This year we had the luxury of two alternative rides on Saturday, offered by Helen and Pete B respectively, with roughly equal attendance. There is a separate report for Helen's ride.
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| Outside the hotel |
Pete's ride went south. We left the hotel, did a bit of a twiddle and were immediately on a country cycle path through fields. It was remarkably flat - at first - for a Pete ride, as we continued down the valley of Pert Bottom and Lynsore Bottom, cheekily known as The Bottoms. Then the hills started, as we climbed over to the next valley, to coffee at a vineyard.
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| Interesting pub names |
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Interesting duck ears (at Pert Bottom),
where Ian Fleming wrote You Only Live Twice |
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| Interesting riders at the vineyard 11s |
Next - more hills, ever southwards, until we reached a high escarpment with a view over the Eurotunnel station at Folkestone, laid out like a model railway below us.
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| Over the hill |
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| You can just make out the Eurotunnel station below |
We descended towards our lunch stop, but unfortunately one of our group came off the bike, so plans were changed as we did some running repairs to bike and rider. Instead we ate at a miniature railway cafe in Peene, before a sub-group set off to get the train home to Canterbury. Pete devised a short cut, which turned out to be very beautiful, taking us on a long climb up to a ridge. We rejoined our route riding north along the top of the ridge, almost to Canterbury. An impromptu tea stop happened at a viewpoint, where Andy produced a pack of chocolate hot cross buns to share.
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| Some of the lunch crew at Peene |
Many thanks to Pete for a scenic and enjoyable ride, conducted with inimitable style, and to all those who took photos.
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