Cycling the Kent coastline – personal distance record attempt. 300k! ⛈

Off the cuff on a Friday night I decided to do a 300k cycling distance challenge record route I had been noodling on for a while! Starting in Bromley I followed the Kent coastline all the way around to Eastbourne. At least that was the plan.. I didn’t quite make it. Got caught in a massive storm mid way and ran out of juice at Dover.

[Music] [Music] All right. I’ve decided to go and do something a bit silly. It’s about 7:30 on a Friday night, and I decided, well, I decided a long time ago that 300 km was going to be my next distance challenge. I just didn’t think I’d be doing it today. I got back from work and I thought why not? So, we’re going to go overnighter. So, the route is from Brmley, come down to the coast and basically go around all the coast of Kent, all the seaside towns, and then stop in Eastborne, which is give or take 300 km. Now, my current distance record is 210. So, this is an extra 90. So, it’s not a giant leap, but it is a leap. And uh have to see how it goes. I’m on the gravel bike. I’ve got plenty of supplies with me. So, let’s see. All right. It’s very noisy. However, I’ve come through Dartford. I’m kind of on my way to Strude now and then we’re going to go through Fabsham. All right, as I was saying on the motorway, you might not have heard me heading towards Strude, then Fabsham, then we’re going to dip into Canterbury and back up again cuz I needed to add some uh distance to the route. So, we’re going to do that. It’ll probably be dark by then. Um, the GoPro is awful in the dark, so I might not record much until morning. I’ll just kind of give you brief updates on where I am. So, hopefully the darkness won’t last too long. So, it’s not much fun to watch. All you can see is a black grainy blur. But right now, we’re just uh still following the long straight road. Very boring. I know I moan about it in basically every video, but it is the most efficient and fast rolling way to get to Strude. So, Sun has already set. It’s starting to get dark. Okay, I think we’re coming into Strude now. I’ve never noticed this giant castle here. I was about to ask where I am. I’ve just never come in this way before. I’ve normally come down the main road. All right, it is quarter to 10. just come through Studew Rochester and now we’re coming through uh I think this is some kind of nature reserve right on the uh Ron the river and then we’ll be on our way to uh like Favversham etc etc this might be cycle way one but I can’t remember 70 kilometers done. Next big town we’re going to go through is Fabsham. Then we’re going to hit the coast for a little bit and then down down and up again from uh Canterbury. And then we’ll be following the coast all the way around. There’s a big firework display going on in the sky over there. I bet it won’t do it now that I’m recording. Oh, there’s a little one. I’m sure I just saw some lightning strikes. So, there was there was definitely 20 30% chance of rain throughout this ride. So, I’m probably going to get hit looking at it. Yeah, can’t hear anything yet. So, it’s obviously a very long way away, but just passing through Fabsham now. 80k done. Closing up on onethird of the route. Probably can’t see it right, but that is the Fabisham Brewery. I’ve never tried it, but a friend who lives here said it wasn’t great. Now it’s definitely a storm. I just saw a massive crackle of lightning down here. It was like two or three lightning bolts. It’s not going to do it now. God damn it. Oh, that was immense though. Whoa. Yeah, there’s something going on. There’s absolutely no thunder. There’s light everywhere. All right, carrying on. Don’t know if you can see it on the camera, but it is raining now. So, yeah, definitely a storm. Definitely heading my way. It’s not too bad yet. Might have to get the rain jacket out in a bit, though. Huge crack of lightning just happened. See if there’s another one. There’s one hell of a light show tonight. On one hand, it’s raining pretty hard now, so that sucks. But on the other hand, this light show is keeping me entertained. Nothing. Whoa, there we go. Oh my god. It’s getting closer. Should I be worried? I mean, uh, nah. The spooky brideway is at midnight. Well, it might. It’s probably almost midnight, actually. Can’t give you an update on location just yet, cuz I’m really not sure, but we’re way past Fabsham now. Oh, yeah. That storm is still brewing. Definitely hearing some thunder cracks now. Oh, it’s really coming down now. Holy crap. I’m at 93k. We can celebrate our 100 for one/3. Just passed the sign for Canterbury. We in it. Must be about midnight or just after. I need to check my watch in a minute. Yeah, we’re making pretty good time. I set off at like 7:30, 7:45. We’ve done 100k 7 8 9 10 in about 4 4 and 1/2 hours. That’s pretty good going. Get off. We just hit 100k. Just come through the center of Canterbury. Now we’re heading back up for the coast. I’m feeling good. I’ve really tried to make sure I don’t blow my legs up too early, which is what always happens on these endurance rides. I feel really good. I blow my legs up and then, you know, the second half is a real nightmare. Following the Crab and Winkle trail out of Canterbury, which takes me north pretty much all the way to the coast. Actually, we are on Invicta Way and we have been for quite some time. Guessing it used to be a Roman road cuz it is straight as an arrow. It’s been going for bloody