Ill Concieved Plans Poorly executed

The Hop Garden 100

One of the golden rules of navigation is "everybody else can be wrong", another is "look at the map before you get lost". The problem is you have to apply both rules, which goes someway to explain why I was heading for Otford when the Hop Garden 100 starts in Meopham. For some reason I had missed up the start with another event.

We arrived in time to see everyone else; they had read the instructions and located the start on a map before leaving home, set out on the ride. Still we were here now, it was a nice day and being at the tail end meant we could pretend we were just out for a Sunday ride rather than riding in a multicoloured sociable bunch. Before long we were whizzing around the lanes of Kent employing our patient navigation technique. Angela would yell the instructions at me, I would go the wrong way and she would repost with a comment along the lines of "was that you're left or my left?" Sometimes I'm not sure I'm safe to be left alone with a route sheet.

Kent in spring is beautiful, new leaves and fresh greens everywhere and a surprise around every corner. Around one corner we came across a pair of penny farthings going the other way. Not something you see every day. Around anther corner we found a BMW driver who seemed to have forgotten that you need to slow down at roundabouts and that bicycles move fairly slowly. What followed was a heart stopping moment when the back end of the car slid round the roundabout, within inches of Angelas bike as the driver decided her bike was in the way of his exit and the best thing to do was to screech round full circle. Before long the country lanes restored our heart rates to something nearer normal.

So far we had had two info controls but real controls i.e. those that supply sticky goods and tea, had been notable by their absence. This was soon to be rectified and we started the countdown to feasting. This as always led to the sweet versus savoury debate. Angela is a savoury kind of girl preferring to shun the sweet delights of cakes and buns where as I hold the opposite view. Luckily for us the control catered for all tastes supplying everything from cheese rolls to doughnuts via iced buns and enough tea to drown a cake. It was so pleasant sitting there in the sun watching the world go by that we almost lost the urge to ride back.

Starting at the top of the North Downs give a clue as to how the ride will end. There are easy ways up the Downs and there are fun ways up the Downs but there are no easy fun ways. Holly Hill was defiantly in the "fun" category if you're idea of fun is creaking gently up a stiff slope. By no stretch of the imagination was it easy and just when you got to the top there was another "little" hill to follow. Nasty. Still it didn't ruin a nice ride, just made it a little more memorable.