London to Whitstable Ashford

Ride leader: Mark

Starting at midnight from Fridays Central (on the Southbank between the National Theatre café and the BFI), we’ll pick up the new Cycle Superhighway to Deptford, before leaving the river and heading through south-east London and into the quiet country lanes around Swanley. 

We’ll descend into Eynsford before dealing with the only significant climb of the night to top the North Kent Downs. 

Our halfway stop on this ride will be the award-winning Parkfoot 24/7 garage and store near West Malling – no indoor seating I’m afraid but the shop is always well stocked and run by cheerful staff even in the dead of night.

From that point on, the ride becomes ever more dream-like with quiet lanes and sleepy villages in the Weald of Kent. Hopefully we will experience another sublime dawn chorus as we did on past versions of this ride. 

A ride of around 110km, with total ascent around 925m.