| July 1
Students are picked up at Heathrow or Gatwick airports. Tents will already be set
up at the camp ground just outside of Canterbury. Today you will be organizing
school work, doing any last minute testing that is necessary and putting your bikes
together. The support vehicle is a motor home and will be used to pick you and
your bikes up at the airports. Snacks and lunch will be available all day
and we will be having chilli, biscuits and salad for supper. You will be
ending the day at the regular time doing journals at 8:00 and lights out at 9:00.
|
Yew Tree Park Campground
|
|
July 2
Time to start the bike tour routine. Wake up at 6:00. The inside
tents can be left up if the weather is good and you can do your school
work outside or under the kitchen canopy. You will be staying tonight
at the same campground so there is no reason to take the big tents
down. Your summer reading program and tutoring starts at 7:30 and
goes until 11:30. Lunch happens between 11:30 and 12:30. Most
lunches consist of soup and sandwiches, cookies and milk. At 12:30
you are on the bikes and headed into Canterbury. You will be taking
the back roads and your riding ability will be checked. Bike
routes are designated bike trails and most are completely traffic
free. You will be taking in the Canterbury Tales Museum as most of
the you will be doing some reading of Geoffery Chaucer's
writings. Back to camp before 6:00 for spaghetti dinner. Yew Tree
Park has a swimming pool so after dinner that is probably where you
will be. Night snacks at 8:00 and lights out at 9:00.
Summer School Classrooms
The tents you sleep in are attached inside the
larger outside fly. When the sleeping tents come down there is room for tables
and chairs. Except for very hot weather the four hours of class time are spent
set up in the tent. Each half of the tent is large enough for 1 teacher and 4
students to be set up for the individualized reading program. |
Yew Tree
to
Canterbury |
 |
|
July 3 Another day in Canterbury
which has a lot to see with a lot of smaller bicycle rides going out from it.
You will have an extra day here to make sure everything is taken care of before
you set out. This is the day you will be picking up things, like
helmets and stuff that has been forgotten.
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|
|
| July 4
You hit the bike trails
from Yew Park to the town of Margate. Margate has a beautiful shell mosaic
grotto and excellent beaches. The beaches at Margate were the first
beaches in England (1898) to use the newly invented bathing machines. Dinner
happens at the beach (hot dogs and hamburgers) and then the ride back to camp,
snacks and bed. |
Yew Tree
to
Margate |
 |
| July 5 Today
you will be heading for
Ramsgate which has a circular 2.2 mile hike that takes in the chalk cliffs,
harbour history and the famous Brick Road. A bit of illiterate history: Sir
Billy Biscuit a good friend of King George, was illiterate and thought Reading,
Writing and Arithmetic all began with the same letter - thus inventing the
phrase " the Three R's". Camping near Ramsgate with a dinner of chicken, roast
potato wedges and salad. |
Margate
to
Ramsgate |
|
| July 6
You bike from Ramsgate today through Sandwich and on to Deal. This coastline
is the site of many of the invasions that have taken place in England over
the millenniums, Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Franks and at least a dozen
others. Camping will be outside of Deal. |
Ramsgate
to
Deal |
 |
| July 7, 8
Dover is 13 miles away and you will be setting up camp before you head into town. Dover is a city
with a lot of things to see. You will either be going to visit Dover Castle and
the war tunnels or just hanging out around town. You will be staying
in Dover for 2 nights so we may change those 2 activities around. I
am looking into us sleeping over in the castle or the tunnels but so
far no luck. On the 8th you will be
having dinner in town. No home cooked meal. Or should I say no camp food. |
Deal
to
Dover |
 |
| July 9, 10 Next stop is
Folkestone. At Folkestone there are fossils in the cliffs by the sea that
you will
be looking for. Hopefully you will all find a fossil for a souvenir.
Back to camp food, chilli, biscuits and salad. You have 2 nights in Folkestone.
The ride is not far to Hythe where there is a church that has a crypt. The Crypt
of St. Leonard's holds 8,000 thigh bones and 590 skulls dating back to the 14th
and 15th centuries. This church is one of the oldest around, dating back to 1090. Hythe is also having a festival where
you will spend a long night in town
before heading home to the tents. You will also be eating out at the
festival as the English usually have great fair food. |
Dover
to
Folkstone |
|
| July
11 On to Lydd. Nothing planned for this day as the cycling is a
little longer and I doubt if we will be very spry after the Hythe festival. |
Folkstone to Lydd
and the Hythe festival |
 |
| July 12 From Lydd
you
cycle on to Rye were you will find St Clements Caves, an old smugglers haunt. The
caves are done up to show how the smugglers traveled and hid the products being
brought in illegally. |
Lydd
to
Rye |
 |
| July 13 From Rye
you go onto
Bexhill and will be camping about 2 miles from what is called the Longman. This
huge figure cut into the chalk hill side probably
served as a marker since Neolithic times. The LongMan
is the second largest representation of a human figure in the world. |
Rye
to
Bexhill |
 |
| July 14, 15 Today is a long
ride to Polegate and you will just be setting up camp and heading to bed. On the
15th you will be cycling into Eastbourne and back. Eastbourne is a larger place
and the beaches are supposed to be great. You will be going out for an early
supper and then doing the ride home to our camp. |
Bexhill
to
Polegate |
 |
July 16 Well, Polegate to the
Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
 
I don't really know what to say here. It just looks so wonderful. |
Polegate
to
Brighton
|
 |
| July 17 From Littlehampton
you
bicycle to the Roman Palace in Fishbourne. This is one of the greatest archaeological
sites in England and gives a look into the lives of the Roman conquerors.
|
Littlehampton
to
Fishbourne |
 |
| July 18 Fishbourne to South
Hayling. You will be camping on the south end of Hayling Island with lots of
great beaches.
|
Fishbourn
to
South Hayling
|
 |
| July 19 From Hayling Island
the bike tour takes us into Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a large city and
you will have a vote on
what to see as most of the attractions look great. |
South Hayling
to
Portsmouth |
 |
| July 20 Next stop
Gosport where there is a submarine museum that gives tours of a submarine. This
navy museum will have just opened a new exhibit on imaginary submarines
including the Nautilus, from 2000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Beatles Yellow
Submarine. |
Portsmouth
to
Gosport
|
 |
| July 21 Leaving Gosport
you bicycle to a camp just outside of Southampton. Southampton has an ocean marine
center that has an aquarium as well as an interactive museum. |
Gosport
to
Southampton
|
 |
| July 22, 23 Winchester is
your
last city stop. So again you can have a vote to see what everyone wants to do.
This bike tour day isn't long so we will have lots of time in town. |
Southampton
to
Winchester
|
 |
| July 24
The bike tour today is to Romsey where you will visit King John's house. |
Winchester
to
Romsey |
 |
| July 25
You will hit the final camp
ground today.
|
Final Campground Salisbury
|
|
| July 26
Today you bicycle the
Stonehenge loop which also includes Amesbury where the famous 4300 year old
Amesbury Archer was discovered. Definitely the last of the long bike tours. |
Stonehenge
to
Amesbury
|
|
| July 27 Finishing up on
the
last of the reading program lessons. Packing up and organizing for the trip home. Some long goodbyes to some
very good friends. We may do a smaller bike tour today but it will depend on a
vote. |
|
|
| July 28
Another airport day. Just so parents know, snacks and meals are still
provided it just happens in the motor home at the airports. |
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|
Summer School