I slept pretty well under my tarp. I think it had been pretty chilly overnight but my sleeping bag had held up well. I sometimes think carrying this gear is too much, but the flexibility it gives me is worth it. That said, the bumpy roads had bent some fixing on my rack. At home I had tried to set it up with an elegant solution with the long supporting arms underneath the rack. I rigged it up with the arms in a much stronger position.  It wouldn’t be a cycling holiday without my rack giving me problems in the first couple of days.

I had a quick (cold) breakfast, without coffee (!) and headed off on a rather nice cycleway. In fact, the whole of the NCN 2 was on really nice paths, quiet roads and well signposted all day. Lydd was my first stop and disappointingly I would have had to wait 30 minutes the coffee shop to open. So I passed. The other thing in Lydd was the church, which Wikipedia suggested it may have one of the tallest towers, and be the longest church in Kent. The tower looked fairly normal, although I had been able to see it across the marshes for quite a distance. As far as the church length, it seems a bit of an extension has been put on the back. Without a coffee, Lydd didn’t really have anything for me, so I headed off across the Marshes.

Hythe, was my first big stop and I had spotted a sea front cafe for lunch. As I was served a baguette, the guy said watch out for the Seagulls and to keep a sharp eye. I carefully guarded my food, however the attack came to the back of my head. I think the tactic was to make me drop the food, rather than just grabbing it. I realised that I’d been out-smarted and sat in a more sheltered position.

The route had been completely flat until Hythe, but after my lunch and an exhausting long drag along the sea front in a head wind, the road kicked up. It was hard work, it seems these hills always come after a leg sapping headwind section (it was the same in Hastings yesterday). Anyway, I was fighting to get up the hill when I felt the tail-tale saddle having a bit more movement than it should. It was the dreaded crack in the seat post hinge. This has happened before – on my John O’Groats to Lands End in 2016, and I bought a new bike. I started walking up the hill, still heading to Dover, while I tried to decide what to do. It seems to early to abandon.

A bit of googling, looking at reviews and locations gave me a few aluminium welding places to look at. There were a few to pick from, and my first thought was to find one ahead. However, it seemed safer to tackle the route I knew, rather than heading into the unknown. I picked a place in Hythe, but they were at lunch until 1:30 so I gambled and headed towards them (down hill standing up). At the bottom of the hill to the workshop, I rang again and they were happy to look at it.

I think it only took 1.5 hours between noticing the problem and being on my way with it fixed. I’m going to have to take more care, especially when climbing. It is not just my (not inconsiderable) weight, but the panniers twisting the bike from the bottom.

The quality of the NCN 2 continued to be high, in terms of quiet roads/paths and good signposting. Unfortunately for me, the hills out of Folkestone were epic, leaving me walking and the surface was poor resulting in lots of jolting, giving me concern of the weld. I think its going to be fine – last time I had one welded it lasted for ages 🤞.

As I approached Dover, the path wound its way across the cliffs. The view was great, and I started to see other cycle tourists coming the other way. Presumably from the ferry. I stopped briefly at the Battle of Britain memorial. It is a fascinating site with a Spitfire and Hurricane, and the main feature is a sculpture of an airman looking out over The Channel. It is both quite moving, and interesting.

I’m not travelling by ferry and I took the opportunity to see if my mode of transport was there. It was – I’ll write about it tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to the (relative) comforts of a Travelodge, before continuing east tomorrow. It had been “one of those days”. I think this is what makes touring interesting!

I have more photos but can’t get them off my camera – Doh!!