In my childhood I spent a lot of time in Kent – my first ever cycle tour was to Dymchurch on the Romney Marsh coast at the tender age of 14 – but it's been years since I've been back to that part of the country. So when, in the sunmmer of 2004, I was looking for a week's not too demanding tour and one not too far from home, the idea of a tour round Kent and East Sussex, visiting many of the area's historic attractions and revisiting familiar places from my boyhood, was particularly appealing.
For this trip I bought myself membership of both English Heritage (EH) and the National Trust (NT). Both give free entry to their properties to members and by the end of this tour I had virtually recouped the cost. Most English Heritage sites are open seven days a week during the summer, but many National Trust properties are only open on certain days. It is worth checking beforehand if you want to be certain of visiting a particular property.
Today, most visitors to Kent are hurrying through on their way to the Channel Tunnel or the ferry ports and miss the many beautiful and fascinating places tucked away in the less well-known parts of its countryside. Even the more developed areas have their own hidden surprises which are easily sought out on a bike.
As a cycle trip this tour offers a lot of variety. It mixes some steep climbs through the South and North Downs and in parts of the Weald with the flat landscapes of the Romney Marsh and the Wansum channel, but for the most part the ride is no more than undulating.
The ride can be divided into four stages:
Polegate, near Eastbourne, to Lamberhurst
Lamberhurst to Hythe
Hythe to Canterbury
and Canterbury to Gravesend
Stage 1 Polegate to Lamberhurst
I started the tour from Polegate station, just outside Eastbourne, in East Sussex. It can be reached by train from London Victoria in about 80 minutes. From there the ride heads east along the coast to the edge of Bexhill and then turns inland through Battle and Bodiam to reach the heart of the Kent and Sussex Weald.
A short ride eastwards from Polegate along the former A27 leads to Pevensey Castle (EH), which comprises the remains of the walls of a Roman fort, into a corner of which was set a Norman Castle. A third generation of defences were added during World War II.
From Pevensey I followed the coastal road through Norman's Bay, so-called because it is the site where William the Conqueror is said to have landed in 1066 before the battle of Hastings. The Martello Tower on the beach (sold at auction in April 2004 but still derelict when I visited) dates from the time when another Frenchman, Napoleon, threatened to invade in the early 1800s.
At Cooden, on the edge of Bexhill, I turned inland into undulating countryside, making for the town of Battle, where the Abbey (EH) marks the spot where the Battle of Hastings was fought and where nearly 600 years of Anglo-Saxon England was brought to a close in one fateful day. The altar of the Abbey, which is now in ruins, is said to mark the spot where King Harold was killed. The battlefield landscape was considerably altered when the Abbey was built but you can still walk around where the day-long battle raged.
From Battle I headed north for eight miles across country to Bodiam, in the valley of the River Rother. Bodiam Castle (NT) is probably most people's idea of what a real medieval castle should look like, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that it may have been built more for show and status than for defence. Only a little of the interior survives but there is enough to show what living in a building of this type was like and it is still possible to climb onto some of the battlements.
From Bodiam I continued inland, crossing into Kent, to reach Hawkhurst, a delightful little Wealden village. The village looks peaceful enough now, but in the mid-1700s it was the headquarters of a notorious gang of smugglers who operated anywhere along the coast from the Thames Estuary at one extent to Poole in Dorset at the other. Gang members were often to be seen in the Mermaid Inn in Rye where they drank with loaded pistols on the tables. These were no romantic villains but violent thugs who didn't think twice about killing anyone who got in their way.
From Hawkhurst I took some back lanes to avoid a busy main road, passing the site of the old Hawkhurst railway station at Gill's Green, a good mile and a half from the place it was supposed to serve. I then headed across the Bedgebury Forest along a track which I'd discovered on the map. One or two parts of this were a bit bumpy but there was nothing too severe, and the effort was made fully worthwhile when I emerged to the sight of water lilies filling the beautiful Marshal's Lake in the Bedgebury Pinetum.
From Bedgebury I made my way towards Lamberhurst, which involved an unavoidable stretch of the busy A21 road, passing Scotney Castle (NT) on the way. Unfortunately this was closed on the day I rode by, so I popped back into the corner of East Sussex to visit nearby Bayham Old Abbey (EH) instead. These peaceful ruins stand in meadows by the River Teise. They were partly restored in the eighteenth century to enhance the view from the nearby Old Abbey House.
