Spokes rides
Sunday 1 July, Canterbury West station to Chartham
Meet 10.30am Canterbury West Station
This is a very short, safe, off-road suitable for new and returning cyclists - in face, you don't even need a bike as some can be borrowed from Wheel Potential at Toddlers Cove! The ride will leave Canterbury West station and head to Toddlers Cove where Wheel Potential will be showing off the equipment and bikes they have available to try or borrow for the ride - see www.wheelpotential.com for details. We'll leave Toddlers Cove at 11.00 and cycle just over three miles along the Great Stour Way beside the river Chartham for lunch and a drink at the Artichoke - a 14th century pub with a well in the dining room and a lovely garden at the back. Then we will return the same way - all flat. Anyone wanting a hill to climb can go up Rattington Street to Chartham's other pub, The Local, or go further on Route 18 to Chilham, to the Woolpack or White Horse, on their own. The Spokes ride is for novices and other interested cyclists and goes to the Artichoke and back. Leaders: Beatrice Shire (Canterbury West) 01227 7667782 and Frank Guthrie (Toddlers Cove) 01227 374993.
Sunday 5 August, An Ashford meander
Meet Ashford domestic station 10.30 am.
A meander around the villages to the west of Ashford. Suitable for all bikes with no major hills and a lunch stop en route. Ride leader: Chris Beswick
Sunday 1 July, Canterbury West station to Chartham
Meet 10.30am Canterbury West Station
This is a very short, safe, off-road suitable for new and returning cyclists - in face, you don't even need a bike as some can be borrowed from Wheel Potential at Toddlers Cove! The ride will leave Canterbury West station and head to Toddlers Cove where Wheel Potential will be showing off the equipment and bikes they have available to try or borrow for the ride - see www.wheelpotential.com for details. We'll leave Toddlers Cove at 11.00 and cycle just over three miles along the Great Stour Way beside the river Chartham for lunch and a drink at the Artichoke - a 14th century pub with a well in the dining room and a lovely garden at the back. Then we will return the same way - all flat. Anyone wanting a hill to climb can go up Rattington Street to Chartham's other pub, The Local, or go further on Route 18 to Chilham, to the Woolpack or White Horse, on their own. The Spokes ride is for novices and other interested cyclists and goes to the Artichoke and back. Leaders: Beatrice Shire (Canterbury West) 01227 7667782 and Frank Guthrie (Toddlers Cove) 01227 374993.
Sunday 5 August, An Ashford meander
Meet Ashford domestic station 10.30 am.
A meander around the villages to the west of Ashford. Suitable for all bikes with no major hills and a lunch stop en route. Ride leader: Chris Beswick
Spokes monthly ride, Sunday 7 January
Going nowhere...
...or cul-de-sacs in the Ham and Luddenham marshes.
Meet at Faversham Station 10.30am for an easy ride of 15 miles (22k) with a pub stop. Suitable for all bikes. Discover and enjoy the beauty of the flat, bleak marshes around Faversham. - to paraphrase a remark made about the Fens, "Any fool can appreciate mountains, it takes a person of real discernment to appreciate North Kent's marshes"! If you are a twitcher, bring some binoculars. If the weather is really terrible, a walk round Faversham is the alternative. Ride leader: Andrew Wyvers.
Going nowhere...
...or cul-de-sacs in the Ham and Luddenham marshes.
Meet at Faversham Station 10.30am for an easy ride of 15 miles (22k) with a pub stop. Suitable for all bikes. Discover and enjoy the beauty of the flat, bleak marshes around Faversham. - to paraphrase a remark made about the Fens, "Any fool can appreciate mountains, it takes a person of real discernment to appreciate North Kent's marshes"! If you are a twitcher, bring some binoculars. If the weather is really terrible, a walk round Faversham is the alternative. Ride leader: Andrew Wyvers.
