How do all
Want to go for some weekend rides away in and around the area's mentioned above. At a bit of a loss as to where to go, stay and whatever.
Happy to either hotel/B&B or camp depending on weather and location. Want to be doing roughly 60 miles per day, maybe setting off from work on the friday night if possible (I work in that London). Both on and off road works.
Any ideas appreciated
Cheers
I've had a plan for a while to ride the sustrans route 1 east from London along the Thames to the YHA in Margate and then south along the coast. Stop when I feel tired and train back into London on the Sunday - good rail connection along the south coast.
Route is road/cycle path/bit of gravel the whole way. Could always do route 21 back up from Eastbourne too.
Hmmm - sustrans, hadn't thought about that. Good call, I shall get researching!
Personally I would avoid Margate as it is a total dump. Route 1 doesn't actually go there anyway; at Whitstable it goes south to Canterbury and then east to Sandwich (both very nice towns!).
Regional route 15 will take you to Margate if you want, and whilst it's nice to have a (largely) traffic-free route it's pretty boring to be honest, mostly flat (hence very popular for family cycle rides!) The only good bit is the old church/Roman fort at Reculver if you like old ruins.
Route 1 from Sandwich to Dover is great, right by the coast and you go past 3 castles in a short space of time!
Sustrans 21 is on/off road, Greenwich to Eastbourne.
Joins the SDW nr Beachy Head. Nr Friston Forest. Lots of on and off road riding around both hilly and flatter. Campsites and b&b's aplenty.
Max 2hrs back to town on the train from any of the coastal stations.
Interested in this - Route 1 looks ideal.
A variation on the Route21 to Eastbourne is to switch from Route 21 to Route 20, in Crawley, and head to Brighton.
We've done a slight twist on this for the last couple of years, avoiding the relatively dull sections on the Brighton leg.
[url= http://www.strava.com/activities/68815434 ]M@ London to Brighton[/url]
You can get the train back from Brighton, quite easily (If you avoid commuting hours)