Over the Weald to Brenchley
On Monday night I rolled out for ride 264 of the year and day 144 of the streak. After the fog and cloud of the past few nights the sky had cleared, and a gorgeous half moon hung over the lanes. It was 8.5°C, with a steady northerly taking it down to a feels-like 5°C. Last night’s loop had been a short 26 km; tonight’s would run to nearly twice that.
The first two kilometres did the work for me, a drop of more than 80 m off the ridge towards Hunton. Then came the flat, quiet stretch past Chainhurst, Collier Street and Claygate, with the cadence up and the heart rate settled. My favourite Garmin segments showed how much quicker this was than two nights earlier in the fog: half a minute off both Green Lane, at 4:27, and the run from Collier Street School to Sheephurst, at 3:28.
South of Claygate the lanes finally tilted up, and from Yew Tree Green I was climbing towards Brenchley. It’s a long way up rather than a steep one: Garmin only rated a kilometre of it, but by the village I was nearly 90 m higher than I’d been four kilometres earlier. Garmin’s Castle Hill segment gave me 8:38 at 211 W, ninth of my 16 goes and my best placing of the night. Beyond it the road rolled round the edge of Matfield before a long, quick drop towards Capel and the lower ground around Tudeley.
Hartlake Road carried me north, dead flat and into the wind. With a short halt along the way, its 8:24 was the slowest of my 15 goes on the segment. I pulled up at Golden Green to photograph The Bell, the old listed pub there, its sign standing out against the dark and my shadow stretching up the cracked road ahead. It got little more than a minute.
Next came a short loop through Hadlow, then Garmin’s second climb of the night up towards Mereworth. From there the road eased down to Wateringbury, and my heart rate dropped to around 100.
At Teston the road fell almost to river level, which left the night’s one categorised climb for last: 2.1 km up to the ridge at 4.7%. The hard part was Ewell Lane, a kilometre in a little over four minutes at 253 W. Garmin’s longer Teston Bridge Hill segment came in at 11:03, 39 seconds quicker than my last go in September. After that the last few kilometres rose gently towards home. In two hours just 5 vehicles passed me – a quiet night out, with that moon for company.
The numbers
- Ride: #1135 on Strava, ride 264 of 2026, day 144 of the streak
- Distance: 45.8 km
- Moving time: 1:59:53 (2:04:51 elapsed)
- Elevation: 444 m
- Average power: 134 W
- Heart rate: 119 bpm average, 153 max
- Cadence: 91 rpm average
- Calories: 1,132 kcal
- Highlight: Ewell Lane Climb – 1.01 km, 61 m, 4:13 at 253 W
- Conditions: dark and clear, half moon, 8.5°C (feels like 5°C), 90% humidity, a steady northerly
- Year to date: Distance 21,348 km, Elevation Gain 217,720 m
The route
● Favourite Garmin segment ● Shorter segment inside a longer one The numbers match the Segments table below. Hover over a segment for its time and rank; click or tap for a link to it on Garmin Connect.
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
The profile and climbs
3 climbs: 1 Cat 4, 2 uncategorised. Biggest: 2.1 km at 4.7%, 101 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 40). Together the climbs account for 160 m of the ride’s ascent.
● Cat 4 ● Uncategorised Pins mark where each Garmin ClimbPro climb starts. Hover or tap a pin for details.
Climbs table
| # | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg power | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14.9 | 0.98 km | 30 m | 3.0% | 3:07 | 220 W | Uncategorised |
| 2 | 32.8 | 0.99 km | 29 m | 2.9% | 3:13 | 221 W | Uncategorised |
| 3 | 40.2 | 2.13 km | 101 m | 4.7% | 8:06 | 225 W | Cat 4 |
10 favourite Garmin segments. Best placed: Castle Hill Brenchley, 2.67 km at 2.7%, 9th of my 16 goes (from km 13). Time and power are from this ride; My rank places this ride among all my own goes at that segment. The numbers match the map, and each segment name links to Garmin Connect, where you can save it (you’ll need a Garmin account).