From Lamberhurst the route heads east across the Weald to Tenterden, before heading down onto the level expanse of the Romney Marsh.
Leaving Lamberhurst, to avoid as much of the A262 as possible, I took an indirect route to the hilltop village of Goudhurst. The village is famous for the occasion when, in 1747, it fomed a local militia to take on the Hawkhurst gang of smugglers. The smugglers attacked the village but were driven off, leaving three of their number dead.
From Goudhurst I was stuck with the A262, which happily wasn't too busy, and after about five miles I arrived at Sissinghurst Castle (NT), the former home of the writer and poet Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, who created its renowned gardens. The 'castle' is actually the remains of an Elizabethan manor house of which only the front range and towering gatehouse remain. Close by are some of the finest remaining examples of oast houses in their original condition. (Most of these distinctive Kentish buildings, intended for drying hops, have now been converted into desirable and expensive country homes.)
From Sissinghurst I travelled through delightful country lanes to St Michaels and then into Tenterden, which stands on the edge of the Weald above the levels of the Rother valley and the Romney Marsh. The broad tree-lined High Street has changed very little over the years, with its mix of weatherboard and tile-hung shops. Today it is well-known as the terminus of the steam-worked Kent & East Sussex Railway, which has been restored by volunteers and re-opened as far as Bodiam. The station is only a short step off the High Street.
A couple of miles of quiet B-road brought me to Smallhythe, once a busy port and shipbuilding centre. It's hard to imagine that the grassy meadows at the foot of the hill were once open water, leading directly to the sea. Smallhythe Place (NT), a 16th-century house once thought to have been used by the harbour-master, was the home between 1899 and 1928 of the actress Dame Ellen Terry and is now a theatrical museum with displays of her lavish costumes. Just up the road is another similar house, and next to it a rare example of a 16th-century church.
From Smallhythe I crossed the Reading Sewer, all that is left of a once wide inlet of the sea, to the now-landlocked Isle of Oxney and from there made my way towards the coast at Rye. Rye's narrow streets are packed with history, including the Landgate, the Ypres Tower, the Mermaid Inn, St Mary's Church, and Lamb House (NT), a Georgian house where George I stayed for three days in 1726 when his ship was driven ashore at Camber during a storm. More recently it was home to the American writer Henry James.
From Rye I followed a narrow lane along the banks of the Royal Military Canal to Appledore. This marks the original shoreline and on the left as the road leaves Rye are the old sea cliffs. The canal was built in 1806 as another line of defence against a threatened invasion by Napoleon. At 500 yard intervals the canal was kinked to allow the defending forces to fire guns along the length of the next stretch of canal as the invaders tried to cross.
Appledore is an attractive village with the Romney Marsh at its foot, a wide main street, and a market place. The Danes occupied the village briefly in the 9th century and its church was burned to a shell when the French invaded in 1380. The small 13th century Hornes Place Chapel (EH) is a mile or so outside the village on the road to Kenardington, situated behind the medieval manor house of Hornes Place. Both house and chapel are privately owned (the house does B&B) but public access is allowed by prior arrangement.
From Appledore I headed out across the marsh towards Old Romney, calling in at the 15th century Woolpack Inn near Brookland on the way. The road runs along one of the old sea walls that were built over the centuries to force the sea further and further back. It passes tiny Fairfield, where the church sits out by itself, accessible only by footpath across the often-flooded fields.
The size of Old Romney church is a reminder that this was once an important town before the sea receded taking the community's livelihood with it. The church doubled as that at Dymchurch in the Disney film Dr Syn alias The Scarecrow in the early 1960s. The producers thought it looked more the part than the real thing but the money came in useful for restoring the building.
And so on across the marsh through St Mary in the Marsh, where Edith Nesbitt, author of The Railway Children is buried, to St Mary's Bay, where I spent many a summer holiday weekend as a child. Nesbitt's home was just off Jefferson Road by the railway station, in a converted RAF hut. From there I followed the coast road to Dymchurch, with the high sea wall on my right, originally built by the Romans and progressively raised over the centuries since.
