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@hats
After talking about it for some time, yesterday I went for a ride with my brothers, plus Bernie. We wanted to go to the seaside, and as I am a fan of things with a nice ring to them, I thought "why not Herne Hill - Herne Bay?" (of course, it helps that Herne Hill is near my house...)
The original plan was to leave at 8am. We eventually met after 10, and sat about eating pastries and drinking coffee. Then we went to the velodrome for a bit. So we didn't really leave Herne Hill until 11. But we'd borrowed a Garmin, which meant that the likelihood of us actually reaching Herne Bay were significantly better than using the sheets of A4 paper I'd printed out. The route was mainly stolen from here.
The first part of the route was the dull getting-out-of-London bit. This involved the south circular and the joys of Bexleyheath and Dartford. Before Dartford I managed to choke on a piece of blossom, pretty unpleasant. So far so good.
It was pointed out that this was the least forum-y ride ever, despite being 3/4 forumgers - no one had got lost, no one had urinated in a public place, and there hadn't been any unscheduled stops due to mechanical failures, food or beer. All this changed. We stopped at a beautiful field of yellow oil seed rape, and while we admired the view, one brother announced that he was going to take a piss. We managed to get lost, both as a group and as individuals. And there were several stops, including one for marshmallows and apple tango (I would not recommend this), one because J was "just too hungry to carry on" and one because J noticed halfway down a big hill that his handlebars had come loose.
Rochester was the halfway point and we celebrated by getting extremely lost. Some absolute chunt of a driver blared his horn at us going over a bridge. We filled our boots with "historic" Rochester, we headed back onto smaller roads. When I'd looked at the route, the second half seemed pretty flat, but I completely underestimated Basser Hill, a fairly disgusting incline. Great views from the top almost, but not quite, made up for it.
After that, we trundled on towards Faversham (and more food stops), taking a detour into a very conviently located Sainsbury's to use their loos. I thought I could smell the sea, and sure enough as we headed to Whitstable I spotted some beach huts. The wind along the coast was entirely unwanted but the first sign saying Herne Bay was a welcome sight.
We finished on the sea front, pint in hand. Some West Ham fans walked past and shouted at C that he looked like an Arsenal fan thanks to his incredibly matchy red-and-white clothes/bike (this was a top-5 moment).
Tally for the day:
Miles: approx 70 (strava recording stopped at Faversham as I forgot to charge my phone)
Food consumed: more sugar than I'll ever tell my dentist
Bees in ears: 2
Jokes made about J's "period correct" Merkx: countless
Number of pubs seen called "The Ship Inn": 5
All in, a great day - extra special huge thanks to Bernie for being the best ever company on a ride, having amazing snackage, carrying my jacket, negotiating a train discount over the phone and generally being all-round amazing.