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Category Archives: Recumbents
Well, I usually go west on my rides out so have been getting a better tan on my left side, to redress the balance I headed east into the depths of Kent, next it will be south, if I go north I hit the river after a mile so that’s out.
I decided to ride to Faversham on Thursday, home of Shepherd Neame breweries, funny how cyclists will identify routes with particular beers. A very hot day, I decided to ride the main A2 all the way there and I could see the heat haze coming of the road surface, with the school holidays now in play the traffic was reasonably busy but I was afforded plenty of space by drivers, as is usual when riding a recumbent trike.
My plan was to do a 40 mile round trip, returning by a more rural route. The main road is more or less straight, passing through a few villages and one major town (Sittingbourne), there are a few hills but only one major hill, even this is preceded by a fantastic downhill though so at least half of it can be coasted, I arrived in Faversham sooner than I imagined and after just 17 miles, even though I was not making a particularly fast pace, so I rode to the other side of town then round the town ring road before alighting at a pub for a pint of Guinness and a bag of crisps, it was just to hot to eat lunch.
After the break I headed back following much of National Cycle Route one, missing the off road sections, I had forgotten about the one killer hill going this way just outside of Faversham but it gets the heart pumping so no harm. The road wends its way through various villages and homesteads and I had forgotten what a beautiful part of the world I live in, riding through here reminded me why Kent is known as the garden of England, with its rolling fields of crops, country houses and quiet hamlets it was an entirely pleasant ride, I have been asked a few times by Americans to organise a trike tour in Kent and will probably do just that from next year just so I can get paid to do what I enjoy so much. There is so much great countryside here that you can easily be complacent about it when you live here.
My tan is a bit more even now, although I look a bit cut and shut with brown arms and legs but a white torso.
Total miles 42.6, average speed 12.5 mph, highest speed 38.1 mph.
Inspired to further my report by the primordial tourer, I decided on Tuesday to take the day off and head off to Lakeside shopping park to spend my £6 Decathlon voucher, it seemed like a good excuse for a ride out and to actually use the ferry this time.
Knowing where it was made getting there a lot easier, I tried some alternative cycle lanes which were also slow, so it will be road only next time, but I did surprise myself by climbing some hills easily that I thought would be difficult, I must be getting fitter.
I covered the first 15 miles in little over an hour and arrived at the ferry dock, the ferry was on the other side, so I chatted with other people waiting while the ferry made its way across, I filmed the crossing and will provide a You Tube link at some point so its true majesty can be experienced.
 Until then you will have to feast your eyes on this library shot, a truly magnificent ship of the line I am sure you will agree.
I was welcomed aboard and parked the trike on the stern deck, applied the parking brake and went to pay my £4.10 day return fair, the trike going free.
I went to look for the bar but alas in the single cabin it was conspicuous by its absence. Instead you get lockers and a few seats to sit on.
On being quizzed about where I was going I was given a route by a knowledgeable local who seemed to think I would not be riding on the roads but hey ho, I did not have the heart to correct them. We arrived after a few minutes crossing and disembarked.
The dock on the Tilbury side is significantly more grand that the Gravesend side but equally it is a long way from the town centre, I followed the signs for Grays and made good time, in total it was about 7 miles to Lakeside from the ferry dock, the road surfaces were fine and the local wildlife (chavs), were less boisterous than the Kent contingent. Drivers were much the same and afforded me plenty of room as usual with the odd (ignored) beep of a horn.
I conducted my shopping then retired to TGI Fridays for lunch and beer, the staff seemed to like the trike but had some problems getting their head around me considering a 22 mile one way cycle ride to be fun. They did give me a free beer however and I fueled up on carbs and protein, also known as cheeseburger and chips.
I returned by a slightly shorter and faster route which I will remember for next time, when I reached the ferry dock, it was on the other side (again), so I waited for it to cross, I had had about 4 hours in the magical land of Essex and was ready to return to the green hills of Kent and hopefully miss some of the traffic.
The retun home was peppered with commuting cyclists, I passed two commuters going up a hill (who said recumbents cannot climb?), I was passed by one fellow, I then decided not to be passed by the cycle I could vaguely see in my mirror, after a while I realised it was a motor scooter, it caught me at the top of a hill but I left it for dead going down and did not see it again.
In total I covered 43 miles, average speed a measly 12 mph, highest speed 35.9 mph, managed to get a bit of sunburn to.
Yes we all know about the Woolwich ferry service and very good it is to, I always find that when I use the service, they put me and the trike at the front of the queue and if I am going into London I often use it, but what if I want to go from the wilds of Kent to the mystical world of Essex? A land of mystery and magic (and few hills and the occasional white stiletto), it also is the gateway to Suffolk and the ferry to the Netherlands, and lest we forget, Lakeside shopping centre.
There are a couple of options, drive, go to the Dartford crossing and they get a Landrover with an iffy trailer to take you across or the fabled (until now), Gravesend Tilbury ferry.
