Cantii Way: Dover to Rye

This ride revisits the coast between Dover and Rye, with particular reference to two recent developments: first, the improvement of the NCN2 clifftop route between Aycliff and Capel Le Ferne, second the launch by Cycling UK of their Cantii Way route. Here's a map of the route (with photo thumbnails).

The NCN2 improvements have replaced the very rough track between Aycliff and Capel Le Ferne with an excellent tarmac surface. The Cantii Way is a 'virtual' (ie unsigned) circuit around Eastern Kent (Wye - Canterbury - Thanet Coast - Dover - Dungeness - Rye - Ashford - Wye). Between Dover and Rye the Cantii Way is as follows:

NCN2 to Capel Le Ferne
skirts Folkestone inland, using Crete Road East and West, crosses the M20, then goes off-road to rejoin NCN2 along the sea front at Hythe.
follows NCN2 inland to the Royal Military Canal path, but returns on a bridleway through Burmarsh to the coastal sea wall route at Dymchurch (NCN2 goes inland on lanes to Lydd)
follows the sea wall and sea front road to Lydd-on-Sea
follows the road across the Dungeness nature reserve to the nuclear power station(s)
crosses the Dungeness shingle on the power station perimeter path and access road
after a brief spell on the Dungeness-Lydd main road, crosses the RSPB Dungeness reserve on a bridleway and joins the concrete perimeter tracks around the Lydd Ranges
rejoins NCN2 at Lydd, which mainly uses a cycle path alongside the road before crossing fields on a rough track to Rye (this latter track is to be improved soon, according to a notice)

I parked at Ashford 'International' station, which is an excellent rail hub for the Cantii Way. It has a good secure car park (about £8 per day), and train connections to Wye, Canterbury, Minster, Margate, Ramsgate, Sandwich, Dover, Folkestone and Rye. (The impressive station concourse has rather a forlorn, deserted, air, now that Eurostar trains no longer call there.) I got the train to Dover Priory, and cycled down to the esplanade to join the NCN2. I finished at Rye, and got the train back to Ashford. About 50 miles cycling in all.

I have always enjoyed riding along this coast. The clifftop path between Aycliff and Capel Le Ferne gives fine views, and the roads along the massive sea walls between Folkestone and St Mary's (and later at Camber) make for easy riding right next to the beach: I doubt there is any other place in England which can match it for proximity to the sea, with large expanses of sand at low tide. There are many sights along the way, including the sound mirror on Abbots Cliff; the Battle of Britain memorial at Capel Le Ferne; the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch miniature railway (which is crossed twice); the Royal Military Canal; the shingle 'desert' of Dungeness - bright yellow with broom in spring - with its lighthouses, nuclear power stations, Derek Jarman' Prospect Cottage, and fishermens' shacks (some now very trendy homes); the watchtowers and shot-up houses of the Lydd Ranges, used for training soldiers to fight in built up areas; the popular sandy beach at Camber and the historic time capsule of Rye.

The only issue I encountered was that Danton Lane/Crete Road West is used as a rat run by cars avoiding the chronic traffic jams around Folkestone (Ratnav?). I might be inclined to stay on NCN2 down to Folkestone Harbour, then follow the sea wall round to Hythe.

I particularly liked the ingenious route across the Dungeness nature reserve using the power station paths and access road. And whilst crossing the RSPB reserve, birdwatchers pointed out a Glossy Ibis (another exotic species becoming more common with climate change).