ages. We are at Witable. There’s the station. We are continuing down this path here to the coast. We’re very close now. Nice. Found some shelter. So, having a bite to eat. Still in Witstable. I think this path heads straight to the coast. I’m actually going to carry on now cuz I’m starting to get a little bit cold. We are at the beach. Not that you can tell. I swear there’s water over there. Yeah. Progress. Stage two begins. Yeah. You probably can’t see anything on the camera. It is very dark out there. There’s no lights at all. Now, I can’t remember which comes first. I think we’re about to hit recala and we’ll we’ll go past the towers. I if I rooted that way. I think I did. And this town right here. Ah, I can’t remember the name of it. But it’s got that big seaw wall with the rock. I’m going to cycle around that. Not they’ll be able to see it. I don’t know if you can see that. That’s the big clock tower on the seafront near Realva. Um I don’t know if I’m in Realva now. I haven’t seen these signs. Probably not, but very close, I think. Can you see it? Maybe a little bit. It’s the towers. Yeah. Now we’ve got a load of uh sea defenses to cycle down. We’re at the huge sea defense wall with the chalk chalky cliffs. I wish I could remember the place name, but uh I’m taking it a bit slow down here cuz I don’t want to ride my bike into the sea, which is like right there off a cliff. So, yeah. But it’s quite nice down here. Obviously, uh when it’s storming, probably not the nicest, but right now it’s all right. Margate was the name of the town that I couldn’t think of. Yeah, I’m in Margate. So, we’re we’re getting we’re getting into the corner of the country now. I think there’s a couple of other towns and then we’ll turn south and start heading around the bend. I think I’ve already gone around the bend trying to do this trip, but that’s besides the point. Well, not recorded for a while. Uh come through Margate out the other side now. Still just following the uh I was going to say beach, but it’s it’s kind of just a a sea defense. Uh yeah, going to following that. Still raining really hard. Keeps on like pretending to peter out and then it comes back on again. So I think I’m just going to have to live with the fact that it’s going to rain forever. Um, so I’m kind of making my peace with that now. Just hit 150 km, halfway. Definitely feeling some fatigue now, especially on hills and things. Uh, just trying to keep going at average pace. Nothing crazy. See how far these legs can carry me. We’ll see. I don’t know how well it’s coming out on the GoPro, but it’s starting to get light. There’s a little bit of blue haze on the horizon. Everything isn’t pitch black anymore. Well, I’m actually going to check the time. Hang on. Don’t check for hours and hours and hours. Huh. It is 4:35. That would explain why the sun is coming up. Oh, hang on a minute. Look at this. Let’s just see where I am. Huh? Ram’s gate. There you go. Oh, that clears that up. All right. Maybe there’s enough light now to start using the GoPro properly again. As you can see, that’s the coast. I think everything is rather gray, rather cloudy, and rather miserable. Here’s me waiting for the sun to come up. I’m not sure I’m going to see it. I’ve just entered sandwich. I might even have a sandwich. I’m starting to get a bit peckish. Be my last sandwich though. I’m trying to remember what time the convenience stores open on Saturday. It might be like 8 or something. So, got to pace myself a little bit until they start opening. Yeah. Sandwich. Look at that. We did it. We have just hit 100 miles. All right. So, we’re over halfway. That feels pretty good. Only just over halfway, but still it’s a nice uh nice little market. Oh my god. I really don’t remember putting so much gravel into this. Thought it was a road slog. Look at that. It’s a beautiful morning. Mostly if you look that way, it is. Anyway, there is starting to be a little bit of a little bit of sky poking through. So, there’s hope. There’s hope. I might be able to start drying myself off. Every time the rain stops, I start getting excited and it starts again. So, I’m not going to get excited until there is blue sky. [Music] We’re at 170ish K. Closing in on my current record, which is 210. So, that’ll be the next big celebration, I think. We are in Deal, which means we’re starting to get close to Dungeoness a little bit. Anyway, I think Dungeoness will be after the 200k mark, which we’re getting closer to now. I think we’re on 175. Well, I might be a bit over that now. I did checked a little while ago. Yeah, the kilometers are slowly shrinking. All right, I’m approaching Dover. Unfortunately, I’m not I’m starting to not feel too great. I seem to hit this wall all of a sudden. Happens on quite a few rides. So, I’m feeling good, then all of a sudden I am not feeling good. Uh, which is a real shame. We’re going to see I’m going to stop in a minute and eat the rest of my food and drink and see if that can perk me up a bit. If not, then I might stop in Dova, which is the next big stop as a train direct to Brmley. So, that’ be nice if that ends up being the case. Oh, it’s a shame. It’s just I’ve been watching the last 15k of this 100 tick down really, really slowly. My legs have just run out of energy. There’s Do Castle. I didn’t realize I was so close. I’m not even going to make it to 200. I mean, my mind’s already set. I’m going to stop at Dover Priary. My body has had enough. You got to listen to it.