Peak District Overnight Escape

A 535 km loop

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Why this ride

A proper escape from London motorcycle escapes with roads worth waking up for. A 535 km loop that starts and ends near Dunstable, about 9 h 44 of riding. The stops in between: Edgware, in Leysdown-on-Sea, Scenic stretch near Maidstone and Peacehaven. near Thame is the high point. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Dunstable fuel

   Dunstable sits where Watling Street, the old Roman road from London to the north-west, cuts through the chalk of the Chiltern Hills, and the town has been a stopping place for travellers for nearly two thousand years. Henry the First founded a priory here in the twelfth century, and its great church still stands, though much reduced. Today the town is busy and practical, with plenty of service stations and supermarkets.

   Just south-west of town, the Dunstable Downs rise to the highest point in Bedfordshire, a long chalk escarpment with views over the Vale of Aylesbury. The London Gliding Club operates from the foot of the downs, and on a good day the sky is full of gliders riding the updraughts along the ridge. Kite flyers and walkers gather on the top, and the visitor centre has a café.

   A little further south, at Whipsnade, a huge white lion is cut into the chalk hillside below the zoo, visible for miles. Nearby, the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral is a remarkable memorial garden planted in the shape of a cathedral after the First World War.

   As a start and fuel stop, Dunstable is convenient, with easy access to the M1 and the A5. From here, the roads north towards the Peak District or west into the Chilterns are open. The lanes over the downs and through the Chiltern villages are narrow and winding, with plenty of bends and some steep climbs. Traffic can be heavy around the town, especially at rush hour.

2. Near Edgware finish

   Most people know Edgware as the end of a Tube line, but riders know it for something older. The A5 that runs through it is Watling Street, the Roman road that ran from the Kent coast to the far side of Britain, and the long dead-straight run from here towards St Albans has the unmistakable stamp of legionary surveyors. The finish lies a little south, around Kingsbury and Queensbury, where north-west London becomes an endless spread of semis, shopping parades and busy junctions.

   There is water close by, which is not what you expect. The Welsh Harp, officially the Brent Reservoir, was dug in the nineteenth century to feed the Regent's Canal, and it is now a nature reserve and sailing lake with herons, grebes and the odd cormorant, wedged between the North Circular and the houses. A short walk along its edge is the closest thing to countryside in this part of town.

   For anyone mechanically minded, the RAF Museum at Colindale is a few minutes away, with hangars full of aircraft from the First World War to the jet age. Entry has traditionally been free, and it is a fine way to spend an hour if you finish early and the light is still good.

   Coming back from the Peak District, the M1 delivers you straight into this, and the transition is brutal. The last few miles are all traffic lights, bus lanes, speed cameras and drivers looking for parking spaces. Filter carefully, watch for car doors and pedestrians stepping off the kerb, and remember that London's low emission zone covers this area; older bikes may need to check their status before riding in.

   Fuel and food are easy, from big supermarkets to late-night takeaways. Edgware and Burnt Oak have plenty of cafés where you can sit with a tea and let the motorway hum fade from your ears.

3. Photo stop in Leysdown-on-Sea photo

   Leysdown-on-Sea, at the eastern end of the Isle of Sheppey, has the faded cheerfulness of a traditional English seaside resort: caravan parks, amusement arcades, chip shops and a long shingle beach looking out over the Thames estuary towards the open sea. It is not glamorous, but it has a certain charm, and the sense of being at the edge of things is strong.

   What most visitors do not know is that this flat, windswept corner of Kent is one of the birthplaces of British aviation. In 1909, the Short Brothers set up a factory at Shellbeach, near Leysdown, to build aircraft under licence from the Wright brothers, and the Wrights themselves visited. The Royal Aero Club had its flying ground here, and some of the first flights in Britain took off from these marshes. Muswell Manor, the clubhouse, still stands.

   Beyond Leysdown, the road ends at Shellness, a remote spit of shell and shingle with a nature reserve. The marshes of the Swale, between Sheppey and the mainland, are home to huge numbers of birds, especially in winter, when geese, ducks and waders arrive from the north. The Elmley reserve, on the island, is one of the best places in Kent to see them.

   For riders, Sheppey is reached by the Sheppey Crossing, a high bridge over the Swale, and the roads across the island are flat and straight, with wide views over the marshes. Wind is a constant companion. Fuel and food are available on the island, especially in Sheerness and Minster. As a photo stop, the beach and the marshes at sunset are memorable.

4. Scenic stretch near Maidstone scenic

   Maidstone is the county town of Kent, built on the banks of the River Medway, which carried ragstone, timber and hops to London for centuries. The town has a busy modern centre, but its riverside has old buildings, including the medieval Archbishop's Palace, a stopping place for archbishops of Canterbury travelling between London and their cathedral. It is a practical place, with good roads, shops and services, and a gateway to some of the loveliest countryside in the south-east.

