Day one (iv) – When are we going to get there? Sittingbourne to Faversham

Back through the Travellers Camp we chose another cycle path that led us through new soulless urban sprawls being built as part of the Thames Gateway project. I wonder if one day the place will have a buzz. Will this place seem different on a sunny day?

Eventually we did find the NCN path and rode through bleak countryside marred only by the cold wind blasting against us.

Faversham forever was marked on road signs as five miles away. At one point and on one old road sign I swear it became six-and-a-half even though it felt we had done three miles since the last post that said four miles to go. But we made it. Faversham.

I was ready for a Pint of relief but first we headed to the Railway Station to scour for trains that would take us to Lewisham.

Having decided on the train we’d catch, we bought Saver Return train tickets commiting us to return here within a month to carry on our journey.

It seemed a strange climax to the first day ride. We hadn’t got as far as we hoped. The weather had been crap and I felt exhausted.

We had meant to carry on like this for two more consecutive days but at this point I wasn’t too sure if I had the energy to or could suffer two more days of saddle sore let alone face the wind head on.

With that, we retired to the Faversham Hotel opposite raunchily made famous by Babara Cartland in one of her novels, racy excerpts of which could be found on the Gentleman’s Wall of relief. It’s a lovely place seving gastronomic delights in a separate dining room which we were not to taste alas.

With a fine pint of Shepherd Neame’s Master Brew to hand, we played the most extraordinary long game of Bar Billiards till it was time to catch the train home.