Cantii Way

I once downed a whole tube of pringles, a scotch egg and a Friji banana sitting outside there with @Klar

I was asked earlier if we'd booked a nice fish place in Whitstable for dinner!

Didn't mention the litre of chocolate milk.

“Dinner in whitstable”

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Both your faults for not booking, there's lots of lovely places to eat here.

Mate, those kebabs were spot on.

I fought off a gull on the station to ensure I ate my bab.

KAW I found abit hit and miss. @platypus alternative is much better.

thanks :)

here's the link for anyone else interested in a beautiful 3 days off-road riding.
click thru for lots of notes in the RWGPS description.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33393196

Ta, grabbed this for my collection of routes I'll get around to one day.

Gonna take a few days off work and give this a go I think, never ridden over that way.

Is there much in the way of campsites etc enroute that don't need booking etc, or is this more of a wildcamp kinda thing.

my route is 2 beautiful wild camps, notes in the description.

Looking to do this given we've got a bank holiday weekend and potentially taking the train out and wild camping somewhere in the route that's close(ish) to a rail station. Any suggestions for areas where it shouldnt be too hard to find a site after dark?

Do you mean before you start, or during the ride?

I'll be on a post 7pm train on Friday night so figure I'm going to be looking for a pitch in the dark. I'm pretty flexible on where the starting point is (Ashford, Whitstable, Deal, Dover, Folkestone, Winchelsea etc) and just figure some of these places are going to better provide places to pitch up

If you can get to Canterbury, pick up the Crab and Winkle way towards Whitstable there are woods near Blean that would be a decent spot, or you can pick up from Whitstable and ride the other way towards Canterbury, the track ends up at the University so you could start from there next day.

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated

Did Cantii Way over the weekend solo style and managed to get it done in a bit under a couple of days. There's definitely scope for doing it quicker (not really my thing) or slower if you're more into sightseeing (feeling less need to having spent a lot of time on the south coast recently).

Route is 90 percent road and the gravel is pretty placid although there was a short section on the Rye to Canterbury section where the flinty stones had me worrying for my rather well worn tyres

The route is predominatly flat although there are a few climbs (Dover, Folkestone, White Hill)

There's sections of the shoreline around Broadstairs where they're prohibiting cycles on the waterfont after 10 during summer. Probably not enforced but something you might want to consider (I rolled well beforehand)

Dungeness Snack Shack closes at 3pm

There's a couple of places that I'd recommend visiting that weren't on my map. The first is the Ossuary in Hythe. Up the hill a bit but worth a visit. The other is the Denge Sound Mirrors. Majority of the time you can't get up close (bridge closed to protect local wildlife) but you can get close enough to get a good impression.

Had a lovely couple of nights Rochester - Dover during the crazy heatwave a few weeks back. Took the Pilgrims' for a while after following a path along the east Medway strand, then roads over the down to Faversham, along to Whitstable for pints and crashed right by the sea after Herne Bay. Picked up a small insect bite some time that afternoon which eventually meant we bailed at Dover so I could get it looked at. Second night after a hellishly hot day along to Margate, Joss Bay for a plunge, Broadstairs and whatnot, found a banging spot right on the White Cliffs (or a hundred yards back in some heathland) and a peaceful time. A few early dogwalkers in the morning wandered past our little camp, none seemed offended enough by our presence to say anything.

Off to the Brother big one in a couple of weeks and thinking of tagging on a few days extra riding. @youramericanlover your route looks good - did you ever test ride it? Gonna start thinking about camping spots.

Plans may change if the weather does though!

I haven't tested some parts no, but I can tweak it a bit if you want depending on your bike. For example, the bit in Kings Woods might need a proper off road type bike, a marathon supreme equipped canal crusher wouldn't cut, especially now in the autumn. @Ruserius did a huge chunk of it, though I have no idea on what bike. He said he didn't like the bridleway section around Camber / Rye, not sure why. Lemme know and I can adjust

That would be amazing if you don’t mind! Will most likely get the train to Faversham I reckon, do a loop and then camp at the Brother weekend.
I’ll be on a grav bike with 2.1’s on. I plan to be panniered up though, don’t know if that will make a difference for the woodland sections!

I did most of YAL's version on 28s on my sweet fixie, packed very light tho, which was absolutely fine except for just the one sketchy decent in the forest near the end (anti clockwise, from Canterbury). But worth it for the parts before and after. The bits I skipped were some of the short off road parts after Appledore, but are probably all good.
I think it was probably more of issue with my frame of mind at the time than the route regarding the bridleway near Dungeness. It was the bumpy gravel which got to me there, after only 1.5 hours of cold sleep on the beach and I needed breakfast and coffee.
It was on that last heatwave weekend. Was probably as busy as it gets along the north coast concrete section as to be expected, but I was happy going very slow due heat exhaustion and nausea (I rode out to Canterbury in 35 degree heat).
I did the part between Deal and Dungeness through the night and it was incredible. Empty, smooth, rollercoaster roads.
Overall, very enjoyable.
Not on the ride is Samphire Hoe (pictured), which although a dead end was a highlight

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Thinking about doing YAL’s route as a 2 day thing in Feb; a mostly paved, not-remote, winter warmer for the gradual improving weather and daylight hours. If anyone is keen, let me know, still in the idea stage, no dates set

I'd be up for that, keep me posted.

Pending dates, I'd be keen. Camping?