There are more Martello Towers in Dymchurch, one in a car park on the approach to the village, one in the centre which is owned by English Heritage and is occasionally open to the public, and a third one which has been converted into a home.
Next to the church is New Hall, which starred as the Squire's house in the 1960s Disney film Dr Syn alias The Scarecrow. It was built in 1575 as the meeting place of the Lords of the Level, who were responsible for maintaining the sea wall and draining the marsh. They were also the local magistrates and their court room was in New Hall. Today it houses the offices of the less-prosaic Romney Marshes Area Internal Drainage Board and has a small museum containing maps and charts and exhibits found on the Romney Marsh.
Although Dr Syn was a fictional character, there is no doubt that the village was heavily involved in smuggling and the church and the local pubs are said to have concealed hiding places for the contraband. Every two years the village celebrates a "Day of Syn" on August Bank Holiday Monday. You can see pictures of the 2006 event by clicking here.
From Dymchurch I looped inland along a country lane through Botolph's Bridge and along the Burmarsh Road to avoid a busy stretch of main road. This brought me into the outskirts of Hythe and past the terminus of the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, which runs from here to Dungeness. Opened in 1927 it runs on 15 inch gauge track using steam locomotives which are one-third the size of the real thing.
From Hythe the route bypasses Folkestone but then largely follows the coast through Dover, Deal, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate. From there it crosses the one-time Wansum Channel to reach Reculver before heading inland to Canterbury.
Hythe has a long pleasant High Street which is worth walking along against the one-way flow. Make the most of it for this is the last level stretch for some miles. At the end of the town the route begins a steep climb onto the downs behind Folkestone. The route skirts the busy Channel Tunnel Rail Terminal and passes through the little village of Peene, where there is the Elham Valley Railway museum which celebrates the long-lost local railway, the junction for which has now vanished under the terminal buildings.
From Peene an even steeper climb as I headed inland towards Densole gave the reward of magnificent views over the coast. From Densole I wound though tiny lanes, passing St John's Commandery (EH – open by arrangement), a medieval chapel of the Knights Hospitallers, converted into a farmhouse during the 16th century. It has a fine moulded-plaster ceiling and a remarkable timber roof. More lanes through delightful downland countryside and a long descent brought me into Dover, where there is plenty to occupy the fan of history. Dover Castle (EH) is, of course, the most famous, but there's also the Painted Roman House, the Bronze Age Boat in the Dover Museum, the Western Heights, and others.
Having climbed up out of Dover onto the heights of the White Cliffs, I followed the National Cycle Network's Route 1 past St Margaret's at Cliffe and down to the seashore again at Kingsdown. From there I followed the seafront past Walmer to Deal. Walmer Castle (EH) is of a similar origin to Deal Castle (EH) – both were built in the reign of Henry VIII to guard the coast against attack from Spain – but they are very different now. Walmer is the official (and comfortable) residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports whereas Deal is in largely original (somewhat spartan) form.
Also worth looking at in Deal is the Time Ball Tower, once used to enable ships anchored offshore to set the correct time but now a museum.
From Deal I followed cycle route 1 across the Sandwich Bay estate and past the area's famous golf courses. Sandwich itself is a pretty little town, packed full of historic buildings, while a short diversion took me out to Richborough Castle (EH), a Roman fort on what is supposed to be the site of the invasion landing site in AD43.
The next stretch of the ride was less than inspiring. Great Stonar is totally dominated by the offices and factory of a pharmaceutical giant and then the cycle route (the Viking Coastal Trail from this point onwards) runs alongside the the A256 past Richborough Port and its disused power station to Pegwell Bay. I'd intended to cut inland to avoid the less than scenic main road but threatening clouds tempted me to stick to the shorter route. The only real sight of interest is the replica Viking ship Hugin at Pegwell Bay, which was sailed from Denmark in 1949 to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the landing of the Saxon chieftains Hengist and Horsa at this spot.
From Pegwell Bay the cycle route passes the derelict hovercraft terminal and follows a disused road into the outskirts of Ramsgate and then takes a route along the top of the cliffs and the seafront for the rest of its journey round the Thanet coast. Each of the four main towns along the coast is very different in character. Ramsgate was busy, but with little to attract me away from the seafront. Broadstairs, with its delightful sandy beaches, retains its small holiday town charm. From the distance of the clifftop path, Cliftonville appears to have retained its Victorian and Edwardian gentility, though I was told later that from a distance was the best way to view the town. And as for Margate…!
