Rochester & the Hoo Peninsula: Saturday Medway Adventure

Overview

Our Saturday Adventure Ride for April takes us out to the Medway area of North Kent, an area of marshlands and small villages, where the Medway estuary flows into the Thames. We will start and finish our ride in the historic town of Rochester, famous for its cathedral, castle, and Dickens connections. Although this is a landscape of marshlands and open spaces, it is not totally flat- there are no really big hills but there is some undulating terrain, and the exposed land can make for challenging riding into a head wind. Our route is all on-road, mainly on quiet country roads or on segregated cycle tracks or shared paths alongside busier roads. There are some short sections where we will meet fast-moving traffic.

The Ride

From Rochester station, we take the shared path over the Medway Bridge with views of the busy riverside in Chatham below us. We have a short steep climb through Upnor and a short stretch of busy road through Hoo St Werburgh, before settling into quieter roads as we head out into the Hoo Peninsula. We will have a short refreshment break after 16km, at a café next to a private airfield https://www.stokemedwayairfield.co.uk/thehaltcafe .

We ride on, through increasingly remote countryside and small villages. We circle the Peninsula on undulating roads for another 18km, passing the impressive gateway to Cooling Castle, until we reach the RSPB nature reserves at Cliffe, where we have a longer refreshment stop at the Pure Planet Café by the Eternal Lake Nature Reserve https://eternallake.org/cafe/ .

The final section of our ride takes us back to Upnor, with the option of a brief detour to view the village and castle, before retracing our steps over the Medway Bridge and back to Rochester station.

Travel Arrangements

We will travel to/from Rochester on South Eastern Railways services from London St Pancras. For our outward journey, we will take the 09.20 service from St Pancras, arriving in Rochester at 09.57. We expect to reach Rochester for our return journey by approx. 5pm. Trains to St Pancras leave at 02 and 32 mins past the hour, journey time 36 mins.

If you prefer, you can travel to/from Victoria, also on South Eastern Railways. The 09.10 departure from Victoria arrives in Rochester at 09.53. Return trains from Rochester leave at 06, 23, and 38 mins past the hour, journey time to Victoria is 45-60+ mins.

Senior Railcard discounts are available on these services. Oyster cannot be used on the service from St Pancras.

Please do not buy a ticket which commits you to a particular return train, as we cannot guarantee our arrival time in Rochester for the return journey.

Circular route from Rochester, exploring the Hoo Peninsula on the Medway estuary.

Mostly quieter country roads, some short stretches on busier roads, some shared paths alongside main roads.

Brief pause at Halt Cafe in Middle Stoke; longer break at Pure Planet Cafe near Cliffe.

Water & snacks for the ride. Money/card for cafe breaks. Lock for your bike. Spare inner tube & pump. Buy train tickets in advance.

First-timers welcome!