Lenham, Stalisfield Loop, the last ride of 2013

Great winter sunshine and a clear day, and I'm off again to Lenham for another bash at the trails around the downs. From the car park behind the Dog and Bear, Lenham, its up to the A20 and then onto the Doddington road, the pilgrim's way crosses this road so we turn right onto it and along in front of the war memorial. That part is open grassland, and then it dips down into a tree lined track.

After the recent storms its suffered from a few fallen trees. Its muddy and slick with chalk and clay, but a good start, the trail crosses the Faversham road on a slight hill and you pick up the pilgrim's way further up the lane, this is a great track (although slippery and muddy with heavy motorcycle and 4x4 use), and is open on the right hand side looking down towards the A20. Just past a few houses on the left there is a byway that rises strait up the hill, this was a complete shit of a ride, trees across the track and no grip, had to walk and carry the bike. 
At the top of the hill the trail levels off on to the road, I turned right here, and followed Waterditch road to the byway on the left, this is the other end of the trail from my last trip out to Lenham and is a good farm track, dual tyre tracks (sometimes rutted), leading to a hedge lined trail (brambles are growing into the path), it leads on a pleasant descent to the junction with the old railway track byway, up the hill over the crossing, and we're back on the road. From here I followed the Ringshill road, to the left hand turn onto Stalisfield road, the bike was getting heavy with mud and the new DIY front mech cover was struggling to keep the mud out. 
The bridleway entrance is on the left in the valley, the signpost from this direction is a little hard to see at speed and I missed it. But once back on the route I was not disappointed, this is a cracking trail through some open fields (2 x gates) and down into a small wood (Bowl Wood, Kennelling Wood and out into Spuckles wood), at the end the path forks with a footpath going to the right, take the left fork, it goes slightly uphill to a trail across the field. 
Through another gate and cross the Hillside Road, to continue on the bridleway through to Church Road, the trail is a farm track with a great small descent through a wood to the road. Turning right at the road junction there is an entrance to the next bridleway about 200 yards up the hill on the left, this is a bit of a treat, a wide open grass valley crossing, up the other side of the valley is another gate (see view from the top in pic), this leads through a small wood, and out to a farm, and we are back on the road again. 
This was the last trail for today, time and energy were running out, a month out of the saddle and the excesses of Christmas taking a toll. I will be back to finish these off soon, and will also return when it's dry, as some of these need a return visit!

Cycling: Lenham Loop

This turned into a bit of a two-parter, flint puncture, then the GPS stopped when I turned the bike over, doh!. However, this is a good loop and with a bit more time I'll extend it out to the pilgrims way. I started from the Dog and Bear car park in lenham, up over the A20 towards Doddington on the Faversham Road, then left onto West street and up past Ashdown to Ashdown Hill. At the T-Junction the Byway is opposite and it goes up Timbold hill, a typical 4x4 carved out start, with a grass middle leads to a wooded area covered in stones mud and leaves, a good hard climb to the top then turn right along the road. The second Byway is just down on the right where two cottages sit, this is Coalpit Lane towards Wichling, this is a good downhill, heavy horse use at the time of the ride. Then out onto the road and turn left, then take the first right and then left at the crossroads, there is a bridleway a couple of hundred yards along the road on the right. This is a great small track down the hill, once at the road I turned right towards Sprats hill, up the Hill just past Solomon's Cottages is another byway (on the right), this is a good short downhill with a couple of sweeping turns. At the end of this is the start of the bridleway through King's Wood, a promising trail that leads through a wood onto a soul destroying grass field, and then through another gate to a climb up through the woods to the road. (Another puncture stopped me carrying on, so I fixed myself up, and headed back down to Lenham), ready for another attempt.

Ok, we're back in the zone, after the excitement of a new car last week, I'm back bagging bridleways and byways again. This time I've moved east in the county and headed out from East Malling, to run through two byways and link up some bridleways on the way. The loop started out from East Malling station car park and headed south, down on Rocks Road to the first byway, it starts as tarmac and then diminishes to concrete and finally muck and mud and out onto the road. A short ride along north pole road to the bridleway on the right, down to the A26 and then a dog leg left and right onto the bridleway behind Barming church. A quick dash down to the river and cross on Barming bridge, with a climb out of the valley up to Kettle Lane, this feels like a drag and to be honest I'd like to go back when its not raining! From here its along Heath Road and left, about 300 yards on the right is an entrance to a bridleway cut through the woods, good firm surface with little horse traffic, and out onto Upper Barn Hill, a quick right and take the bridleway that runs alongside the White House pub, and parallel to Hilltop Road. A great bridleway leading to a cracking byway, a short muddy climb leads to a brilliant downhill section in an almost hidden lane, steep sides and wide corners a good downhill. From here its out to Yalding and start the turn back. Up the hill towards West Farleigh, but take the Small Profits road on the left to gain access to the Restricted byway near the end of the road, this cuts the corner (there's a bit of a drag across an open grass field) and out onto the B2010 at West Farleigh. There's then a great road downhill to the river and the lovely bridge at Teston, a great old stone bridge. Up from the river to the A26 and turn right back towards Barming, about 500 yards on the left is an entrance to a bridleway, its messy and mostly long grass, until the end when its a stony climb back up to North Pole road again, turn right, and back to the Byway at the beginning of the ride, but take the bridleway on the left at the junction. This is a long sweeping track, soft black ash and tarmac with a firm finish running along side paddocks, and then back to the main road into East Malling. I will get back this way as I need to cover a few more trails here, but with the great Autumn weather, rain and drizzle it pushed me along. another great Saturday out.