Unfortunately, neither of Broadstairs' Dickensian museums (The Dickens House Museum and The Bleak House Museum – Dickens visited Broadstairs from 1837 until 1859 and wrote most of David Copperfield there) offered secure enough bike parking, so I had to forego a visit.
From Broadstairs I followed the cycle route past the North Foreland lighthouse – open to the public at certain times – Joss Bay and Kingsgate Bay, before arriving at Foreness Point, which marks the place where the Thames Estuary begins.
At Margate I left the Viking Coastal Trail and headed inland through Acol and Monkton to St Nicholas at Wade, so called because it marked one end of a former wadeway across the Wantsum Channel. From St Nicholas you can look down across the low-lying land that was once covered by the broad waters of the Wantsum, making Thanet a true island. My route took me along a rough, remote track following today's remnant of the River Wantsum, now little more than a drainage ditch, to the sea wall which I followed to Reculver. This lonely spot was chosen to test the bouncing bombs which were later used in the World War II Dambusters raid.
At Reculver are the remains of the Roman fort of Regulbium which once guarded the entrance to the Wantsum Channel (the northern half of it has now been eaten away by the sea) and also the towers and other remains of the 12th century St Mary's church. The church was demolished in 1809 when sea erosion threatened to carry it away. Some of the stone was used to build a new church a mile or so away at Hillborough (though much was apparently used as hardcore for the foundations of Margate pier), and a couple of pillars and a Celtic cross were saved and are now in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral crypt. The towers were retained as a landmark for shipping and are maintained by Trinity House, the body responsible for the country's lighthouses.
From Reculver, after waiting for an unseasonal downpour to end, I made my way inland through Maypole and Sturry to Canterbury. There is an enormous amount to see and do in Canterbury and I really hadn't left myself enough time to do it justice, so I had to satisfy myself with a quick look at the outside of the cathedral and a visit to St Augustine's Abbey (EH), founded by St Augustine in 598AD when he arrived in Kent to begin the reconversion of England to Christianity. It became the burial place for the kings of Kent and the early archbishops of Canterbury. After the dissolution of the monasteries Henry VIII converted part of it into a royal palace.
Stage 4 Canterbury to Gravesend
From Canterbury the route heads through the Garden of Kent to Faversham and then follows the line of the North Downs through Maidstone to Rochester. The final leg to Gravesend follows a U-shaped loop through West Malling and Sevenoaks, reaching Gravesend along the Darenth Valley.
Since the afternoon was rapidly vanishing and I had to be in Faversham by early evening I hopped on a train for the next leg of my journey. That's one of the beauties of cycling in Kent – there's a good railway network and, if you feel like a break, it's easy to get on a train.
However, I was told that the stretch I'd missed was a lovely one, so one day I'll return to have a longer look round Canterbury and ride through to Faversham.
Faversham is an interesting old market town and worth spending a while in, and not just to visit the renowned Shepherd Neame brewery or some of its outlets, or even the old gunpowder works! The tourist office has a good selection of leaflets to help you find your way about.
From Faversham I headed up the A2 – busy, but not intolerably so – to visit another couple of historic sites. Just a mile outside Faversham is Ospringe, with its Maison Dieu (EH - restricted opening), a medieval building forming part of a hospital, royal lodge and almshouse. Further along the main road (and a short step off it) is Stone Chapel (EH), the remains of a small medieval church which includes part of a pagan Roman temple in its construction, said to be the only such survival in the country.
From Faversham I headed across country on quiet lanes through Newnham and Doddington to get to Hollingbourne, where I picked up the Pilgrims Way. This was more the Kent that I remembered from my youth, with orchards and hop gardens filling the countryside. Sadly many of them have gone now, the orchards supplanted by imports of apples such as Golden Delicious from France and Braeburn from New Zealand and the local hops replaced by continental varieties for brewing lager.
The Pilgrims Way runs along the lower slopes of the North Downs. At Detling, north of Maidstone, it crosses the busy A249 dual carriageway, which links two motorways but slices the village in two. It took four pedestrian deaths, one of them eight year old Jade Hobbs, before a bridge was built. This impressive structure is now known as Jade's Crossing and will always be, for me and no doubt many others, a reminder of how the needs of traffic are so often put before those of people.
