In which Sid and Doris ride from home to the Tilbury passenger ferry for a touristic Tour of Kent and return from ancestral Ashford.
It is time for the doubty duo to ride again. The summer is taken up with Doris’s Big Barber Shop Year and trying to move house. But here is a slot to see if we still like touring and might commit again to some more extreme tomfoolery.
Doris has a new Boardman flat bar bike with a discreet 250W motor assistance so sets off with both panniers. Hurrah, thinks Sid. Perhaps a mile from home it is clear the panniers on the (expletive deleted) Halfords rack are so wobbly that the bike is impossible to steer. Sid has the panniers again (Cd of 1.05) and Doris uses the motor to, as Miftah Bat might say, break the wind. This is very helpful as there is a Force 4 from the south east as we go …. south east.
For a top-nerdy discussion of cycle and luggage aerodynamics see https://www.cyclingabout.com/fascinating-aerodynamics-bikepacking-bicycle-touring/
The folk of Essex are famously eccentric. Sid and Doris have a small sculpture in the garden, some might have a fountain. In Hollister (California) we came across a front-garden railway. Try this loco ….. 1 to 1 scale. Probably conveyance of the day, albeit a short journey.
They also like their motors (locally pronounced without
the t). This is a Vincent. Given the strong sun it would be more fun if it were a Black Shadow. Instead it is a 1950s 998cc V twin Rapide, one of the best and fastest bikes in the world at the time.
After a surprisingly hilly morning it is a relief to be on the Thames flood plain and winding through the bungaloid, sub-suburban streets of Tilbury. It is sights like these that remind us the GDP of Essex and Kent are about the same as the average for Hungary (inc Budapest). Outside of London this is not a rich country.
No matter. We have the excitement of taking the Neddies on the ferry across the Thames and eventually crossing the Medway by bridge at Rochester. Nearby the 400 acre Chatham Dockyard was a shipbuilding centre from the 1500s to 1980s, building more than 500 ships. It is a fabulous visit, but already closed for the day.
Instead we make for the
marina which is home to Gillingham’s Ship and Trade inn and the boats of the Maritime Trust.
On Friday we set off for Canterbury, HQ of the Church of England, taking the Pilgrims’ Way along the Downs through pretty villages. However, the roads have not been resurfaced since Chaucer decided against publishing The Asphalter’s Tale in 1392. Also there is much steepness as the Downs have inevitable ups. Less inevitable, but entirely present, is a wind from the south east as we head ….
The Pilgrim trade at Lenham seems to have fallen off and The Harrow has served its last fine food. Doris soon tracks down another pie-monger while Sid gets outside a date bar.
The Norman parts of Chilham Castle date from 1173 but in turn they stand on 7th century Anglo Saxon foundations. Mostly it is Jacobean and didn’t need to be a proper castle. Unlike Alnwick , it has not had long term single family ownership. In 1862 James Wildman sold up when the income from plantations in the West Indies fell off once they had to pay for labour. Chiz, chiz.
From 1949 to 1992 the castle was owned by John Whyte-Melville-Skeffington, 13th Viscount Massereene – perhaps known to his chums as Chalky? That name is jolly grand and there may be some solace for we hoi-polloi in knowing he was descended from Sir John Clotworthy, though Sid could suck that up for ownership of Chilham Castle. Anyway, you can visit by hiring the entire place, though the price list is not on their website or AirBnB.
And so to Canterbury Cathedral where Sid and Doris attend full choral evensong with a guest choir from All Saints Beverley Hills. The tuneful twosome are a bit miffed there is only one hymn for the congregation, though the Americans did a good job. The Dean did sound very like Rally the Globe’s Fred Gallagher, sometime navigator with Henri Toivenen, Juha Kankunen, Ari Vatanen though this only contributed to a delightful hour.
Sid has been grimly amused at the behaviour of the Russian Orthodox Church since February 2022. Here in the cathedral we have an altogether more understandable chapel dedicated to The Buffs.
See www.nam.ac.uk/explore/buffs-royal-east-kent-regiment The history of the regiment is a reminder of all the places the British have been to fight, starting in Holland – and this was before football supporters went abroad.
Spiritually refreshed Sid and Doris head for beer and to plot the route to Dover.
Doris might make us a better map.
‘Sid outside a date bar’? Is that something like Tinder? Sounds fun!
Ian, does Sheila know about your Tinder habit?
Akshully, as S might say, there were probably a lot more ‘date bars’ in Kent when the Royal Navy was at Chatham and Sheerness. And given you are handy for Liwa and Dubai you will be quite aware of dates of both sorts. Sid.
Perhaps a locomotive leaks as much as a fountain?
Scientific Sid says one of the key differences between fountains and steam locos is that while water might evaporate from a fountain the locomotive deliberately boils its water to make steam. A Big Boy Union Pacific would get through about 450 US gallons per mile. So, doing 60mph it would get through 27,000 gallons per hour.
If your fountain is losing 27,000 gallons per hour it is either a very big fountain or the weather has turned warm again.
Perhaps to test the water use of fountain versus locomotive set up a steam garden railway like that other famous racing driver Count Zborowski?