🚵‍♀ Hello Hive family! 🚵

Hello fellow weekenders. I really like this quote and it fits really well with the topic I'm talking about for this Weekend Engagement Week.

I’m so excited to talk about this topic because it gives me the chance to share the best weekend I’ve ever had while cycling. Back when I was living in the UK, a friend and I decided to spend three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, cycling through the southeast of the country.

It was a really great adventure, which I would like to repeat one day. Cycling along these beautiful countryside landscapes, we had the opportunity to see a lot of different sceneries. A lot of greenery, and most of the coast in the south-east of the UK like the cliffs in Dove and the beautiful beaches in Margate.

I used the app Strava to record the whole journey, and I'm so glad I did because I have all the details of the kilometers, the time we took to cycling, and the cities we visited.

I don’t remember how long we had to push our bikes along this narrow trail, but honestly, this was the part of the challenge that made everything more interesting, otherwise it could have been a bit boring, wouldn’t it? Of course, we also had plenty of asphalted roads where cycling was as smooth as it could be, always surrounded by endless greenery. And surprisingly, it didn’t rain for the entire weekend.

Some parts were a bit bumpy, and I remember worrying if my bike was the right one for this kind of ride, it is definitely more of a city bike than a mountain one. And then there there is a moment when we had to carry our bikes up those steep steps… one of those scenes where you just laugh, keep going, and hope the next part of the path is easier haha.

The next day we continued our journey along the coast. We first passed by the castle, the Dover Castle, and then we reached the amazing cliffs, which became another one of my favourite parts of the entire trip. Riding our bikes along that coastline felt unreal, and the view from the top of the cliffs was just breathtaking.

I had visited the Seven Sisters before, but this was my first time seeing the cliffs in Dover. I really love the white walls of the cliffs against the dramatic cloudy sky and the endless view of the sea.

And the cliffs are actually white for a really interesting reason. They are made mostly of chalk, a soft rock that formed millions of years ago from the tiny remains of algae and plankton that settled on the sea floor. Over time, all those microscopic shells turned into thick layers of chalk. The reason the cliffs stay so white today is because the sea keeps eroding them, constantly revealing fresh chalk underneath. Without that natural erosion, plants would grow over the surface and the cliffs would look green instead of bright white.

As you can see on the map, on our second day we spent about half of the route cycling right along the coast, enjoying different cliffs, hills and amazing landscapes. The other half took us a little bit inside before returning again towards the seaside. The town where we ended our second day was such a lovely place, Ramsgate. We spent the night there and it felt incredibly cosy, especially compared to the horror of the previous night. We had dinner, stayed in a really nice accommodation and finished the day with a couple of pints in some local pubs. It was a very charming coastal town and the perfect way to end the second day of our journey.

Some pictures of this amazing second day. The cliffs, the towns, the cultural monuments on the way, the food,.. magical!

It was an amazing adventure, one that I haven’t repeated since, and I definitely should. These kinds of trips, whether walking or cycling, are incredible experiences because you can stop at any moment to appreciate the landscape around you. I love road trips too, but the advantage of doing it on a bike is that it’s so much easier to stop whenever you want and take in what’s around you. Luckily, I didn’t get a flat tire and my bike survived the whole journey without any issues. It’s actually still in one piece today, which is pretty surprising.

🌏 I hope you enjoyed this journey through my cycling adventure along the coast of Southeast England.
💬 Leave a comment — I’d love to know what you think!