Appledore to Folkestone: Saturday Adventure Ride

Overview

This is a longer, train-assisted ride. It is a full day out, with an early start and an evening return.

It is an easy-going ride, with no significant gradients, until we have to climb away from the coast to the train station in Folkestone at the end of the ride. There are some off-road sections on unsealed tracks, which are generally in good condition. We will enjoy the wonderful wide horizons and open space of Romney Marsh, quiet country roads, and glorious seaside views.

Our lunch stop is in Lydd, where there is a café, a pub, a shop, and space to sit if you prefer to bring your own food. The lunch stop is less than halfway through the ride, so you will need to make sure you have enough snacks & water for the afternoon.

Travel Arrangements

Please read this carefully, the train connections and ticketing systems are not simple!

It is a good idea to buy your tickets in advance, as prices often increase closer to the date of travel. Those with 60+ Oyster and/or Senior Rail Card will get discounts on the fares quoted below. You can buy tickets directly from Southern Railway https://www.southernrailway.com/ or from Trainline https://www.thetrainline.com/.

No bike reservations are required.

Outward Journey

We will take the High Speed service from London St Pancras to Ashford International, where we change train for the service to Appledore. If you try to buy a through-ticket, you will be guided to a service which allows only 6 minutes for the connection. As the connecting service is only hourly, this is risky.

Instead, we will take the 09.07 service from St Pancras to Ashford International, and have a longer connection (arr 09.45, dep 10.24), reaching Appledore at 10.37. This means you will need to buy two separate tickets. An Advanced Single from St Pancras to Ashford International is currently £17.30 and an Any Time Single from Ashford International to Appledore is £6.

Return Journey

Trains from Folkestone run at 38 mins past the hour into London Bridge (journey time approx. 1 hr 30 mins) and at 56 mins past the hour on the High Speed service into St Pancras (journey time approx. 58 mins). An Off Peak Single on the slower service is £31.90, on the faster service it is currently £43.

Cheaper fares are available only if you buy an Advanced Single which is only valid on a particular train. As we cannot guarantee the time of our arrival in Folkestone, this is not advisable.

The Ride

From Appledore, we take the Military Road, which runs alongside the Royal Military Canal. Built as a fortification during the Napoleonic Wars https://romneymarshhistory.co.uk/royal-military-canal, the Royal Military Canal is now a lovely walking & cycling route across East Sussex/Kent. We skirt the historic but busy town of Rye, to ride on to Camber and then to our lunch stop in Lydd (26km/ 16 miles).

After lunch, we ride across the wonderful landscape of Romney Marsh to rejoin the Royal Military Canal near Lympne and follow it until we reach the coast at Hythe. Then we have a lovely easy ride along the coastal path to Folkestone, before turning up through the town to reach the railway station.

Train-assisted ride across the Romney Marshes and along the coast to Folkestone.

Traffic-free trails, quiet country roads, coastal path

Lunch stop in Lydd.

Plenty of water & snacks. Money/card for cafe/shop. Lock for your bike. Buy train tickets in advance.

First-timers welcome!