Loop out from Wye, Kent, UK

 Cracking route out exploring the delights of the Wye countryside. Free parking just outside Wye, popular with walkers.

The start is the car park on the hill above the Wye Valley Nature reserve on Coldharbour Lane, from here head left (east) along Coldharbour Lane, towards Hastingleigh. Ride through the village and on the left is the bridleway entrance, take this. It starts following the fence line in the woods and then carries on to a track, there are a few options off the path (other bridleways and footpaths etc.), we took a left hander in the woods and then instead of staying on the bridleway, strayed onto the footpath out to Hassell street.
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.... we took the opportunity to have a rethink and re-route.
At the crossroads where the path joined the road we too the right hand exit onto Woods Lane, and followed this onto the next bridleway entrance.
It sits on the left hand side, as you come down a hill, easy to miss and rush past. It rises diagonally across a field and heads west, we didn't, and again followed a footpath the wrong way.
This led us through a small wood and out onto Richdore Road. We turned left here, following the road up to Penny Pot lane, and into Eggringe Wood. This is a great area, and feels like it needs further exploring...
Just into the woods on the road is the byway entrance on the left, its a well surfaced trail, big enough for cars etc, so was a breeze to fly down, it drops about 100 ft, down through the woods onto fields and out onto the road at Sole Street.
A left here and a right down Hobbs hill towards Crundale, up a small climb before the village next to the church is a byway entrance. The view from here is good, a great spot for a water break and take in the landscape, then you're off. It's a great trail, single farm track that rises and falls along the top of the ridge, then enters the woods and then out onto a farm entrance lane, turn left and take the next byway entrance on the right, this drops down towards Coombe Manor and a bridleway that crosses the trail. Here we turned right onto the bridleway to head back along the valley. This trail skirts around the edge of the wood under the byway we have just ridden, at the time of our visit, it was hard work, long grass, ruts and overhanging brambles etc. Once you hit the byway you are back onto the farm track and riding the valley bottom, again its a great view. (Crundale Downs).
At the end of the byway turn left and this takes you up the hill westwards, its a bit of a drag but a moderate climb, about 150ft up the valley side. Once you meet the road turn left through Warren Wood, there is another byway on the left at the end of the wood, it's a short climb up a track with wooden steps, bit of a pain, but good to get to the top and through the woods. We rode through Marriage farm, down towards Penn street farm and then right out into the Olantigh Estate. You can take the other routes here back towards Wye, we went along the lane missed another bridleway and ended at the "t" junction. Just opposite was what looked like a path, but with some bike use so we gave it a go, it's a trail that runs the length of the long plantation (as denoted on the OS map), and is a good diversion, heading through the woods on a nice singletrack to come out onto the Olantigh road and head back towards Wye.
On the left just past the school is the bridleway we missed earlier, so we took it, a nice straight ride out of the village up to the lane, we headed south, (right) back towards Coldharbour Lane, but being the explorer types we are, instead of just heading back to the car park, we decided to try and find the route along the top of the hill, listed as a bridleway on the map.
There is a footpath on the left with two stiles to climb over, and then a bastard of a hill, hard enough on foot but pushing the bike up was horrible. Past some spillways cut into the hill and finally onto the top we joined the bridleway and dodged cow shit all the way.
At the end it drops down to the road again and is a quick spin up to the car park.
A great area, good ride, with plenty of chance to go back and right the wrongs we made....



 

Mystery tour, loop out from Biddenden.

