Folkestone has quietly rearranged itself. A seaside resort that went through lean years has become a town of galleries, painted streets and a revived harbour, and it still has the long clifftop promenade, the Leas, laid out by the Victorians when the railway made this a place for the well-to-do. Today it is easy to spend an hour strolling there, watching the ships in the Channel, and it makes a sound pause before or after the road to Dover.
The label here says swim, and in summer that is possible, with a shingle beach and, at low tide, a stretch of sand to the east that the locals know well. The water is cold and the shingle is hard on bare feet, so a pair of beach shoes is a good idea. Do not leave your riding gear unattended, and check for any warning flags. The harbour arm, a long stone pier with a lighthouse at the end, is a good place for a walk, and in the evening it fills with people eating and drinking.
History is close at hand. In the First World War, Folkestone was a major departure point, and about ten million soldiers passed through the town on their way to France, marching down a steep road to the harbour that is now called the Road of Remembrance. The coast is also lined with Martello towers, small round forts built against a feared Napoleonic invasion, and the Channel Tunnel terminal sits just inland. The mixture of old and new makes the town more interesting than it first looks.
Folkestone has more than sixty thousand people, so fuel, food and parking are straightforward. Cafés, bakeries and fish-and-chip shops are plentiful along the harbour and in the old town, and it is the easiest stop on this stretch. Riding in and out, the main roads are busy, but the lanes on the downs behind, toward Hawkinge and Elham, are quiet and pleasant, and the cliffs west of town give a good ride with views of the sea.