On the Road Again!

A short ride out today for Meldrews' Sunday. 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 alon...

Not quite midnight but breakfast at the Oasis cafe in Old Romney Some 600 years or more ago Old Romney was just Romney and one of the Cinque Ports. A bit like Hythe the area silted up and it is now quite a way from the sea The Meldrews like to vary our breakfast meets and this is a first. The table service was good. The food was good. For me the only downer was the White Hart Lane street sign over the door. Once over I led the pack around the marsh until Lympne and they headed off and I came home. It amazes me how the power rangers still ride too fast on these marsh roads and through villages. The roads are generally deformed; there's a marsh under them, and bumpy. Plus there are miles of unfenced "drains" as the drainage waterways are called. Not Rocket conditions!! So another good morning of chat and a few more miles achieved. posted from Bloggeroid

The weather has been pretty cold on occasions and so with other commitments poor Döra hasn't been out of the garage for over a month. So it was with some trepidation that I togged up and rolled her out onto the drive.  Alarm off, then press the button. Boom. First time start. Where to go?  I was going to give her a ride around the Marsh to give her a run. It was 4.5°C when I set off along Burmarsh Road towards the west right to the end then round to Newchurch then Ivychurch and then Old Romney.  The roads were generally traffic free which is a good thing as often they are less than two cars wide. The most fraught thing is meeting cyclists, either direction, who seem to have no sense of which side of the road to actually ride.  In the UK it's "keep left". From Old Romney I joined a few other bikes on the A259, most turned off towards Lydd and Camber. I carried onto New Romney and back home along the A259. Not far, but by the time I got home it was...

I dug the bike out of the garage. After a few weeks off I always feel nervous, despite a new battery, that I'll press the button and nothing will happen. I shouldn't have worried as she fired up no problem. Maybe thanks to the Odyssey fitted in the Spring. I set off along Burmarsh Road to the end, then left towards Dymchurch, then back on the Marsh towards Newchurch.  It was here I came across a grave along the side of the road. I don't remember seeing it before.  It is the grave of Pilot Officer Arthur William Clarke. Aged 20. Killed in action nearby on 11th September 1940 during the Battle of Britain.  Grave of PO A. W. Clarke I stopped to pay my respects. A reminder of the sacrifice that our young men have been giving for years and still are.  After the stop at the war grave, I set off back across the Marsh a little more and up to the petrol station near the M20 to fill the tank up. Once back at home I did some googling to find more in...

After a run down to Dungeness we arrived just in time for "Hurricane" to arrive with another batch of holidaymakers and tourists.

After lunch we had a ride out to have a look to see if we could find the church on the Marsh at Fairfield . I couldn’t find it on the map although it is supposed to be slightly west of Brenzett and Brookland. In the end we head to Brenzett across the Marsh from home and after a bit of messing about it came into view on the left. Although closed for services it was nicely kept inside and is in good condition.