Riding in the North Downs
September 26, 1998

Distance: 51 miles
Elevation: 2,010 feet
Difficulty: 4/10
Scenery: 5/10;
Route: Headcorn-Ulcombe-Kingswood-Broomfield-Leeds Castle-
Warren Wood-Hollingbourne-Broad Street-Hucking-Bicknor-
Dean's Bottom-Bredgar-Milstead-Little Higham-Doddington-
Slade-Warren Street-Charing Heath-Egerton House-Pembles Cross-
Southernden-Headcorn-Frittenden-Headcorn

The dousing I received from the fickle English weather 2 weeks ago was still fresh in my mind as I headed east from London once more to visit Kent, this time, the North Downs. The weather forecast from the night before was not very promising, having predicted precipitation over the entire southeastern England. But the air temperature had remained surprisingly mild throughout the wet spell, so I decided, what the heck...

My route for the day started in Headcorn, going north in a clockwise direction up to Bredgar, then heading south through Doddington and Charing Heath before angling back to Headcorn.

The North Downs is a chalk ridge that runs from east to west across from Kent to Surrey (much like its counterpart to the south, called, aptly enough, South Downs), providing interesting bike-riding variety to an otherwise flat Kent landscape.

(Above: On Ulcombe Road, just north of Headcorn)

The woodsy stretch from Headcorn to Broomfield is flat and negotiated quite easily.

(Above: A narrow, single-width canopied lane typical of the area)

The road gradually climbed from Kingswood to Broomfield, and just before the intersection with the A road, the pitch steepened for a climb of about 70 feet, followed by a screaming descent towards Leeds Castle, considered to be the most beautiful castle in England. Henry VIII was a constant visitor at the castle, trying to escape the plague. "Well, where are the pictures?", you might ask. They wanted to charge me £6.50 to ride the grounds and catch a glimpse of the castle, so I decided to pass. So I turned back around and resumed my northward course.

(Below: The climb coming up on Broomfield Road, just before Leeds)

After navigating my way through a ridiculously narrow--and at points steep--dark lane, I emerged near Hollingbourne. At this point I started climbing up the North Downs ridge, and I left the relative monotony of Kent's flat plains. The hills were never too strenuous, although many of them require a bit of out-of-the saddle riding.

(Below: Another beautiful road near Hollingbourne)

On the side of the road just outside Hucking, a huge white mushroom caught my eye. I can't really tell an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, but this one looked the kind one gets from the supermarket. Anyway, its size struck me, so I placed my large banana next to it (for scale) and took a picture (below).

(Above: The mushroom was depressed. "What's the matter?", I asked. It replied,
"I don't know why no one wants to go out with me, when I'm such a fungi!"--booooingggg!!!!)

I made a sharp right turn from the quiet settlement of Broad Street (a misnomer is there ever was one) and found myself right in the thick of an outrageously steep climb. The narrow lane started out benignly enough, but it got progressively steeper, and must have exceeded 10% for a hundred meters or so. The climb itself was not very long (1/3 mile), but it gained 270 feet. Worse, the surface was still wet from the recent rains, and my rear wheel slipped on a couple of occasions. I had to slow down after cresting to catch my breath from this unexpected effort. The road shortly took a dive, only to be followed by a short (20 yards), but even steeper climb to the town of Hucking.

(Above: Hucking in bright, mid-morning autumn sunlight)

The road veered right outside Hucking and then dipped through gorgeous Admiral Wood. The rays of sunshine that managed to penetrate through the dense tree cover looked positively divine. I half-expected a choir of angels to flutter down the middle of the light and faintly audible voices singing Ode to Joy.

(Below: Chiaroscuro in Hucking?)