August 13, 2009
To about 30km from Canterbury: A lovely evening with old friends
We woke to rain at six but breakfast was not until 8am and the bikes didn’t get unlocked until 8.30 which was really rather lucky as the rain had eased by the time we left at 9.00. Down the steep hill and we were back on track. It took us on a quiet road beside the coast but we couldn’t see the sea because of a high bank. There were two alternatives to get to Rye. We took the shorter busy road which was a bit alarming at times but they all missed us and we got to Rye pretty rapidly. We really didn’t see much of the old port, just headed through and with the help of some locals found our way out onto a nice quiet road beside the river through fields. Once again great crops of wheat waiting for harvest. There were several huge white swans in the ditches. The next hamlet was Appledon where we stopped at Miss Muffets High Class Tearooms where we sipped tea from fine china cups – our grandmothers would have been proud of our good table manners. From there to Ashford it was on quiet country roads through undulating farming country and by 1pm we had reached the outskirts of Ashford. Some kindly soul had turned some of the number 18 cycle route signs the wrong way round which resulted in us getting rather lost in a housing estate. However a couple of nice young fellows helped us with a diagram and we got on to a wonderful cycle way that took us right through the city and out the other side.
It was then through fields to Wye where we stopped for an overpriced lemonade in a pub. By now it was 3pm and we were onto the last bit. It was very steeply uphill on very narrow roads – much pushing and Tricia fairly buggered. Finally at 4.30 we arrived at the beautiful home of our friends Janette and Bill, what a great welcome we got (Tricia sure perked up). Several years ago they had bought an old Oast House. Bill is a master craftsman and he set to work on the house and Janette has transformed the extensive gardens. We hadn’t seen them for several years so it was great to catch up over a barbeque and we talked until the early hours.
Tomorrow it should only take an hour or so to get to Canterbury so a late start is in order.
Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 203 km (126 miles)
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