I said I would update some details about last weekend earlier this week but I just didn't get round to it. Work is busy (but for once reasonably enjoyable - why does it come and go like that??). Anyway here goes.
C picked me up around 8 on the Saturday morning. The mornings are much lighter at the moment and make getting up early all the more easy. C looked terrible, the previous evening he had been to an 80's style Roller Disco which has opened at Kings Cross and he had got home at 2. The disco retro idea sounds awful but everyone I know who has been to it says it is marvellous and I think I may try and get there myself soon. We set off to Maidstone to N's house and started on the tea and toast which has become a pre-ride feature now. No Marmite but there was some Golden Syrup which is absolutely delicious if a little tooth rotting.
We set off just after 10, the sun shining and the wind behind us. Our route took us out of Maidstone towards Leeds Castle past some weird railway line where the level crossing was manually operated by some guy in a hut who came out to shut it just as I was passing. I wasn't aware that such oddities still existed, even in Kent!
We seemed to stop around every 20 minutes maintaining the Lance Armstrong idea of keeping up your fluids and food which really does pay dividends. The day got warmer and sunnier and I was surpriswd that it took us only 3 hours to reach Canterbury, our half way stop. We made the mistake of hitting a sandwich bar serving delicious sandwiches but which meant we ate too much and we struggled up our first hill out of Canterbury on our way to Deal. Man it was tough, I could feel the beef and coleslaw on granary hanging around just below my throat level as I pedalled ferociously up that hill!
The section to Deal was very enjoyable cutting across countryside riddled with quiet roads (part of our journey to Canterbury was on the busy A20) most of which I knew because I had covered them on the same journey on Boxing Day. The sun held out for the afternoon and we rolled in for a cup of tea in Deal chez in laws at around 3.30pm.
The final section of the first day was a short ride to the Gardener's Rest in Kingsdown, a superb little Guest House of which we had the whole upstairs. The place was stunning, a huge garden and spacious bedrooms with a small dining area between the two rooms which looked out over the garden and the channel. The owners were a lovely couple who had built the property from scratch and had recently started letting out the rooms.
We settled in and drew straws for who got the king size bed to themselves. C won and me and N settled for the twin room. Not that there was a problem with this - there was still loads of room. I ached and was tired but after a short nap we were ready to head out. After an evening of a mini pub crawl (including The Ship in Deal which would appear in my top ten boozers if I were ever to compile such a list) and an average curry we headed home and hit the sack at the Saturday night rock and roll time of 10.30pm!
Sunday morning and we awoke early, the sun streaming in and the owners ready to supply a huge breakfast which we had ordered the afternoon previous. I didn't ache too much having completed 60 miles the previous day. After a plate of bacon and eggs (all locally sourced apparently) we said our goodbyes, settled the bill and set off back to Maidstone. The wind was facing us and we knew the journey back would take much longer. We returned via Folkestone and Ashford and learnt the hard way that if you are not sure where you are going it's best to stick to more well known roads - the result of not following this was covering about 5 miles in an hour - not good when you are meant to be doing 60 in 6 hours.
An altercation with a farmer who said we were blocking the road led to an exchange of verbal profanities and resulted in us being chased by said farmer! He was spoiling for a fight shouting "come on then, let's 'ave some!" - if the Crays had some surviving family and they had gone into farming then this chap was clearly a close relative.
Otherwise the day was a pretty fast but uninteresting trip along the A20, stopping off for Mars Bars and tea and Ginsters Pasties from Esso garages. In fact I ate more choc over the whole weekend than ever before. The sun stayed out and I was surprised how quickly we got back. We returned tired but satisfied and optimistic about the full three days where we will need to cover 75 miles per day over three days. C dropped us back to Bexley and eventually I fell asleep at 8, woke up and had something to eat and then went to bed at 10.30.
Much backslapping the next day and an all round good feeling which has stayed with me all week.
Bring it on!
