Previous Chapter
Sunday 20th May 2007
Canterbury
to Gillingham
Today's journey would take us along part of the Crab and Winkle cycle path which runs north to Whitstable from Canterbury and then, at Blean, we would head eastwards towards Faversham, Sittingbourne and Gillingham. The route was essentially cycle route 1 although we deviated off this later in the day.
A bit of a climb out of Canterbury onto Rough Common - is this 
part of the North Downs - but once over the top at Blean it was plain sailing into the valley beyond and the villages of Denstroude and Dargate and across a small river where swans were feeding. Turning left towards Graveney we happened across a monthly farmers market - cakes, tea and other goodies! An opportunity too good to be missed. Other cyclists had planned this in and as we chatted to one we discovered that is was advisable to miss out part of the route 1 to the north of Faversham and Sittingbourne as the area was rather run down. We continued into Faversham 
meaning to stop here for lunch - but when we arrived there was a vintage car rally taking place and the small town was packed with visitors. After a look at some of the vintage cars we continued on our way keeping to the lower road which runs parallel to the A2. In the village of Teynham we were overtaken by this same friendly cyclist who soon advised on a excellent place to partake of a Sunday Pub lunch. Four courses was probably more than we should have eaten - but it was all inclusive and vey well cooked.
Back onto route 1 at Sittingbourne but I'm sure we didn't take the right turnings - on an industrial estate the signs suddenly disappeared not to be seen again for a few miles. We arrived at the B&B in Gillingham really tired out - glad to lay down on the bed to rest our weary legs and sore rear ends. No Cathedrals today - Rochester is the next one, first thing tomorrow morning.
The mileage was 38.9 miles making a total of 84.3 miles