Immigration Cyclists go Fruit Picking.

Wednesday was our monthly cycle ride and the month being September this meant that we were on our annual fruit picking ride. Not for us the organised tramp around a fruit orchard – we pick our fruit where it grows wild in the hedgerows of Kent.

Cycling along Conyer Creek at low tide.

Parts of the ride are off-road such as this wander along the levee at Conyer Creek.
At low tide all one sees is mud. The creek is a short tidal branch of the Swale and the Swale is the channel which separates the Isle of Sheppey from the mainland of Kent, and the Isle of Sheppey sits at the mouth of the River Medway where it enters the River Thames. 

Vintage tractors cultivating a field.

All this area has historically been a fruit growing region and although in some places the orchards have been grubbed out, the fruit trees spread into the hedgerows where they have been left to blossom untouched.

After the lunch stop, having picked damsons and plums, we made our way to our favourite damson hedge. En route we came across these tractor enthusiasts playing with their fifty year old Massey Ferguson tractors.

Pears, plums and damsons – all for free.

We arrived home just before the cloud burst. My harvest amounted to 20lbs damsons, 2lbs plums, 4lbs of pears and 3lbs of golden cherry plums.

For those readers not familiar with the English avoirdupois measurements, the term 'lbs' is an abbreviation for 'pounds' and a pound is composed of sixteen ounces. The metric equivalent of the pound is roughly 454 grams.

To read more about the Immigration Service cyclists, click here