THE MAY SUNDAY SOCIAL RIDE

By Paul Ritchley

Although I have been a member of EKAM

for over 3 years, I had never taken part in

the Sunday Social Rides until recently.

Having witnessed a couple of rides with

Paul Lane and Phil West, I wished I’d

involved myself sooner. I really enjoyed

them, definitely social.

 

I suggested to John Hull that I would like to

run a social ride and that I had a schematic

route in mind. I got the go-ahead and set a

date for 24th May, It was Brian Baker that prompted me to lead the group to the

Cafe on the Lake, Hawkhurst; he was to be my "sweeper". I understood that the

route should be around 50 miles taking approximately 90 minutes. I'm glad I

took Brian’s advice: it's a beautiful venue.

 

I have not yet given in to sat nav so it was out with the ordnance survey maps

in order to string the route together, dodging the 30's and 40's where possible

of course. Once completed, I rode it three times to be sure it worked and

perhaps with an overzealous approach, started spreading the word to club

members.

 

I arrived at Halfords car park on the morning

of the 24th to be pleasantly surprised by the

overwhelming turn out of over 30 bikes. I'm

sure the weather helped; it was a beautiful

day. Following my briefing with reference to

duty of care etc., we started our engines and

set off.

 

I had warned everyone of the potential

boredom caused by the long 40 before we

hit the open road on the outskirts of

Kingsnorth, after that it was an exciting run through the twisties until we

reached Woodchurch Village where we regained composure. After this it was

back in the nationals all the way to Tenterden. The route then took us in the

direction of Cranbrook but in a zig zag fashion just to make it something

different. We by-passed Cranbrook and headed for Goudhurst before going

further out towards Marden and on to Horsmonden. We picked up the

B2162, an amazing stretch of road,which turned us back in a loop fashion

towards Goudhurst again. A few short cuts kept us away from the 30's around

Goudhurst which kept the pace up until we reached the A21. Fortunately, we

only had to cover half a mile which gave everyone the chance to practice their

slow riding skills filtering through the almost stationary traffic. Left at the lights

at Flimwell and on to complete our journey to Hawkhurst and the Cafe on the

Lake. I was surprised how quickly everyone arrived behind me; I had imagined

the group to have been stretched out further.

It was a perfect end to a thrilling ride,

although the staff appeared under pressure,

we all managed to get fed and watered

while chilling out on the decked area

overlooking the lakes. It was one of

those occasions where you didn't want the

day to end.

 

Thank you to Brian Baker for being

"sweeper" and Charles and Tony for

publicizing the ride.