CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A one-way ride of 849 km, Culverstone Green to Westerham - roughly 12 h 22 in the saddle. On the way it passes near Burnham-on-Crouch and Kidlington. The climbs: near Great Dunmow, Scenic stretch near Luton and near Hook. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 22 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Cambridge Fen Edge and Ely is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Burnham-on-Crouch.
Food stop near Burnham-on-Crouch is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Great Dunmow.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Luton.
The high point of this section. Next is London motorcycle escapes return.
London motorcycle escapes return sits at 264 km, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Hook.
Hook is a busy Hampshire village built around a crossroads and a railway station, and it exists for most riders as a convenient refuelling stop just off junction 5 of the M3. It is not a place of great charm, but the countryside around it is pleasant, with woods, commons and old villages, and there are a few surprises close by.
Read the complete Hook write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Hook is the summit of this stretch. Next is Cambridge Fen Edge and Ely checkpoint 8.
The world's first cash machine was installed at a Barclays branch in Enfield in June 1967, and a blue plaque marks the spot. Enfield has another claim to fame for riders: the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock made the Lee-Enfield rifle, and the town's name passed to the Royal Enfield motorcycle company, whose bikes are still built today, though now in India. The factory site has since been redeveloped into housing around the old buildings.
Read the complete Near Enfield Town write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cambridge Fen Edge and Ely checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Cambridge Fen.
Brands Hatch is only a few minutes' ride west, and for any motorcyclist the name needs no explanation. The hills here are chalk, wooded and gently folded, and the lanes run along the ridges and through the dry valleys.
Read the complete Cambridge Fen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Cambridge Fen. That is the ride. Next is Westerham lanes.
Westerham is a small Kent town of about three thousand people, tucked into the Darent valley under the escarpment of the North Downs, and it has a bigger history than its size suggests. General James Wolfe, who captured Quebec in 1759, was born here, and his statue stands on the green opposite a statue of Winston Churchill, who lived at Chartwell, a few kilometres to the south. Squerryes Court, a seventeenth-century manor house with gardens, stands on the edge of town and has been home to the same family for centuries.
Read the complete Westerham lanes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Westerham lanes sits at 529 km, about halfway. Next is Canterbury food.
Canterbury asks for a pause even from people in a hurry. The cathedral towers over the roofs, the little River Stour slips under footbridges and old timber houses lean over the lanes, and the whole centre is wrapped in a medieval wall that still survives in long stretches. It was already a Roman town, and in 597 Augustine arrived from Rome to begin the English church here, so this is, in a sense, where English Christianity starts.
Read the complete Canterbury food write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Canterbury food is where this day stops to eat. Next is Dover White Cliffs.
Dover's cliffs are not just white, they are enormous: chalk faces about a hundred metres high, bright against the sea on a sunny day, the first and last piece of England for about a thousand years of travellers. This stop sits on the clifftop on the eastern side of town, where the road gives way to open grass, a National Trust area and a long view across the Strait of Dover. On a clear day you can see the French coast, about twenty miles away, as a thin pale line.
Read the complete Dover White Cliffs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 724 km into the recorded legs you reach Dover White Cliffs. Next is Folkestone coast.
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.
Read the complete Folkestone coast write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Folkestone coast, late in the day. Next is Royal Tunbridge Wells return.
Tunbridge Wells owes its existence to a rusty spring. In 1606 a young nobleman, Lord North, was resting in the woods here and noticed a pool with an orange scum; he tried the water, felt better and told the world. Within a few decades the court was coming down from London to drink it, and the Pantiles, a raised, colonnaded walk with trees along it, became the place to be seen taking the waters. The town was granted its Royal prefix in 1909 by Edward VII, and has been the butt of letters to the editor ever since, usually signed by someone disgusted.
Read the complete High point near Royal Tunbridge Wells write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Royal Tunbridge Wells return sits at 793 km, late in the day. Next is Back to Westerham lanes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Westerham lanes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Westerham lanes. That is the ride.
Fuel stop in Culverstone Green → Food stop near Burnham-on-Crouch is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Burnham-on-Crouch → High point near Great Dunmow is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Great Dunmow → Scenic stretch near Luton is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Luton → Near Kidlington, on the way back is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Hook → Near Enfield Town is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Cambridge Fen → Westerham lanes is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Westerham lanes → Canterbury food is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Canterbury food → Dover White Cliffs is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dover White Cliffs → Folkestone coast is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Folkestone coast → Royal Tunbridge Wells return is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Royal Tunbridge Wells return → Back to Westerham lanes is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.