After Boxley the Pilgrims Way parts company with the surfaced road as it heads through Westfield Wood and passes the White Horse Stone – the white horse being the symbol of Kent. According to legend the stone marks the grave of the Saxon chieftain Horsa, though this sarsen stone is more likely a prehistoric megalith. (The group of German women seen in the photograph had been told that the stone was endowed with the mystical properties of a maiden stone.) The track is rough on this stretch (which may explain why I suffered a broken spoke soon afterwards) and you may chose to avoid it.
From the White Horse Stone the Pilgrims Way crosses the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and then passes under the A229 by a subway (shared by cycle route 17) which, unfortunately, was flooded. This meant I either had to take a rather hazardous dash across the dual carriageway (with a central crash barrier to negotiate) or push my bike for some distance against the flow of the traffic to the next slip road.
Once across the road, Kit's Coty (EH) and Little Kit's Coty, the remains of two prehistoric burial chambers, are to left and right of the road to Burham and Wouldham. This road took me into Rochester, which turned out to be quite a disappointment, and not just because of my broken spoke. Rochester Castle (EH) looked well worth a visit but there was nowhere remotely secure enough to leave my bike. Then, while my broken spoke was fixed, I went searching for Temple Manor (EH) in the depths of a Strood industrial estate, but not only are its openings limited to Sundays, it's also hard to see much of it from the road outside. Finally, with the day rapidly running out, I gave up on the area's other historic attractions, such as the Historic Dockyard in Chatham (which really needs a day by itself) and Upnor Castle (EH).
There is no straightforward scenic route between Strood and West Malling. The simple but definitely unscenic route is to follow the A228 for 6 miles through Cuxton, Halling, and Snodland to Leybourne,from where the A20 takes you to West Malling. However, the A228 is not a pleasant road and I would recommend that you take a train from Strood to West Malling: change at Maidstone Barracks/Maidstone East – there is a footway beside the railway bridge across the river linking the two stations. Alternatively, you could get off at Aylesford and use the A20 to get to West Malling. However, because I was so delayed in Rochester, I caught a train through to Kemsing, where I was due to stay at the Youth Hostel that night.
I altered my plans and stayed for two nights at Kemsing, spending the intervening day riding in a loop out to West Malling to cover part of the route that I'd missed the previous day. This turned out to be no bad scheme, because it took a very full day to visit Ightham Mote (NT), St Leonard's Tower (EH), and Old Soar Manor (NT/EH). The ride, out through Ightham and Offham and returning through Mereworth Woods and Plaxtol, was absolutely delightful. Kemsing Youth Hostel was excellent but sadly, although it was early July and despite its location on the North Downs Way, it had only three guests on the first night of my stay and only two the following night. It was therefore no surprise to hear of its closure in 2006.
The following day I had planned to start the day by visiting Knole House (NT), just south of Sevenoaks, but it's only open from midday, so I gave the Sevenoaks area a miss and rejoined the route near Shoreham, following a quiet narrow lane from there to Eynsford. After pausing there to visit the Castle (EH), little changed since it was built in 1100, and the amazing Lullingstone Roman Villa (EH), I continued on up the Darent Valley through Farningham and Horton Kirby, finally cutting across to Gravesend.
Just east of the town centre, which has undergone a great deal of sympathetic regeneration in recent years, is the 18th century New Tavern Fort, overlooking and guarding the River Thames, and next to it Milton Chantry (EH), Gravesend's oldest building and now used as a museum.
From Gravesend there are frequent trains to London but my final destination was to be the ferry pier for a trip across the river to Tilbury and the start of a tour through East Anglia.
Updated: 09 August 2006
If, before your ride, you'd like to understand more about the South-East of England, its towns, villages and countryside, and how they came to be as they are now, English Heritage and Harper Collins have recently published a superb new book entitled England's Landscape: The South East by Brian Short. You can order a copy by clicking on the link below. You can also order the Ordnance Survey 4 miles to the inch Travel Map which covers the whole of this ride.
You can also display a larger version of the Microsoft Autoroute map by clicking on the map opposite.
