Medway climate Change 2024

The CCR20 Rochester to Canterbury Cathedral (Linear cycle route)

In support of the Cycle for summer campaign, Medway Climate Response Team have teamed up with Active Medway to run the first Medway Climate Ride. The Ride will start and finish at two of Kent's most historic landmarks, Rochester, and Canterbury Cathedral.

We aim to bring people together to celebrate the low carbon joy of cycling, talk about climate issues and most importantly have fun.




Starting point description:

The event will be starting from Outside Rochester Cathedral facing towards Rochester castle, ME1 1SR.




What kind of roads will we be cycling:

The route will take in around 34 miles of quiet country lanes, meandering streets, shared cycle paths, cobbled high streets, views across the River Medway, Shared cycle paths, the countryside views and everything else between.




What rest stops will be on the ride:

We will be looking to time checking at locations along the way to ensure that the ride is completed within a 4hr 30minute timeframe. Toilet breaks will be highlighted on the day. We will be allowing for a longer departure from medway due to using the cycle network and shared pathways. Our time frame ha been agreed to ensure anyone who pre-books their return train travel from Canterbury, doesn’t miss the train.




Further Notes:

Community supported for this event will be defined as starting as a group with the community group leaders and staying as a group for as much of the ride as possible. The community leaders group will have a timed schedule that we will aim to follow. Anyone who feels like they will not be able to complete the ride or has a mechanical failure that can't be fixed on roadside, will be offered guidance to any of the 8 train stations along the route to return to Rochester. Each train station will be a maximum of 3 miles away from the route for any non-fixable mechanical issues.




I'm a first timer, what advice do you have for me:

We would encourage you to join a local cycling group in Medway before you try this ride. The route we will be following has been designed to be a development ride for anyone who would like to try cycling further.




Can you tell me more about the route:

The Route will follow National Cycle Network 1 as much as possible through-out.

The section leaving Rochester will be on potentially busy roads until we get through Chatham Bus Station. After this point we will use the shared and dedicated cycling pathways towards Medway Tunnel followed by making our way along to the start of Rainham.

After Rainham we will use the lower Rainham Road to make up time until we get to the main roundabout before Horsham. From here we will then use country lanes to travel via Newington to outside Iwade.

We will then travel around Sittingbourne using the industrial route on the cycling network to avoid the main town centres before we re-join NCN 1 on the way out towards Tonge.

We continue on NCN1 and the country lanes that run alongside the train line until we reach the start of Faversham. Here we head through the main high street onto a busier road to meet the fly over that will create the direct line to Canterbury.

After a downhill roll towards Dunkirk we will meet the largest hill of the route. Here we will divert away from the steep climb for a more manageable and longer hill that re-joins at the top of the hill.

After Dunkirk we join a downhill shared pathway that runs alongside the dual carriageway of the A2 for one mile, passing across the front of a petrol station. This area has been identified a High risk and a small briefing will be delivered before this section starts for those still with the group.

Then we make our way into Canterbury. We will be cycling on roads with some parked cars, but essentially the road is wide enough for cars to pass safely. This presents us with our final Hill before we use the side roads to make our way into the centre of Canterbury and our destination the entrance to Canterbury Cathedral.

You must make your own travel arrangements for the return to Medway.

Currently the return train times as of 15th April 2024 are showing trains running at 47 minutes past the hour from Canterbury East with no pre-booking of bicycles required.

We also encourage Car Sharing.