St Martin's is a small flint-and-stone church on a low hill on the eastern edge of Canterbury, and it claims to be the oldest church in continuous use in the English-speaking world. The tradition is that it was already a Christian place of worship when Augustine arrived in 597 to convert the English, because the Frankish princess Bertha, who married King Æthelberht of Kent, had a chapel here and a bishop with her. Parts of the walls contain Roman brick, and the oldest part of the building is plainly very old, though experts argue about the details. The church is part of the World Heritage Site that also includes Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey.
The setting is pleasant rather than grand, with a churchyard of old gravestones, a view across the city to the cathedral towers, and the sound of a small bell. Sturry, three kilometres to the north-east, is a village on the River Stour, and the road between them runs through suburbs. Canterbury itself is a busy cathedral and university city of fifty-odd thousand people, with a medieval wall, a pedestrianised centre and a crowd of visitors for most of the year. Thomas Becket was murdered in the cathedral in 1170, and pilgrims have come ever since, as Chaucer's tales remind us.
Riding in and around Canterbury is mostly a matter of patience. The ring road is busy, and the centre is closed to most traffic, so park in one of the multi-storey car parks or the park-and-ride sites, and walk in. Surfaces are generally fine but the cobbled lanes around the cathedral are slippery in the wet. For real riding, take the quiet roads of the Kent Downs to the south, with rolling hills, orchards, oast houses and hedged lanes, or head for the Thanet coast. In May the apple and cherry blossom is lovely.
Fuel stations are on the edge of the city and along the A2, and supermarkets are plentiful. The cafes and pubs inside the walls range from tourist traps to proper old inns, and Kentish ale and cider are the sensible drinks. Spend an hour inside the church if it is open, which is not guaranteed, and then walk down the hill into the city for the cathedral. Choose a weekday morning in spring or autumn for the best light and the thinnest crowds.