Eleven intrepid travellers met at Orpington station for the train to Folkstone Central. Once at Folkstone we gathered ourselves together before heading to the the sea front where we rode along the promenade to Sandgate. Traveling along the sea wall towards Hythe, we followed the Military Canal for a short distance before heading out onto NCR 2.
Then branching off NCR 2 towards Dymchurch we found ourselves at Haguelands Village, when a rather rustic looking kitchen caught our eye and what’s more we were attracted to a sign which advertised the sale of a special Kent delicacy known as Alpaca POO. Although the service was somewhat slow, the cakes were brill, said Steve, our ride leader.
After a somewhat protracted lunch we meandered on through Dymchurch and with a slight headwind continued along the seawall to Littlestone . Along the way we saw several Martello towers and a heavily populated wonderful sandy beach at Dymchurch. Sallying forth towards St. Mary’s Bay we were able to see the narrow gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway on our right. Staying by the sea wall again we reached Greatstone and Dungeness where we stopped to visit the old lighthouse, several of our riders climbing to the top to take in the views.
Turning inland from Dungeness towards Lydd, and trying to keep up with Toni who had upped the pace to 18mph, we suddenly heard nasty noises coming from Paul’s bike. At this point the saddle fell off, due to a broken seat clamp. Luckily there was a bike shop four miles away in New Romney, so we sent Paul off to get his bike fixed, while the rest of us headed through the country lanes to Hythe. With the bike now in one piece and having taken a shorter route, our group was back together again as Paul met us in Hythe. By this time Alan was hungry, so we stopped at Hythe for fish and chips before heading back to the station.
A thorough enjoyable day, good weather, good company, it was lovely to see our Pollards Hill friends and some new faces. Thank you all for joining us and a special thank you to Alan for his refreshment on the homeward train journey.
