The Edge of England

 It's a miserable afternoon, here in Lockdown Land, and I've been daydreaming of rides done, and rides yet to be done, to amuse myself.  Here's the story of a little ride that I did in the summer of 2019.  It wasn't a hard ride, and it wasn't long, but I enjoyed it, and little rides like this can't be done at the moment.  So here it is, for your entertainment.

It's a story from the Before Time.

I started on the quay at Folkestone.  It's a town that has seen better days, I would guess that its hey-day was around the the first world war, when the ability to run trains on to the quay would have been a considerable military asset.  The rail-bed is still there, it's a promenade now, but the trains are long gone, as are the ferries.

I rode under the railway arch and stopped at a little cafe on the quay to take in the sights.  A couple of German cyclists were there, doing some rides along the English coast on their e-bikes.  We exchanged a few words, and I was pleased to hear that they were enjoying themselves.

Around the back of the cafe, up the cobbled street past the Life Boat Inn, and then steadily up for a couple of miles on NCN 2 to Crete Road, on the top of the cliffs.  It's a quiet back-road with good views, and it features in several of the hilly Kent Audaxes.

After a mile or so I turned on to the Old Dover Road, a cul de sac that leads to a tarmac cycle way along the top of the cliffs, with some interesting scenery.  I met a road-gang here, too, with their lorry and roller, maintaining the cycle way.

You really are on top of the White Cliffs here, and there are various bits of WW2 memorabilia.  

This one is a Sound Mirror - it's a large concrete parabola, at the centre of which a microphone was fixed. There was a network of these, some smaller, some larger, and their purpose was to identify incoming aircraft by listening to their engine noise.  I've never been sure about them, there are a couple of pre-war films describing their use.  I have long wondered whether they worked at all, or were a propaganda piece to draw attention from the (highly secret) radar on the next hill.

I passed the 1880 Channel Tunnel Bore, picked up the Old Folkestone Road, now a cycleway, and after a couple of miles crossed the very busy A20 on a cycle bridge.  Although I had never been far from it, I had not been able to see or hear it, on what had been a quiet ride.

Down the South Military Road, past the King's Ropewalk, then a mile or so of pavement cycleway before crossing towards the Cruise Terminal and on to the Esplanade.

This is a side of Dover that you won't see if you're just rushing to the ferry.  The seafront has been restored, and Waterloo Crescent looks pretty handsome.  The cycleway goes underneath the busy A20, and meanders through town before setting off up to another piece of military history, Henry II's Dover Castle.  The road up Castle Hill is fairly steep, and there is a green-paint cycleway for this section.  I switched my bike to 'blue', and was getting up pretty steadily when I passed a family of holidaymakers, walking up the pavement.  By their clothing, I would have guessed them to be Italian.  Anyway, the whole family turned and applauded as I went by.  That doesn't often happen.

Around past the Castle and on to the top of the cliffs.  There's a National Trust car-park and tea shop here, so it's predictably busy.

I stopped for a couple of photos, and thought that Simon would know the NCN Cycleway sign from his coastal adventure, but, of course, he won't yet, as he's going round anti-clockwise.  It's ready for you, Simon.

Upper Road, now, to St Margaret's at Cliffe.  More memories of Kent Audaxes here - Maggie and I riding the tandem in to a strong headwind, with a little gaggle of solos drafting us.  The Audax control is usually at the bottom of Sea Street, down a big hill, so I didn't bother with that one.

A pleasant roll down,  a tarmac cycleway again, to the seafront at Walmer and along by the sea to Deal.

Deal was en fete, with bunting, flowers and flags, and I had a pint of beer at the King's Head. It was from the Faversham Brewery, not far down the road, and I ate the special of the day - fish, said to be local.  As I was enjoying my coffee I checked the train times on my phone, and was pleased to see that there was one back to Folkestone in about twenty minutes.

Now, it's a funny thing about e-bikes, they seem to elicit a positive reaction on trains, both from railway staff and from other passengers.  I think that they can see the point of them - people often say that they are thinking of getting one.  At Deal station I had a chat with a member of railway staff, who admired the bike, and then, on the train, had a long conversation about it with a couple of lawyers in full fig, who had presumably been representing a client in Deal, Assizes or Prison, I liked to think.

So that's how things were, in the summer of 2019, and how I hope they will be again this summer.

Mark