originally planned to be based at Blackboys hostel in Sussex, but the warden of that hostel managed to double-book us, so we had to make a late change to Palace Farm in Doddington, Kent. With hindsight, this was probably a fortunate outcome, as Palace Farm is a much nicer hostel. There have been suggestions that the warden of Blackboys engineered the double-booking following Caroline's pre-inspection of the place (she came up with a long list of deficiencies such as the saucepans being too small), but I'm sure that's not true...

Anyway, on to the weekend. We had a record turnout of 25 riders, with more on the waiting list, so decided to organise a range of rides to suit different aspirations and energy levels. On Friday, a group took a train to Gravesend, then cycled to Doddington via Cooling (with obligatory stop at the "Great Expectations" churchyard), Hoo peninsula, Rochester and the Pilgrims Way. This is an excellent route along country lanes, with a few slightly mad Sustrans paths and residential roads thrown in for good measure around Rochester. The route crosses the North Downs and involves one impressive (up)hill, but all made it. As we approached Doddington, Saturday's dinner and breakfast went motoring past (in the back of an Ocado van except for tins of mangos, they chose to come on the ride). About 45 miles, with a stop at Hoo for lunch and Detling for a drink.

Evening meal on Friday was at the Chequers pub in Doddington, which provided excellent food and is highly recommended.

On Saturday, three groups set out:

• The supposedly speedy group set off south, over the north downs to Headcorn, then to Sissinghurst Castle gardens for tea, then across Romney marshes, eventually ending up at Camber Sands in the beach café. There was originally some plan was to cycle back, but owing to having spent too much time on tea stops / lazing in the sun (which seems to happen a lot on Wheelers rides), it was decided to catch a train from Rye to Lenham and just cycle the last few miles. About 60 miles for the day, and the weather got better and better as the day went on. Highly recommended, both for the route and the stops.
• The medium and easy pacers chose the north Kent coast, aiming at Margate, or Ramsgate, or wherever they got to, to be followed by a train back. The route went via Faversham, Whitstable (stop for seafood) then along the coast path for much of the day. This route has a good deal of off-road distance (along the seafront) and is excellent for a relaxing day's ride. Some drama was provided by Sue breaking a spoke and badly buckling her back wheel (naturally the spoke was on the cassette side, and the necessary tools were in London), but she and Caroline managed to locate a bike shop (Herberts Cycles in Whitstable, who gave excellent service) who were able to help. In the end, one group got to Broadstairs and one to Margate, and 35 - 45 miles were cycled.

Saturday night, and the Ocado man's offerings were expertly converted into assorted curries by Aneeta, ably assisted by her troupe of willing volunteers. The Saturday night cook-up is becoming something of a highlight of Wheelers' trips, and this was well up to standard. Special mention goes to Emma for producing the biggest pile of poppadums I have ever seen (we managed to eat them all of course...). The special-import (from the East End) mangos were made into Mango Lassies, and the good news is that Aneeta is now offering cooking as well as knitting lessons.

On Sunday, we had two groups:

• A longer ride to Dover, via Canterbury, Sandwich and Deal. This mostly followed Sustrans route NCN1 from Canterbury. Hilly up to Canterbury, but flattish from there (until Dover where there is a very big hill). It started out in bright sunlight, but sea-mist rolled in near Sandwich, and things became a bit murky. Highlights of this route were Chilham (picture postcard village with tea shop), lazing in the sun at Canterbury for far too long eating lunch (is there a theme emerging for Wheelers "longer" rides?), and the ride across the country lanes to Sandwich. Here the group divided - the G&T team decided to go for a drink and catch the train from Sandwich, whilst the others cycled on to Deal - which proved to be an exhilarating ride as the weather turned and ride leader Caroline increased the pace so as not to get cold! The two groups were re-united as they ended up on the same train back to London. About 45-50 miles for the day.
• A ride back along the Pilgrims way, the reverse of the way out, for those who hadn't done it (and a few who had but thought it good enough to do in both directions). This time we stopped at Tony Lorenzos coffee shop in Rochester for lunch. This ride was in bright sunshine all the way and the views across the Downs on the first section were really superb. Some stopped off in Rochester for sightseeing and caught a train back from there, most carried on to Gravesend. Final mileage about 40-45.

Thanks go Rides Co-ordinator Caroline for her usual high standards of organisation, to Aneeta and her cooking crew, and to all who turned up to make it another enjoyable weekend, I'm looking forward to the next one...

Dave A

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