Hell and Utopia

An invite to a BBQ at the home of one of my closest old school mates provided the ideal opportunity to blend this in with this weekend's cycle ride. Notwithstanding a blazing hot forecast, I figured the planned 35.5 mile route would be ample in the heat. 35.5 miles soon became 41 though!

Nathan lives just outside Dover and the route followed a course due East across gently undulating countryside until I had to climb the Wye Downs (an eastern extension of the North Downs) followed by a few nasty hills before reaching his house, meeting up with the support team (Ali and the kids), jumping in Nath's pool and then consuming copious quantities of beer and as much meat as I could handle. Sounded like a plan.

I left at 1015 witha target of arriving at 1400. It was blazing hot even when I left but the route along the foot of the Downs past numerous poppy fields was glorious.



I headed due East, through Harrietsham, Lenham Heath, Charing Heath and then with the threat of having to climb the Downs at Charing, I veered off towards Westwell. Westwell and Charing are two other villages closely associated with Vants with my grandad and numerous ancestors all being born and raised in these two villages.

After a few miles, I entered Eastwell, site of Eastwell Manor, one of the truly impressive (and very exclusive) hotels in Kent.

My sister was married here in 2005 and unsurprisingly there are many tales of ghosts and things that go bump in the night in this beautiful residence. Within a couple of hundred yards of this gate is a beautiful cricket pitch on the village green - much like our own in Bearsted.

The route so far had been incredibly pleasant and I hadn't realised that I had already undertaken a gentle 500ft climb. Not until, that is, I went on a descent and then looked ahead of me and saw this! These are the Wye Downs and the chalk crown near the top was where I was headed. I had cycled about 20-25 miles by this stage and it was just past midday so I was quite tired and very hot.

In addition to my two water bottles, I had packed my bladder this time so I had plenty of liquid with me. I knew I was going to need all of it.

This was a 600ft climb and on a par with my other Downs climbs. Unlike my usual climbs which started gentle before steepening sharply about half a mile from the top, this one was of consistent steepness throughout the 2.5 mile ascent. I was pleased that I didn't stop once but the consistency of the gradient, whilst relentness, meant that I could get into a good rhythm.

The view from the top is spectacular and worth the pain. Unfortunately it was a bit too hazy but on a clear day you can see the sea and into Sussex. This view was over the Devil's Kneading Trough, so called as medieval superstition has it that the devil cut away this coombe when shaping the English landscape. No coincidence then that I often refer to the North Downs as being satanic!!

To be honest, the ride from here on was gruelling and not much fun. It was incredibly hot and having reached the top of the Wye Downs I faced three more sharp 150ft climbs (not much in isolation but back to back in that heat and all sharp - not much fun) and a further 200ft one.

I passed this lovely old church near Pett Bottom (not sure exactly where) and couldn't resist a quick photo.

Onwards through Hastingleigh, North Ealham and the Ealham Valley where I hit these sharp climbs. With the radio mast on the Dover cliffs in sight I plateaued and then experienced headwinds! These were relatively welcome given the heat but with about 37 miles on the clock I was starting to feel weary.

Whilst I know the area fairly well I managed to take a wrong turn somewhere along the way and ended up at Lydden. Lydden is home to the racing circuit where Mclaren F1 team undertake their testing and Nathan lives at the northern end of this so I was close, but suddenly couldn't remember whether I needed to turn left or right.

As I had taken a wrong turn, I didn't have the photocopied map page with me and as I was at the bottom of a hill, I wasn't going to turn back up to try and re-trace my route. I rang Nathan at which point he said "didn't you get the message, we have cancelled the BBQ and are down at the beach". He has always been a wind up merchant and I never believe anything he says however when he told me I need to cycle to the top of the hill and on to the A2 for about 200 yards, I knew he was right. An unexpected 250ft climb to end the ride was what I got! Mind you, as soon as I arrived (about 1435), I jumped into his pool, fully clothed, which made it all worthwhile.

Nathan has got a great family and we spent the rest of the day in great company, eating, drinking and generally catching up on things. Then the chauffeur (sorry, support team) took me home.

Despite the heat and the gruelling trip, I maintained an average time of 11.3 mph which, to be honest, I was really pleased with.