28th August - 2nd September - Edinburgh and London to Brighton

28th Had a relaxed morning checking emails etc before setting off to Hector Russell to order Chris’ 21st present a Dunbar tartan kilt. We then had another walk up the Royal Mile that was very quiet compared to when we were last here as the festivals are over.We had lunch in the Haggis Café and a walk around the mill downstairs where they make tartan. We then had a tour through Gladstone’s Land Edinburgh’s oldest residence, built in the 15th Century and added on to in the 16th and 17th centuries. We then went to look for the Edinburgh bus terminal but were unable to find it so had to go to the information office to find out where it was. We then walked up to Calton hill with its magnificent views over the city and Holyrood palace. There was a piper at the top so we had bagpipe music as we strolled around the many monuments there.We then headed back to the hostel for dinner before collecting our bags from storage and setting off to collect our bikes from Sara’s place. Sara had to leave before we got there but luckily we passed her along the way as she set off for boot camp in the Meadows. We picked up our bikes and re packed our panniers and set off for the bus terminal. While waiting for our bus we saw a couple with mountain bikes trying to get onto a Megabus coach. They were refused passage even though the cargo hold of the bus was empty. At this point we were so glad we had our fold up bikes and at the same time worried that with our bikes and bags we would be refused as well. Our bus arrived and we got our bikes and bags on OK. It was a pretty uncomfortable trip and we didn’t get a lot of sleep as it stopped at 12pm and 3am at roadside centres for rest stops.We left Edinburgh at 9.45pm (15 min early) and arrived in London at 7.30am (1 hour late)

29th It took us a while to get our bearings from the Bus station but eventually we found our way to the Thames.We stopped at a park next to the houses of Parliament and had breakfast then set off on our long slow meandering way out of London. We made it to Greenwich at around midday and stopped in at the information centre to try to get some maps. No luck. We managed to find the route 1 signs and followed them, riding past a lot of heavy industry, the Thames barriers and the millennium dome and stopping off at a pub on the Thames river near Woolwich. After lunch we set off again passing a lot of industry but also passing through the last remaining section of riverside grazing area. It was a tough ride and by the time we made it to Dartford Catriona had had enough and was exhausted. We cycled past the Ebfleet railway station which is where the Eurostar leaves from and made it to Gravesend where we stopped in at a J D Wetherspoons to use the PC to find some accommodation. We managed to get a room at a Premier Inn hotel for £57 through the reservation line. When we arrived at the hotel we found out the rates for the room was £87 so by phoning ahead we saved £30. We had ridden 48.83 miles yet were only 24 miles from London! We had a nice relaxed night watching TV in bed.

30th We woke up refreshed after an excellent nights sleep to a beautiful sunny day and set off for the information centre to find out about transport to Canterbury as we had not made it as far as we had expected yesterday. The lady at information was very nice and looked up both coach and train options. The train was only £12.50 each and ran every ½ hour so we decided to take the train. The info lady didn’t want us to leave without seeing some of Gravesend so she gave us a quick rundown on what to see. First stop was St Georges church, the place where princess Pocahontas is buried.Then we set off for the foreshore where we saw the old piers and the oldest Pub in Kent. Having see this much of Gravesend we were happy to go to the station and catch our train to Canterbury. We arrived in Canterbury and road along part of the old city wall.We then rode in to the info centre that was not much help but they did tell us where to find a bookshop We purchased a map from the bookshop and had lunch across the way before setting off toward Dover. We road through Fordwich, Stodmarsh, Grove, Preston, Elmstone and Westmarsh before stopping in Sandwich for a cream tea.
David ate the scones with jam and cream and Catriona had the pot of tea. We then set off toward the coast riding through a private estate where there was a toll payable by motorised transport. As we hit the coast we had a tailwind and had a relatively easy ride down through Deal which looked like a very lovely spot to spend some time. We made it to the white cliffs at Kingsdown and had a long slow uphill ride to St Margaret’s at Cliffe.This was a killer for the legs and Catriona decided that as it was 6pm it was time to get some accommodation for the night so we rode inland up and down a few hills to Martin Mill and managed to get a tent site for the night.Luckily they had a café on site and it was Mexican night so we had dinner before setting the tent up for the night. We ended up having ridden 37 miles this afternoon, not bad going.