   Kent is known as the Garden of England, and the land around Maidstone shows why. Orchards of apples, pears and cherries cover the slopes, and the distinctive oast houses, with their round or square kilns and white cowls, recall the hop industry that once dominated the region. To the east lies Leeds Castle, set on islands in a lake, often called one of the most beautiful castles in the world. To the north, the chalk ridge of the North Downs carries the Pilgrims' Way, an ancient track used by pilgrims to Canterbury.

   The riding around Maidstone is a mix of busy main roads and quiet lanes. The M20 and A20 run east and west, while the A229 heads north and south. The lanes in the Weald and on the Downs are narrow and winding, with high hedges and occasional steep climbs, and they demand care. Traffic can be heavy in the town and on the main roads, especially at rush hour.

   Maidstone has plenty of fuel, shops and restaurants. For a more charming stop, villages in the surrounding countryside have pubs and tea rooms, often with gardens. The South Downs and Beachy Head lie further south-west, while the Peak District is a long ride north.

5. Peacehaven swim

   Peacehaven was a field of cabbages until the First World War. Then an entrepreneur named Charles Neville bought the clifftop, laid out a grid of roads and started selling plots, at first under the name New Anzac-on-Sea, after the Australian and New Zealand troops camped nearby. The name changed after Gallipoli, and the result is one of England's odder towns: a sprawling bungalow suburb perched on top of chalk cliffs between Brighton and Newhaven.

   The town sits exactly on the Greenwich Meridian, and a monument on the cliff marks the line. Stand next to it and you have one foot in each hemisphere, which is more than most seaside towns can offer. Below the cliffs a concrete undercliff walk runs along the shore, with steps and ramps leading down from the town.

   Swimming here is for those who check the tide. At high water the sea comes up close to the cliff and the shore is narrow shingle; at low water a wide chalk platform appears, slippery with weed and full of rock pools. The best time for a dip is around mid tide on a calm day, entering from the shingle rather than the rock. Watch for currents and stay away from the foot of the cliffs, which shed chalk regularly.

   The A259 coast road through Peacehaven is busy and slow, with traffic lights, buses and plenty of speed limits. The rewards lie inland, where small roads climb onto the South Downs with views back to the sea. Ditchling Beacon, a little north-west, is a classic climb with a view over the Weald.

   Fuel, supermarkets and cafés line the main road, and Newhaven, just east, has the ferry to Dieppe if you suddenly fancy France.

6. Food stop in Overton food

   The paper for Bank of England banknotes was made near Overton for centuries. The Portal family founded a mill on the River Test in the early eighteenth century, and their watermarked paper became the currency of the empire; the business, later part of De La Rue, still operates here. It is a curious claim to fame for a quiet Hampshire village of brick and flint houses, but it says much about the clear, fast chalk streams of this part of England.

   The Test is one of the world's most famous chalk streams, rising just to the east of Overton and flowing south through Whitchurch, Stockbridge and Romsey to Southampton Water. Its clear water and abundant trout have made it a legend among fly fishermen, and its valley is a gentle, green landscape of water meadows, thatched cottages and old mills. Whitchurch, a few miles west, has a working silk mill on the river, a charming stop.

   The riding here is pleasant and unhurried. The roads follow the valleys and cross the chalk downs, with gentle curves, rolling hills and wide views. The B3400 through Overton and Whitchurch is a pretty route, and the roads north towards the Berkshire Downs and Watership Down, of rabbit novel fame, are quiet and scenic. Watch for tractors, horses and cyclists, and for mud and flint on the lanes.

   Overton has a few pubs, cafés and shops, ideal for a lunch stop, while fuel is more easily found in Whitchurch or Basingstoke. A pint and a sandwich in a village pub, sitting by the river, is the essence of a ride in Hampshire. Northwards, the route eventually leads to the Peak District, a long ride away through the heart of England.

7. High point near Thame pass

   You top out here; the road stops climbing.

8. Back to Peak District finish

   Dunstable Downs is the high point of this corner of England, and gliders use the ridge's updrafts nearly every fine day. It is the highest ground in Bedfordshire, and from the top the plain stretches north towards the Midlands.

   The ride that ended here started in the Peak District, so the downs feel like a gentle echo of the hills. Roads along the escarpment are twisty and open, with sharp bends where they climb or drop, and the views on a clear day are wide. The surface is generally good, but busy roads like the A5 and M1 run close by. On a sunny weekend the car park at the top fills with kite-flyers and walkers, so mornings and weekdays are quieter. Whipsnade Zoo, on the same ridge, has a huge chalk lion carved into the hillside, visible for miles.

   Markyate sits on Watling Street, the Roman road that became the A5, and the town grew as a stopping place for coaches and travellers. Its long high street is lined with old inns and houses, and the name of the street has been in use since Roman times. Nearby, chalk grassland on the downs is rich in wild flowers, including orchids and rare butterflies such as the chalkhill blue, which fly in July and August.

   Fuel and food are easy at Dunstable, with large stations and supermarkets, and Markyate has a few shops and a pub. A visitor centre at the top of the downs has a cafe with a terrace and a view that suits a tired rider.

   Stay a little while to watch the gliders turn above the slope. It is an easy way to enjoy the end of a long ride.

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