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Switching Directions

November 1, 2026 / Leave a comment

A red car overtaking at midnight on the road south of Yalding towards Laddingford, its tail light streaking past, seen over the handlebars with the headlight on the double yellow lines — One of seven cars, south of Yalding

Ride 263 of the year and day 143 of the streak rolled out ten minutes before midnight on Sunday, and the plan was in the title: switching directions. On Friday’s loop I’d gone out through Nettlestead and Laddingford and climbed home over Hunton Hill. Tonight I’d ride the same lanes the other way round, down Hunton Hill first and home over Yalding Hill. It was cloudy, 9°C and almost still – mild for the first night of November.

So the night began with a gift: the long, gentle run off the ridge and down Hunton Hill, five easy kilometres with the legs barely ticking over, into Yalding.

Out of the village the road ran south towards Laddingford, flat and dark between the hedges, and the Garmin was already counting down to the turn into Gravelly Ways when a red car swept past, its tail light smearing across the frame. It was one of just 7 vehicles on the whole ride.

From Laddingford the loop swung west and then north past Beltring and up through Nettlestead Green: steady Zone 2 miles on empty lanes, the headlight the only thing moving.

Then it was on through Nettlestead and down to the Medway at Wateringbury, and that was where switching directions paid off. Ridden this way, Bow Hill climbs straight up from the river towards Hunt Street, and with fresh legs I went at it hard. Three minutes and two seconds later I had a new PB on it, and my heart rate peaked at 160, the highest of the night.

A short drop brought me back towards Yalding for the sting in the tail: Yalding Hill, the one climb Garmin rates as a Category 4, grinding back up onto the ridge at a steady 236 W. From the top it was east along Heath Road and home, with 11 Strava PRs collected along the way – same lanes, opposite direction, and a whole new set of times to show for it.

The numbers

Ride: #1134 on Strava, ride 263 of 2026, day 143 of the streak
Distance: 26.4 km
Moving time: 1:11:13 (1:12:29 elapsed)
Elevation: 246 m
Average power: 128 W
Heart rate: 117 bpm average, 160 max
Cadence: 88 rpm average
Calories: 647 kcal
Highlight: Bow Hill – 0.85 km, 39 m, 3:02 at 232 W (new PB)
Conditions: dark and cloudy, 9.1°C (feels like 9°C), 92% humidity, barely a breath of northerly wind
Year to date: Distance 21,302 km, Elevation Gain 217,276 m

The route

Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)

The profile and climbs

2 climbs: 1 Cat 4, 1 uncategorised. Biggest: 1.5 km at 5.9%, 88 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 20). Together the climbs account for 127 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	17.2	0.77 km	39 m	5.1%	2:48	266 W	Uncategorised
2	19.7	1.48 km	88 m	5.9%	6:53	233 W	Cat 4

Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.

Midnight Traffic in the Fog

October 31, 2026 / Leave a comment

Ride 262 of the year and day 142 of the streak rolled out five minutes before midnight on Halloween, and it was very much a case of rinse and repeat: another late loop to keep the run of days alive. I couldn’t find my heart-rate monitor before I started, so tonight would be ridden on power and feel alone.

The fog was the story from the start. It was 6°C, 92% humidity and almost dead still, and the mist hung thick in the lanes as I dropped off the ridge and freewheeled down Hunton Hill, the climb that had finished off Friday’s ride. The headlight just bounced back off the murk, and the world shrank to a few metres of wet tarmac.

At the bottom it flattened out into the easy miles: through Chainhurst and down Sheephurst Lane towards Marden, round a loop of the lanes south of the village and back up through Marden itself.

For company I had Yello’s new album, out the day before, on the playlist – and fittingly it has a track called Midnight Traffic. Not that there was much of that. Over the whole ride just 3 vehicles passed me – one every half hour or so.

Headlight beam picking out the yellow School Keep Clear markings outside Boughton Monchelsea Primary School at the top of Church Hill, in thick midnight fog, seen over the handlebars — Outside the school at the top of Church Hill

From Marden I worked north up Stilebridge Lane and across to Lower Farm Road, steady Zone 2 work on flat, empty roads with nothing to see beyond the edge of the beam. Then came the sting: Church Hill, the one climb on the loop that Garmin rates, a Category 4. The 100 metres back up onto the ridge took 8:51 at 224 W, the hardest few minutes of the night.

At the top, in Boughton Monchelsea, I stopped for a minute and a half outside the village primary school. The beam picked out its yellow School Keep Clear markings and the edge of a hedge, and beyond them a line of street lamps faded into the fog.

Then it was west along the ridge towards home. At Linton crossroads the lights were on red, so I waited another minute with them glowing through the murk – about the only colour in a grey night.

Red traffic lights glowing through thick midnight fog at Linton crossroads, seen over the handlebars and Garmin — Red at Linton crossroads

Car headlights coming out of the midnight fog towards the bike in Coxheath, seen over the handlebars — One of only three cars, Coxheath

The last stretch took me through Coxheath, where one of the night’s three cars came at me out of the fog as little more than a pair of headlights. Then home, 27 km in the bag and the streak safely into day 142 – no heart rate, three cars and a Yello track named for the occasion.