Destination was Dungeness Railway Station.
I decided not to take the usual A259 route along the coast to New Romney and onto Dungeness.
Instead I went off piste and tried the probably aptly named Swamp Road from Old Romney to Lydd.
The swamp, if there was one, has been drained and it now forms part of Romney Marsh. A flat area with many "drains" that firm similar terrain to the polders in the Netherlands.
There were only two of us for a coffee and a chat.
The ride back was across the marsh to Dymchurch and home. I went back towards Ivychurch and then followed the signs to Hythe.
There are so many concrete slab roads across the marsh. And these offer more grip than the tarmac ones. Oddly though, the grass and weeds growing between the cracks is far less obtrusive than the two foot wide moss and weed in the centre of the tarmac sections!
When you have a weed and moss section and an open drain/ditch right alongside then you need to concentrate! These roads are maybe 1½ cars wide. Meet a larger car or farm vehicle and I am NOT going off onto the verge!!!
I have no idea how accurate the Yamaha My-Ride app is but the altitudes are not that far off. Much of the marsh is actually below sea level. Not quite Death Valley depths or even the Sea of Galilee but it is a large area of land that means that towns like Hythe and Old Romney that used to be on the coast are now miles back as the area silted up over around 600 years!
Both Hythe and Romney are founder members of the Cinque Ports. Check out the map that shows where the sea used to be before silting up....
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