The First Cycle Ride Of The Year

I set off rather later than planned this afternoon, cycling off towards Kent, with no clear destination in mind. I somehow ended up on NCN #1 heading out into the Dartford saltmarsh.

It gave me a chance to use the panorama camera function on my mobile phone. click on the picture to see it in all its glory.

Looking east, you can just see the Dartford AKA Queen Elizabeth bridge on the horizon, left....and a few horses dotted about.

Looking back towards London, Erith on the left, Essex on the right.

Looking across the Thames towards Essex.

A helpful notice.

or two

Erith across a muddy bay.

The newly clean bike about to get dirty all over again.

The mouth of the river Darenth, with the Dartford bridge in the background.

Dartford has it's own flood barrier.

The path was fairly rough, churned up in places by kids using motorbikes.

This is where the R. Cray joins the Darenth. And a horse.

Soon after I rejoined the road and headed off to Crayford, through Dartford, and followed minor roads down to Gravesend, before getting a train back to Bexleyheath.

It got dark while I was cycling through Dartford; and while I still had plenty of energy for cycling, the cold and dark got to me slightly and reminded me that next time I need to get out of bed a bit earlier, and getting myself moving before Noon would be nice.