• A rough and ready Pilgrim's Way route.
    https://cycle.travel/map/journey/380103
    Note that I've made this stupidly hard by starting at Merton Abbey Mills and following the Wandle out, this means that you ride up some bastard loose steep hills (for example Plantation Lane). I did this, as this actually means we start the ride close to the Pilgrim's way and get the chance to visit the church at Chaldon with its 800 year old doom painting. If you so desire, you can purchase Pilgrim's passport, stamp it in the church and again in Canterbury. I'm not at all religious, but ancient customs fascinate me.

    A shorter alternative would be to join the route just south of New Addington (between points 20 and 21) .

    We'd stop for food in Shoreham before climbing the ridiculously steep hill to re-join the Pilgrim's way at Ortford.

    We'll cross a medieval bridge at Aylesford where we can stock up on food and drink if required before taking to the Rochester Road and once again picking up the Pilgrim's way through to Wye before heading north-east to Canterbury for a well-deserved pint and the train home.

    I would also really love to take a stove and some food along with me and cook part-way, but I'm not sure how popular an option this would be on a 95 mile ride!

    I have ridden almost all this route and it's an absolute cracker.

  • Seems a very circuitous way to join the Pilgrims Way, which you can pick up easily at the bottom of Titsey Hill. Your route also misses some of the best bits of the Pilgrims Way.

    Some route change suggestions - after point 33 you can take a bridleway that takes you straight through to the bridleway you pick up for point 35. After Wrotham, you can pick up the Pilgrims Way again if you take the white road on your map from the intersection with the M20, it then follows the bridleway that you pick up below Vigo village and that takes you all the way through to the outskirts of Snodland. You can then cross the Medway on the new bridge and pick up your route again at waypoint 39.

    If you fancy a dip in the sea (sewage permitting) at the end, then it's another 6 miles or so to Whitstable on the Crab and Winkle Way, which has some nice sections too.

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