31st We got off to a good start this morning having packed the tent and all our gear by 8am. The sun was shining and it looked like staying sunny the whole day. We set off back in to St Margaret’s at Cliffe and followed the path to Dover. We stopped at a lookout over Dover harbour and heard the announcements for all passengers from vehicles to return to their cars from the Dutch ferry in port and watched a P&O ferry arrive.We also had magnificent views of Dover Castle. We cycled in to Dover where Catriona stopped to have a coffee in the town centre and we then cycled to the seafront. We then had a gradual ascent on a gravel path which followed the A20 road into a headwind. At the top of the rise we were surrounded by farming land and we were able to walk right to the edge of the cliff. We took a few photos of the white cliffs before heading off.We stopped in at the Battle of Britain memorial and then down into Folkestone. It was a steep descent into the town and Catriona managed to have an accident rounding a corner. We did not realise that her front tire was flat and therefore did not corner as well as it should. She ended up with a grazed left thigh, calf and elbow. Nothing too wrong with the bike luckily. We pumped up her front tire and then set off into Folkestone, a very pretty seaside town that happened to have markets on. We decided to push on to our planned our lunch spot of Hythe. We followed the route along the coast stopping for a rest on the beautiful beachand stopped at a little pub in Hythe for our Sunday roast. The route headed inland after Hythe but we decided to follow the coast on the A259 and on top of the seawall where we could.
It was very windy and hard work but much nicer along the coast as it was still warm with occasional appearances by the sun. Once we reached littlestone on sea we headed in toward Romney and planned on camping overnight at Camber but we happened to pass Romney Farm camping site and we were so weary after riding 36 miles into the wind we decided to stop here even though it was only 4.30pm.

1st Had another good start to the day setting off at 8.20am. We cycled off into a very strong headwind only managing 10 mph or less most of the time. Through Lydd, past another military training ground and down to the coast making it to Camber where we had planned to stop last night, very glad we had stayed at the much nicer farm last night instead of the overcrowded holiday park here. We battled against the wind cycling along the coast before turning inland to Rye, a pretty little town on a hill.We stopped at a patisserie for morning tea where we managed to get a seat in the sun at the front window, lovely. We set off feeling content having fueled up to face the strong winds again and headed out through Winchelsea and back out to the coast through Winchelsea Beach and turning inland again at Level Pett where we stopped to read a story board about the Royal Military Canal they built starting in 1904 in anticipation of the Napoleonic invasion and was supposed to take 1 year to complete but ended up being finished in 1909. After this rest we headed up a very steep hill again into the wind. We stopped at the top to have a rest and take in the magnificent viewsbefore setting off to Hastings for lunch. We rode through the old town and it’s quaint little houses and out onto the beachfront with it’s unique fishing buildings, some of them 3 stories high.It was very touristy along the waterfront with a car park full of coaches, a miniature railway and many tourists. The lady at the tourist information was very helpful and looked up the phone number for the youth hostel in Alfriston we had decided to stay in and where the J D Wetherspoons was. We stopped off at the Pub for lunch and to use the internet to book the hostel. Knowing we had accommodation for the night made our afternoon ride much more relaxed as we could turn up at any time and didn’t need to search for a campground or set up the tent. The skies in the distance where we were headed was very dark and you could see it was raining. We rode along the promenade out of Hastings where the beaches were closed due to the high tide and strong winds. At times we were hardly going forward the wind was so strong. We passed cute little beach huts that were very colourful,further on down the coast at Bexhill the beach huts were all painted white.We headed inland at Pevensey so the wind was not as strong. We decided to leave the number 2 route and headed toward Westham. We came across Pevensy castle which was a Roman fort and a Norman castle and also William the Conquerer’s first stronghold.We also passed the first church built by the Normans in WesthamWe set off along a minor road to Stone Cross and found the No 2 route again that followed the cuckoo trail. We followed this route for a while until we had to ride through mud so when we came across a road to exit we took it and headed off toward Wilmington. To our surprise we saw a huge picture of a man carved out in the chalk on the side of the hill. When we checked the map we saw it was called “The Long Man”.We also passed through Alfriston on the way to the hostel, it is a very old and pretty little town. We had one last uphill to the hostel..We were so happy to arrive and lock our bikes in the bike shed and head inside for a nice shower and a bottle of wine with dinner.

2nd Woke to rain and very strong wind, glad we had stayed at the hostel. Took our time having breakfast not eager to go outside. We decided it was not worth riding the 20 miles left into the gale force winds and driving rain. We set off to Berwick station in the pouring rain to catch the train into Brighton.
When we got to brighton it was 12pmso we set off to the pub for the afternoon to update the blog and have lunch. We had a good time chatting to Chris on MSN messenger and he even got to see us as we connected the web cam.