I heard about the ferry four years ago when it was in the news after being rammed by the navy, while berthed. At that time I was led to believe it was just for foot passengers, I was unsure if it was suitable for cycles and getting information about it is near impossible, as it turns out it may be one of Kent/Essex’s best kept secrets, as not only does it take cycles but also solo motorcycles.
After many unsuccessful attempts to find out fare prices and timetables I put it to the back of mind and forgot about it, but recently decided to renew my search, to that end I decided the best course of action was a visit and Tuesday 15th July 2008 was the day.
The plan was to call into the site of the new workshop and sign the lease then head to Gravesend, get the ferry to Tilbury and ride to Lakeside, have some lunch, pop into the bookshop and Decathlon then head back the ferry, back across to Gravesend and on to home, when I got to the workshop they had messed up the lease so I spent two hours sorting that out, I then had lunch at the cafe on site, still, not to be deterred, I decided to go to Gravesend and at least check the timetable, location and prices. The timetable on line is a few years out of date.
At this point I made my usual mistake of heading off to Gravesend on National Cycle Route one, which starts off fine and follows the old canal and railway line, so is direct and straight, all sounds good but in practice, it is overgrown, swamped in insects and has the worst installed barriers in the world, to narrow for a trike, to narrow for a wheelchair and to narrow for a loaded touring bike, Gravesend council take note.
People have asked me why they have been told not to stop in Gravesend and the reason is, you will get mugged or robbed or killed, the local “yoof” are like the cast of extras from “Dawn of the Dead”, seemingly calm but prone to bouts of violence and opportunist crime, especially after a few cans of “wife beater”, however they cannot handle a moving target so as long as you keep moving they leave you alone, interestingly they seem to have a healthy respect for recumbent trikes for reasons I have not yet fathomed.
I traversed the cycle route, lifting the trike over four barriers, (ah, aerospace aluminium, nice and light), and made my way into Gravesend proper, at this point I noticed a noise from my offside front wheel, I could not see anything caught there so I assumed (correctly), that I had a loose spoke which I decided to investigate at the ferry. Finding the ferry was relatively easy, I traversed the town centre and headed onto the one way system and it was sign posted on the left of the road, (West street), at first I was confused as it looked like the entrance to private flats, and indeed it is the car parking for said flats, but to the rear of the building there is a wrought iron gate which leads to a pontoon where the ferry docks.
The ferry was visible on the other side of the river, there was no information available so I waited for the boat to cross so I could ask for details, I say boat because the word “ship” would be a huge exaggeration, still, a few people were waiting so it seemed as if it was a used service. The ferry made it’s way across dodging between tugs towing barges and came along side the pontoon, it smoothly slid into place before the stern (that’s the bit at the back), hit the pontoon with the force of a small torpedo, I could see some sort of contraption on the rear deck which I thought could be a recumbent trike, which would be odd as I had only seen one other in this part of Kent in the last five years. When the ferry tied up I could see it was indeed a recumbent tandem trike, not to miss the opportunity, as they unloaded I made sure my trike was out of sight and declared “that’s a funny looking bike mister!”, I saw the heckles of the rider go up, “funny looking bike?, Funny looking bike?”, at that point ready to educate me all about recumbent trikes he saw my Catrike and realised he had been set up, we spent a few minutes chatting and I suggested I ride back with them as they only lived about five miles from me and it would be pleasant to ride with another trike. I then checked the ferry details and timetable, it runs every half hour and costs £2.70 one way or £4.10 for a day return, cycles are carried at no extra charge, seems very reasonable to me. Pensioners go for a £1.
I made the return trip with the couple on the recumbent tandem trike (Trice, no longer made), before taking my leave and heading home, I am looking forward to actually using the ferry crossing, now that I have checked it out, a very useful service for cyclists that means you do not have to go all the way to Dartford or London to cross the Thames, when I cycle to Suffolk next month for the HPV world championships I will be using the service.
In total for the day, I cycled for just over three hours, averaged only 10mph due to using the cycle route and had a maximum speed of 35mph. The weather was overcast but later turned to sunshine, I found the information I wanted and made some new friends, a successful day.
It’s raining, and I’m lying down on a trike, I know on my usual seven mile commute to the workshop my waterproofs will not leak but today I am doing twenty miles, if they do leak it will be good to know so I can resolve it before the LEL next year, I am seriously thinking about popping the fairing on, just a small bubble screen but it keeps the worst off. I usually only use it in the winter as my feet can get a bit to warm in summer but this rain is either heavy or not at all, what happened to drizzle?
Over the coming months I will try to blog on a regular basis on my experiences of riding, selling and maintaining recumbent cycles while no doubt plugging the brands I deal with, if anyone has any interesting tales involving recumbent cycles then please feel free to contact me with them.
Disclaimer: These views are not necessarily the views of Cyclechat.
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