Circles and Dead Ends

07/06/15 Canterbury to Rochester 76kms

Mohammed and Marzi, made us the most fantastic breakfast. Scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, cereal, toast, juice, tea and coffee. They refilled out plates and drinks as we liked, and it was a really enjoyable experience. It was interesting to find out they had both stayed at this guest house as students, and returned to visit the previous owners each year after that. When the previous owners were ready to retire, they asked Mohammed and Marzi if they were interested and they were. That was over 14yrs ago. 

The old "kitchen" behind me, now part of the dining room.

Our lovely hosts, we recommend Tudor House B&B.

We left there by 9:30am, and headed for the tourist info centre to see if they had a map for the NCN1, but it didn't open until 10am, so we went off to the Vodafone shop to try get connected, but they didn't open till 10:30am. Poop, but at least they would open on a Sunday. We thought we would check out the cathedral, but as they had services until 12:30pm, we missed that as well. So we found somewhere, had a coffee, then went for round two at the shops.

Just off the High Street and all the action.

One of the cool little pubs. 

On our way out of town. End of the High street.

Finally we left Canterbury by 11am, on the NCN1, without a good map, but with mobile active. It was a really great ride up to Whitstable, with plenty of people out enjoying the beautiful warm day, and the fantastic track. It is only about 10kms, and lots of people will walk it, then catch a train back.

Looking back over Canterbury from the top of the hill. Stunning.

Beautiful riding between Canterbury and Whitstable.

From there, we turned westish, through to Sittingbourne. This was another great section, on small roads, along the seaside, before entering the town. We stopped at a roadside stall, and bought some beautiful fresh strawberries and cherries to snack on. We ate them as we rode along. So far we were doing it easy.

Fresh fruit on a warm sunny day is the bomb.

There was one section, near Faversham, where we rode past the sewerage treatment plant, and oh my god, how bad was the smell. Way worse than the cow poo smell in Europe. We held our breathe, and tried to get past quick. There were swarms of midgies or gnat type bugs, flying in our faces, up our noses, poo bugs, ugh! Whose idea was it to put the national cycle route right there?

These are a great idea???  For what I don't know.

Sometimes it is good to be a bit smaller....

In Sittingbourne, someone had been messing with the signage, and we lost the route again. Back to following Davo, which as usual, lead us to a couple of frustrating (infuriating) moments. We did a couple of extra kms getting out of Sittingbourne, before finding the NCN1 again near Rainham, then as we got close to Rochester, we had a choice to follow Davo down to the river, then along it to Rochester, or carry on, on the cycle path (along the busy road). We chose Davo, Wrong!

One of the better little back roads. 

At first it seemed great, as we had a big downhill roll, through some rough looking areas, but at the bottom, there were roadworks, and it was difficult negotiating them. Davo took us around in a giant circle, we literally came out where we started, then into a housing estate, that only had one way in and out. So back we go to the roadworks (another 3kms for nothing), and then, And Then, the stupid GPS put us on the motorway! Holy crap! Scary, not to mention we're not allowed on it. We don't want to be here, with cars zooming by at break neck speeds. We spotted a sign that showed all the types of vehicles that are not allowed on the motorway, and that they could get off in 100 yards. Fucking super, we waited for a break in the traffic, then pedalled like crazy and got off. 

We stopped, swore at Davo, checked the iPad and chose a route back to Rochester. Along a busy road, but with a cycle path, and of course a big slow hill. It wasn't long before we could see where we wanted to be, and then Davo directed us to ride along a nice path along the river. Ok, seems cool. It wasn't! Who makes a river path that is a dead end? It went for about 2kms to nowhere. By this stage, we'd done over 70kms, and had had enough. So back we go, past Snoop Dog, roller dancing by himself, and the stupid exercise equipment and find the road into Rochester by ourselves.

I got this, I have done a little riding...

Betty, you are heaps easier to ride...

Is that a hotel, how do we get there?

Somehow, we got to The High street, and found The Kings Head pub with a room. Because of Davo, we'd missed dinner by half an hour here, so after showers walked down a bit to the Crown, and had some dinner, while watching a massive fire burn right near the path we'd ridden along. Apparently a plastics factory. Nothing to do with us or Davo!

Nice decor hey? 

                                      

                                           Phew, got out of there just in time.

What a great view, we have been so lucky with views lately.

Scenes from Oliver Twist,

A little bit spooky, but cool.

So Rochester is the home of Charles Dickens, has a nice cathedral, and a castle (which is right outside our window, score). Our hotel has murals on the walls depicting scenes from Oliver Twist (the rooms are named after characters, ours is Pip) and the High street is filled with shops with names relating to Charles Dickens. Actually a very nice place, even after the circles and dead ends.