This started so well, a great byway out from West Peckham, fording a small stream and then a dash back up the road to the bridleway just off the seven mile lane, out to School Lane, this is a good solid route, varied and a good climb. Then a road trip up to Dunk"s Green and a terrible restricted byway, badly signposted and over a ploughed field, not good, two punctures and a detour. With time short, I cut this ride down and followed onto Dene Wood and the bridleway along the edge of the wood to the A227. Then back up to Hamptons Lane and Matthews Lane and the bridleway behind Vine Farm back to the pub at West Peckham Never regret a ride out, this one just took some of the mojo out of it!

Ride out, Camer park loop.

Ok, two weeks loafing in the sun in Spain do nothing for my fitness, so its a bit of an uphill struggle to get back into the "zone", however, todays ride was a good start. A loop of Byways and Bridleways from Camer Park, was good, a few navigation errors but mostly straightforward. Byway from Meopham green out to Vigo, then a Bridleway down towards the A20/M20, this was really badly signposted and rough and rocky at the bottom, the climb back up is rubbish, a mixture of leaves, broken tarmac and large flints. Then onto the two byways near Stansted, great long streches but again rough and stony and overgrown in places, then onto the bridleway that winds down in a dog leg fashion to Hodsell street and back to Meopham.

The loop today was a run out from Offham again, this time up to Ightham and Oldbury. took the byway then bridleway into Oldbury Wood, this is a cracker and will be better coming down in.
The Byway and bridleway split, I took the first bridleway on the left out onto the Sevenoaks road, its a good ride, a bit churned up by horse traffic, but the downhill to the road is stoney and with some loose rocks for added fun.
Turned right on the main road for about 300 yards and took the bridleway on the left into Raspit Woods, this is a bit of a mean one, sand and roots, and a gentle uphill all the way, to the steps, then I took the right hand track, leading out to Stone Street church (I think), loads of horse traffic, and a singletrack has been run either side of the byway which was a big help, small road section then back onto the bridleway to Redhill Wood, then out to a left hand on the road down through Hanger Wood (nice descent).
I missed the bridleway entrance in Stone Street, so took the first right (past the red phone box) and picked it up on the left hand side, had a small navigation error here on the path, but found my way back to the route and a great ride down to the valley bottom near Ightham Mote. A steep road climb up to Ivy Hatch and took the first right, out to the Tonbridge road, just opposite the junction is another bridleway.
This is well maintained and a good ride through fields and woods to Plaxtol, from there I just followed the same route as last time, riding the bridleways through to Offham.

16 Miles, five more bridleways, another byway,  and a great restricted byway along the valley.

Set out from Offham (parking at the village hall), rain and grey skies, and onto the bridleyway into the east side of Mereworth Woods, got lost, and finally crossed the seven mile lane onto the other side of the woods.
Then a great Byway "The Hurst descent" on Strava, and onto the byway and then another bridleway.

Good ride, and I'll be back for more in the woods.

two more bridleways, and a couple of byways ticked off today, I struggled with the lack of exercise from the holiday last week, and damn sinus problems.
Terry pushed me along.... and kept me moving!
The bridleway from the Meopham - Longfield road was horrible, cut through the middle of a rape field and pocked with hoof marks (there are not too many cyclists use it!).

Sunday 12th May

Sunday 12th May

The promise of rain pushed me into the garden in the morning, to try and miss it.
It never made it, and I got to spend the day sorting out the garden, planted the courgettes, moved the strawberries and collected the first lot of lettuce.

Dog walk in the afternoon, on a loop of the marsh via Shade House, spotted a small grass snake, and a great walk, with the rain falling just as we reached home.


View shade House Loop 12/05/2013 15:17 in a larger map

Little Bleeder (almost there)

Little Bleeder (almost there)
Originally uploaded by mat_g

its ready for a road test, seems a shame to get the tyres dirty!

Bike Ride 02 March 2013

billy no mates this morning, so had to push on a bit, home to shorne country park, through the park and back home. puff pant, wheeze

Sat 23rd Ride out.

A snowy and cold ride out this morning, good fun along the bridleway above Boxley, this was the reverse loop from Rainham to Boxley