In Canterbury: a ride in the Kent Downs

June 18, 2022

There’s some tension in the air as we walk over to Kent Cycles after breakfast. We know the bikes are ready because we received a statement in the mail this morning; but we’re anxious to hear what the mechanic has to say when he hands them over.

Chris is all smiles when we enter the shop. He’s pleased with how it all worked out, and after we take them for a spin we are too. They seem great, maybe the best since we left Barcelona. It’s a relief. He replaced Rachael’s front brake pads, my front rotor, several cables, and the handlebar tape. He also advised me to look up another shop in a few thousand miles and take mine in for a new freehub body (Shimano part# Y3SW98050), as he says there’s starting to be some play in mine that could be a problem at some point. We’ll look ahead and find another shop down the road, probably somewhere in England at the end of the summer - maybe Exeter or Tavistock, where we’re booked for three nights each. Anyone know of a good LBS there they’d recommend?

It’s moving day, but a short one - a half a mile east to the other side of downtown, at the Premier Inn. We bike back to Millers Arms to grab our luggage, bike to our new digs to drop it off for storage for the day, and are off on another loop through the Kent Downs to give the bikes a better test.

We’re on the road before eleven because we want to get off of it before the threatened rains arrive. It’s quite amazing how different conditions are today, only hours after we were biking through a sweltering 90 degree heatwave. It was 72 when we woke this morning, but that’s the expected high today. It’s dropped almost 20 degrees over yesterday and will fall another ten tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that just across the channel continental Europe is experiencing a historic heat wave, with temperatures in Paris expected to reach triple digits.

Our ride begins with following the same route we began with yesterday, through Patrixbourne and Bridge. I’m glad to be returning to Patrixbourne to have a second look at its oast, the curious looking building with the hooded chimneys I puzzled over yesterday until a helpful comment identified it as an oast for us. From Wikipedia:

An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Many redundant oasts have been converted into houses. The names oast and oast house are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex. In Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called hop kilns.

They consist of a rectangular one- or two-storey building (the "stowage") and one or more kilns in which the hops were spread out to be dried by hot air rising from a wood or charcoal fire below. The drying floors were thin and perforated to permit the heat to pass through and escape through a cowl in the roof which turned with the wind. The freshly picked hops from the fields were raked in to dry and then raked out to cool before being bagged up and sent to the brewery. The Kentish dialect word kell was sometimes used for kilns.

Another look as the oast house in Patrixbourne that we saw yesterday, now that I know that an oast is the local term for a hop kiln, which of course I know of from the Willamette Valley. These are quite different though.

In Patrixbourne, a village we just saw yesterday but that we’re happy to revisit.

Beyond Bridge we’re on new road, but it’s similar to the country we walked through yesterday with the bulk of the ride falling within the boundary of the Kent AONB. We’re on pavement the whole way today though rather than brushing up against nettles and grasses on narrow foot and bridle paths. And we’re seeing much more contour as we follow along a low ridge that leaves us climbing and falling along one surprisingly steep slope after another for about twenty miles.

On the outskirts of Bridge. After four miles we’re finally striking out in a new direction.

Today’s ride was a mix, with roughly half through woods like this and the other half in the open with expansive views.

Another oast house, this one near Elham.

The Ukrainian flag and Saint Mary’s Church, Elham.

Looking up East Brook, south of Elham. It looks like the creek bottoms are a protected meadow environment.

Spectacular view across the Kent Downs AONB from the high point of the ride at Farthing Common. Look at that graying sky though!

Looking across a field of flax, I think the same one we saw in the distance earlier from above.

A vineyard, not a common sight here from our observations so far.

As we bike the weather starts looking and feeling more threatening - it turns overcast, the wind picks up, the temperature drops, and we start feeling an occasional sprinkle. With still almost fifteen miles to go we’re feeling anxious as well as foolish, for in our rush to pack and drop our luggage at our new lodging we both forgot to bring our jackets with us. It’s suddenly feeling like we’re too far from home and ill-prepared for the conditions.

When it starts sprinkling more seriously we start keeping an eye out for shelter - to wait out the weather, but also to put away some calories before we’re in the midst of a food crisis. finding no shelter we finally just plop ourselves on a patch of grass at a road junction and eat fast. It’s not bad though, as the sky clears a bit and the sun breaks through even though it’s still lightly sprinkling at the same time. Interesting, almost pleasant. It seems like there might be a rainbow but I can’t spot one.

Lunch stop at the junction of Woods Hill and Richdore. A quick bite during a quick shower.

No longer trusting the conditions though, we ad hoc a change to the route and find a shorter way back to town, lopping off about four miles and another significant climb from original plan. The weather holds out for us and we’re happy to make it back to our inn by around three, not long before some light rain arrives.

Video sound track: Swift Breeze, by Yasmin Williams

We’re staying for the next two nights at the Premier Inn, the only reasonably priced room we could find when we decided to stay longer in Canterbury. A modern chain hotel, it’s not nearly as full of character or history as Millers Arms; but it does have its advantages. The WiFi works, for one thing - the service at Millers Arms cut out so frequently as to make it all but unusable.

And the shower has hot and cold running water, a definite step up from Millers Arms where the temperature control was frozen on scalding hot. The only way to take a cooler shower there was to get in before the water heated up and wash fast.

And there’s an elevator.

And it’s spacious, with space for the bikes and a comfortable couch with room for two.

And breakfast is served at seven.

And there’s heating and air conditioning.

And they allowed us to drop off our bags this morning, soon after we picked up our bikes.

But the character and history!

For dinner we walk downtown to Côte Canterbury, one location of a British chain of French inspired brasseries. I’m a little sceptical being in general distrustful of chain restaurants, but we have a surprisingly good dining experience. Service is prompt and friendly, we enjoy our meals, and we also enjoy dining indoors on a surprisingly chilly and windy evening. I see there are many Côte restaurants in the country and we are likely to find ourselves in another one before we leave the island.

Some worrying blistering on my hand, that I’m photographing to track its improvement or worsening. I think it’s a reaction to brushing up against the nettles yesterday, but then again maybe it’s a flesh-eating disease.

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Ride stats today: 35 miles, 2,500’; for the tour: 108 miles, 5,600’

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 108 miles (174 km)

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