The Annual Catha’s Seat Picnic
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Saturday 30th April 2016 saw the third annual Catha's Seat Picnic when all are invited to travel by foot or bicycle from the surrounding villages, towns, and further afield to congregate on a stunning destination overlooking the Stour Valley and Chilham Castle. This remote, quiet place on National Cycle Route 18 and the Stour Valley Walk is known as Catha's Seat, and features two handcrafted solid oak benches with in-built cycle parking. Between 1 and 3pm the gathered enjoyed their picnics and some light live music from the fantastic Ashford Folk Community, hot off the heels of a tour to Germany!
This place is named after Catharine 'Catha' Keegan, a dedicated cycling campaigner who lived in Wye and who was involved in planning the Ashford to Canterbury section of National Cycle Route 18. Her mission was to create safer cycling routes and encourage their use, so Catha's Seat and the annual picnic provide opportunities for people to discover or re-discover this route as well as the joys of cycling and walking in the glorious Kentish countryside. Catha’s Seat Awards At this year’s Picnic we launched the first ever Catha’s Seat Awards. A total fund now worth £1,000 is available to applications from local groups, schools and individuals for equipment and expenses as part of projects to encourage safety and increased use of Route 18 between Ashford and Canterbury. Closing date was 15 July 2016 - winners announced in September. http://cathas-seat.org/awards/ To find out more keep up to date with our website www.cathasseat.org _or social media; Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/cathasseat | Twitter - https://twitter.com/Cathasseat Catha's Seat has been supported by Kent County Council, Ashford Borough Council, Godmersham Parish Council, Chilham Parish Council, Councillor Andrew Wickham and over 70 private donors. Catha's Seat was built by ARC Creative Design. 
Spokes member, Frank Guthrie, pictured with one of the new gates.
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Photo credit: Funder Films CIC (old man and small child)
 Click to enlarge
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Coastal rides - Viking Coastal Trail improved
Now we can get past the gates!
For many years, enjoyment of the stretch of the Viking Coastal Trail between Reculver and Minnis Bay has been marred by the presence of two gates that cross the sea wall, one near each end.
The one near to Reculver has always been firmly padlocked; the one at the Minnis Bay end has been openable, but only by brute force. There were awkward chicanes by the side of each that could be negotiated by pedestrians and people on orthodox bikes, although the one at the Minnis Bay end was unprotected by any fencing, and it would not have been impossible, in the dark maybe, to skid off the top of the wall and down the slope into the dyke below.
As for wheelchairs, disability adapted bicycles, tandems etc., these gates were impassable for many. There is a Thanet District Council facility at Minnis Bay that provides adapted bicycles for disabled folk, but anyone intending to head west for a nice ride in the sea air and a pint at the King Ethelbert was stymied, if not by the first gate, certainly by the second.
Now, however, all is remedied! The old gates have been removed, and replaced by half-width ones, with plenty of space for all non-vehicular users. The sign on them reads 'Kent's shared paths are for everyone to enjoy' with pictures of a dog-walker, a wheelchair user, a runner and a cyclist.
Well, just what Spokes has been campaigning for for years! At long last.
Thank you KCC
Now we can get past the gates!
For many years, enjoyment of the stretch of the Viking Coastal Trail between Reculver and Minnis Bay has been marred by the presence of two gates that cross the sea wall, one near each end.
The one near to Reculver has always been firmly padlocked; the one at the Minnis Bay end has been openable, but only by brute force. There were awkward chicanes by the side of each that could be negotiated by pedestrians and people on orthodox bikes, although the one at the Minnis Bay end was unprotected by any fencing, and it would not have been impossible, in the dark maybe, to skid off the top of the wall and down the slope into the dyke below.
As for wheelchairs, disability adapted bicycles, tandems etc., these gates were impassable for many. There is a Thanet District Council facility at Minnis Bay that provides adapted bicycles for disabled folk, but anyone intending to head west for a nice ride in the sea air and a pint at the King Ethelbert was stymied, if not by the first gate, certainly by the second.
Now, however, all is remedied! The old gates have been removed, and replaced by half-width ones, with plenty of space for all non-vehicular users. The sign on them reads 'Kent's shared paths are for everyone to enjoy' with pictures of a dog-walker, a wheelchair user, a runner and a cyclist.
Well, just what Spokes has been campaigning for for years! At long last.
Thank you KCC