Day 12: Lands’ End

Snodland to Dover (54 Miles)

In my opinion, a good rest day consists of absolutely no exercise and plenty of food, that is certainly what yesterday delivered (plus a few litres of local ale). Most of the festivities took place in Rochester, short train ride from Snodland. This is also where today would start, after analysing potential routes into Dover, it was clear that taking the train back up to Rochester and starting from there would provide the most pleasant entry.

I was sluggish through the whole day, possibly due to this being the last day of stage 1, but more probably due to yesterday’s beers. I’ve spoken quite a bit about how I take very little joy from cycling and today, the last two weeks on the road had caught up to me mentally. Over the first 20 miles, I stopped quite frequently to buy drinks (again probably due to the beers), each time I stopped I would check my map and hope that I had somehow flown down the road and was almost there, alas, no luck, I would have to keep cycling. The first 20 miles also included a puncture, this time there was little doubt about it, the back tyre was completely flat. Again I couldn’t find the cause of the puncture, after a bit of searching, I gave up and put in the new tube. As has been the case all the way down the UK, the legs kept moving and the miles kept passing and before long, I could start to sense Dover. I stopped in Canterbury for lunch, a gorgeous town right at the heart of Kent, probably most famous for its cathedral (there is no picture of the cathedral because this isn’t a sightseeing tour).

After lunch my mood improved significantly and the last 20 miles into Dover were pretty straightforward. The back tyre seemed fine and I arrived into Dover in the early afternoon. I was however unsuccessful in finding a welcome sign for Dover, which means that I managed to miss pretty much all the signs for major milestones the whole way down. I’ll now be spending around two weeks in the lovely (sarcasm) town of Dover, so I will have plenty of time to search for that elusive welcome sign or even better, get a few snaps of the famous White Cliffs.

Despite constant complaining (this will be a theme of the trip, you’re just going to have to accept it), the cycle down the UK went better than I expected. It has been a long time since I spent so long on a bike on consecutive days and I’ve been amazed at how quickly my body has adapted. I’ve had a few niggles here and there, but at no stage have I felt physically fatigued. Mentally this last day was a bit of a struggle and I am certainly pleased to have a break from cycling. After dinner, I went down to the harbour and gazed out at the intimidating expanse of water ahead. Stage 1 completed, it feels good to be in Dover, but bigger challenges await.