Free parking in Biddenden village centre.
From the car park we headed south on the A262 and turned left onto the High Halden road, getting the legs spinning and warmed up on some tarmac. We followed the road past Turks Head Farm and to the entrance to the Byway listed as Gore Lane. It's a wide trail, running between trees, and ends up as a tarmac drive way past a farm and out onto the road.
This is the lane to the north of High Halden, we turned right here and the the first left onto Wrens Nest Lane ride this to the end and then turning right onto Hookstead, and then down onto the A28 (turning right, heading west).
On the A28, watch for traffic etc. and the restricted byway entrance is poorly signposted and looks like a drive to a house, it's not, and its about 100 yards on the left between two houses.
There's a gate at the start and then it winds down through the trees and stops, leading onto a driveway and out onto the lane. Here we made a cock up and went right, but we should have gone left, needless to say, one long loop around and we found the start of the next bridleway. 
Ride East along Harbourne Lane cutting through Pond Wood and Herontoll Wood, at the next right hand bend the bridleway starts. To be honest I'd avoid this if I ever went back, it's not sign posted and following it is a nightmare. We ended up asking someone if we were on it when it felt like we were in her garden. She was understanding and pointed us in the right direction, turns out it does go through some gardens and landowners are not keen to show where.
Anyway, we finally came out onto Redbrook Street, and turned left, following this over Plurenden Lane and up to Chequertree Farm and then left over to the A28, a quick left and then right takes you onto Green Lane, single track tarmac with a dead end sign. This leads you onto the start of the next byway labelled Gadsby Lane on the OS Map.
Its a well maintained trail, around the woods, and out onto PotKiln Lane. 
Between Dent's Farm and Brickhouse Farm on the right is the bridleway entrance, the last one for this loop, it's signposted and gated.
But. this is a mystery tour again, no route marked out in the field, we rode staight across the cornfield following the line of the path. Messy and unclear, it was a bit of a crappy end to the loop.
Back on the road and heading back to Biddenden, along Pook Lane and Cot Lane back to the A274 and the car park.

A ride out from Biddenden

Saturday 31st Jan 2015, a loop out from Biddenden via Sissinghurst, Kent.

Parking at the car park in Biddenden village we headed out south on the A262, Tenterden Road, at the junction with Benenden Road, on the left is the entrance to the first byway, it looks like a gravel drive (which it is, at first), but leads onto a hard packed trail. It's a flat pull through to Fosten Lane.
At the end of the trail turn right and head south, we are going towards Hemsted Forest so follow the lane to Cranbrook Road, and turn right here. This is a fairly busy road, watch out for traffic, they had a tendency to overtake. Turn left on to Mockbeggar Lane, follow this all the way to the junction and then onto Benenden Road again, still heading south. 
This leads onto Goddards Green Road, but the bridleway is tucked away on the right this is the start of the run through Hemsted Forest (Forestry Commission land).
Its a good bridleway, hard packed in places with some muddy sections, some of the signage is a bit suspect, so we ended up missing the path and heading through the woods on other trails, this is a good area, with some interesting looking trails to each side, we will return.
At the end of the woods the path ends on the Cranbrook Road, turning left here we're heading west towards Cranbrook, about 500-600 yards along here is the entrance to a footpath, this was a cheeky cut through to keep things less "road", it heads north up through some woods (a tight squeeze in places, over a small bridge, some more woodland and onto the Sissinghurst Road (A262).
We're now heading west again and towards the entrance to Sissinghurst Castle, take the road on the right and follow the driveway up to the castle, the bridleway follows through the yard and out around the grounds, there is a view of the towers and in the summer I can imaging a good quick ride, in January, however, its a muddy drag, with a small slippery climb up to the road.
This is Bigdog lane, our loop comes back this way later, turn left here, and follow this down to the houses on the left. Here is the second bridleway its muddy and slippery and has a short tough climb out to the road. 
The intention here was to head up the A229 north, to ride the restricted byway at Brewers Wood, this again caused us some issues, and we ended up on a footpath and past a large chicken farm....
So that will be left for another trip.
Out onto the A229 and a shortcut via a footpath to the Frittenden road, this is a twisty path with a number of stiles and fallen trees to contend with, to be honest if you were walking it would be fine, but we were using it as a shortcut and we paid the price!!
Now we are heading back to Biddenden via Bigdog Lane it should be very simple, but we had an issue with a sign post.... and went the long way back!!