I realised that I hadn’t taken the bike out since November (having a garage with electricity meaqns I can keep the battery on trickle charge) so despite a temperature between 3 and 5.5 degrees I headed off from my trusty garage-in-progress toward a location that one of the Visor Down discussion groups suggested was a good place to ride, before the simple request for nice routes degenerated a few comments later into the trading of insults. The route recommended was from Bromley down to Westerham in Kent. I didn’t make it all the way to Westerham but turned round just past Biggin Hill airport which always reminds me of Biggles stories. (It was handy to actually have a compass on the GPS to work out which direction it was trying to take me and then make my own decision.) The weather was dry with a beautiful sun but it was low in the sky so not always easy to ride, but helped with an ‘adventure’ peaked helmet. After Bromley things definitely got more interesting as the roads change from urban to suburban to rural quite quickly.

I will definitely go back down there. I’m slowly getting used to riding in (South) London and today was quite quiet as London goes. I’m amazed at how some people drive, whether black Range Rovers with personalised number plates (e.g. Nigel 1) that weave through the traffic lanes and sail through long-turned-red lights or kids in grey track suits on mopeds zipping onto the wrong side in dual carriage ways to make progress. Most people, the dark saloon professionals particularly, seem to drive with poise. Maybe they are trying to save fuel or maybe they are just not in any hurry. Its quite reassuring.

There are no high speeds in this trace of the ride. The ride was done without even thinking of 5th or 6th gear.  [sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/Biggin_Hill.gpx”]
Here’s the trace of my leaving and arrival, almost under the shadow of the Shard.

Partly because it looked like a bleak back of beyond and partly because I needed to get on my neglected motorcycle, yesterday in the cold but sunny morning I headed to the estuary in Kent to the Isle of Grain, and to Grain village in particular, about a 40 mile ride from home. As someone talking about this place on a blog said, ‘sometimes, just sometimes, the crappy sounding places turn out to be innocently sweet.’

Most of the ride is the urban and trunk road experience that  is part of living in London and when you get off the M2 and A2 the road out to Grain is 40mph limited with average speed cameras, so no chance to zoom, and signs of industry behind large gates – National Grid and a big Shell depot. This part of Kent is flat as a pancake and the sea here reminded me of some of Norfolk and Suffolk, flat, featureless with a kind of wild, ignored beauty. I felt sorry for the people who live in Grain. It is absolutely at the end of nowhere and all the houses seem to have been built in the last 40 years or so, so the place can’t be accused of being pretty. I see you can buy a two bedroom house there for £135,000. On the beach, with groynes every 100 feet or so, were a few dog walkers and winkle-pickers (or someone who had dropped a £1 coin and did not want to go home without it).

The nice point was the ‘Beach Hut and cafe‘ which reminded me, though a smaller version, of the cafe at Dunwich, staffed by young and old who if not in the same family, were friends of the family, with the youth back from uni and helping out to earn a few extra pounds. Their tea was super hot and the fruit cake tasty and filling and all for £2.80.

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/SE1-Isle-of-grain.gpx”]

Today, the day that I overheard someone saying was likely to be the last day of summer, I rode over to a small village near Canterbury to view a ‘house of character’ that I had spotted on The Modern House. Its called the Old Chapel though I didn’t see much evidence of an ecclesiastical history.

Bought in 2008 and neglected by tenants it presents a slightly sorry state with a cesspit needing attention and a composting toilet needing attention. It costs £375,000 and would need a further £100k to get it into a good state (the building – not the toilet). But it is certainly very pretty.
Leaving and returning to London on the A2, the Old Kent Road, is a much nicer experience than my last trip down to Brighton.
[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/SE1-to-canterbury.gpx”]
Even returning was surprisingly pleasant and I followed a lad on a scooter to get a taste for sneaking down bus lanes (its legal) and getting to the front of queues. In fact a big truck and a car both stopped for me on separate occasions as I was dithering, clearly expecting anyone on a bike to zip through in front of them.
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I still haven’t found the best way back home, as the map shows well.

I won’t be making an offer on the house but I will definitely be returning to that part of Kent. It was beautiful

At last, I have a working garage to keep my bike in. No more carrying buckets of water half a mile down the road every time I want to wash it, nor needing to jump on it for a freezing (but usually enjoyable) ride every few weeks throughout the winter to keep the battery from going flat. But keeping a motorcycle in central London is a mixed blessing. Apart from my insurance premium nearly tripling, it takes much longer to get anywhere enjoyable to ride – and so far I don’t find riding through south London’s heavy traffic enjoyable, though some bikers seem to be having more fun than me.

Yesterday, Sunday, I got up at 7.30 and was on the bike before 9 am heading down to Brighton to see what the ride was like. No, London is not a ghost town in terms of traffic at that time and it took about half an hour of riding to get into 4th gear and about 45 minutes to get onto fast roads – first the A32 then the M32. It was a strange journey of three parts: first London and its busy and generally ugly suburbs, then fast riding on dual carriageway and motorways and then, suddenly, arriving in Brighton, where the sun was shining and slightly before the crowds took to the streets.

On the way down it took 1 hour 30 minutes to get 53 miles, an average of about 35mph.

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/SE1-brighton.gpx”]

On the way back, seeing what avoiding the motorway was like, coupled with riding into a much busier London, it took 2 hours and 40 minutes to ride 57 miles, averaging 21mph.

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/brighton-SE1.gpx”]

I am moving to Southwark next Friday – to a house that has a garage (I have been waiting for this all my adult life), albeit one that has been turned into a toilet! So first priority is to unbrick it and remove the sanitary equipment to make way for the entrance of Belinda.

Here is the trace of the last trip around here, more of a test to try the new GPX plugin recommended by Geoff. It was a beautiful summer evening after a warm but humid day, with evenings now noticeably drawing in.
[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/ride-to-bourne.gpx”]