Segments table
| # | Segment | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg speed | Avg power | My rank | My best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hunton Hill Down | 0.9 | 0.79 km | 0 m | -8.0% | 1:02 | 46.3 km/h | 46 W | 27 of 38 | 0:47 |
| 2 | Chainhurst Hill | 3.9 | 0.51 km | 9 m | 1.6% | 1:24 | 21.9 km/h | 210 W | 26 of 40 | 0:52 |
| 3 | Green Lane | 6.7 | 1.90 km | 4 m | 0.0% | 4:27 | 25.7 km/h | 192 W | 16 of 21 | 3:07 |
| 4 | Green Lane Sprint West to Longend Lane | 6.7 | 0.77 km | 2 m | -0.2% | 1:47 | 25.9 km/h | 168 W | 16 of 21 | 1:11 |
| 5 | Collier St School to Sheephurst | 8.7 | 1.51 km | 3 m | -0.1% | 3:28 | 26.2 km/h | 221 W | 20 of 30 | 2:34 |
| 6 | Castle Hill Brenchley | 12.9 | 2.67 km | 72 m | 2.7% | 8:38 | 18.6 km/h | 211 W | 9 of 16 | 7:22 |
| 7 | Hartlake Road North | 24.4 | 3.26 km | 2 m | -0.6% | 8:24 | 23.3 km/h | 183 W | 15 of 15 | 5:59 |
| 8 | Mereworth – Wateringbury dash | 35.6 | 2.85 km | 2 m | -0.8% | 6:53 | 24.8 km/h | 178 W | 20 of 23 | 4:52 |
| 9 | Teston Bridge Hill | 40.3 | 3.07 km | 114 m | 3.5% | 11:03 | 16.6 km/h | 236 W | 17 of 28 | 9:08 |
| 10 | Teston Hill | 40.3 | 0.49 km | 30 m | 5.7% | 1:57 | 15.1 km/h | 232 W | 23 of 28 | 1:15 |
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.
Earlier posts
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Switching Directions
November 1, 2026
A midnight streak-keeper run the other way round: down Hunton Hill to Yalding, out to Laddingford and Nettlestead, then a new PB up Bow Hill and home over Yalding Hill, with just 7 vehicles on the road.
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Midnight Traffic in the Fog
October 31, 2026
A foggy Halloween-midnight streak-keeper down Hunton Hill to Chainhurst and Marden and back up Church Hill, with no heart-rate monitor, Yello on the playlist and just 3 vehicles on the road.
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Half Moon over Hunton Hill
October 30, 2026
A midnight streak-keeper from Yalding out to Nettlestead and Laddingford and home over Hunton Hill, with Nickelback on the playlist, a half moon overhead and just 10 vehicles on the road.
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Warm Mist on Wierton Hill
October 29, 2026
A midnight Zone 2 loop down into the fog around Headcorn and Smarden and back via Babylon Lane, with a near-best effort up Wierton Hill into strangely warm, misty air.
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Egerton by Headlight
October 28, 2026
A night-time Zone 2 loop out to Egerton and back along the Greensand ridge, with a road closure between Staplehurst and Headcorn and a pause on Headcorn green.
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Midnight on Church Hill
October 27, 2026
A clear, cold midnight Zone 2 loop from Yalding through Collier Street and East Peckham, passed by just three vehicles, with a third-best time up Church Hill in the dark.
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Ten Days in France
October 26, 2026
The France trip in one place: ten rides from Tours, Cahors and Orléans, 751.4 km and 8,029 m of climbing, with a map of how much of the Lot I covered.
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Cycle Lanes to Morchêne
October 26, 2026
An easy Monday-morning loop south of the Loire from Orléans, on bike lanes and flat farm roads through Saint-Denis-en-Val and Saint-Cyr-en-Val to the Château de Morchêne and back.
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Racing the Dark to Cléry
October 25, 2026
A Sunday-afternoon loop west from Orléans along the Loire levées to Meung's bridge, Dry and the basilica at Cléry-Saint-André, racing the dark home on the day the clocks went back.
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A Quick Spin to Rocamadour
October 24, 2026
The last day in the Lot: 131 km from Cahors up the Vers valley to Labastide-Murat, across the causse to Rocamadour on its cliff, and back the same way with more than 1,700 m of climbing.
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Filling the Gaps on the Causse
October 23, 2026
A damp Friday loop south-east of Cahors, up the Côte du Mont-Saint-Cyr and across the causse through Flaujac-Poujols, Laburgade, Cremps and Aujols, then home along the Lot from Arcambal.
