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Whether you are an experienced cyclist or a novice, you
will find plenty to enjoy along the 29 mile (46km) route on the
Isle of Thanet, where Vikings first landed in Britain in
449AD.
 The inland loop is on quiet lanes, taking in
pretty Kentish villages with ancient churches such as St.
Nicholas at Wade and passing
Minster Abbey (link opens in a new
window), one of England's oldest inhabited buildings founded
in 670AD.
A short detour leads you to the 16 acre
Monkton
Nature Reserve (link opens in a new window) an important
resource for the protection wild flowers, including rare
orchids.
At Ramsgate, the splendid Pugin Victorian church of St.
Augustine's Abbey is worth a visit, as is the fascinating display
of East Kent's maritime heritage within Ramsgate Maritime
Museum.
If you do not want to undertake the whole route, try the 9 mile
traffic-free stretch that follows the sea wall from Margate to
Reculver via Westgate-on-Sea and Birchington, Kent's largest
village.
You can join this well-signed route directly opposite Margate
train station. Along the sea wall you will find plenty of
diversions, with slopes and steps to the cliff tops and down to the
popular beaches and rock pools.
 The only on-road section takes you along the
cliff from Westgate-on-Sea to Epple Bay where you rejoin the
sea wall.
Minnis Bay is popular with swimmers, as well as sailors,
windsurfers and sea canoeists. From here the scenery changes with
striking views of the flat marshland as you approach the twin
towers of Reculver Church, a few miles east of Herne Bay.
View a map and guide of the
Viking Coastal Trail. |