I remember the route well; nice! especially "oh look 3 people on a bike" shouted at from some yoof on a park bench in Faversham (responded to by Arabella "no 3 people on 3 bikes")
It's quite different now - and better, I think.
The outward leg goes via Charing to Biddenden rather than via Lenham. so it cuts out that long uphill drag from Faversham, replacing it with a much more undulating option. From Biddenden, it's the same as the old route down to Robertsbridge then over Brightling and down to Hailsham. Instead of that horrible road through Herstmonceux and Battle, the return leg now runs down to Pevensey and along the coast through Bexhill, Hastings and Winchelsea to Rye and then on to Hythe. From Pevensey through to Hythe, it's essentially pancake flat for 70km, except for a nasty lump after Hastings with the climb up to Fairlight (although not nearly as nasty as the route taken up to Fairlight by the Mad Jack). Bearing that flat 70km in mind, the overall climbing figure of 2,200m should give an idea of how undulating the rest of the route is.
The route from Rye to Hythe and from Hythe back home is unchanged from the one we did before but I'm thinking of tweaking it further to cut out the soul-destroying section from Rye to Brenzett along that horrible road full of idiot drivers going far too fast. Since I was late setting off this morning, by the time I got to Hythe, the usual cafe was closed but instead I had some excellent chips from a place called Papa's just across the road from the Railway. Highly recommended.
After Hythe, it's pretty much constantly upwards until you get to Rhodes Minnis, then a fast, mostly downhill run to Canterbury. The alternative option I'm considering cuts inland from Rye, via Appledore, Hamstreet, Smeeth, Hastingleigh and Petham, so not as flat but more direct, and a lot more interesting and pleasant to ride. Having said that, I did enjoy crossing Romney Marsh with a tailwind!
The outward leg is much lumpier than I remember it - no really tough climbs but barely a metre of flat road, just constant up and down. The climb to Brightling is easy enough but goes on a bit. What made it harder was a fairly stiff headwind for the whole of the outward leg. By the time I got to Hailsham, I felt like packing it in, and it was only the knowledge that the next section would be easier that kept me going.
Once I have perfected the route, I shall make it available as a permanent, and hopefully next year I will also be able to put it on as a calendar event - need to get the club on board with that idea.
I didn't get any numerically challenged yoofs shouting anything about people on bikes today, but I did get one wag saying, 'Oh look, it's Bradley Wiggins!' I thought about making some asthma-related gag in response but nothing suitably witty came to mind.
So far this year, I have ridden my bike exactly three times. Two of those occasions were 200km audaxes (the Poor Student and today's DIY) and the third was an aborted attempt at the Willy Warmer 200. I think that's what you call not doing things by halves.
https://www.strava.com/activities/872692422