May Bank Holiday Weekend

Needless to say the first thing I did was have a little shopping splurge to buy some new lightweight trousers (plus a few other items !) Although not as much as Geoff bought in Covent Garden, we had a great day out, does that count as walking too ?

My Sunday walking outfit:

The fleece wasn't needed and the sun came out after lunch so shorts would have been better.

We meet our friends Karen & Mark in Weddington near Ash and had a lovely stroll through the country lanes through Richborough & into Sandwich, stopping for lunch at The Bell, nice wine but the food wasn't great (sorry).. we were very chilled out on the return stroll, so much so that Karen & I missed the £10 note laying in the field (!) Geoff however, do not... This was roughly an eight mile circular walk.

Monday was a Bank Holiday (yipee) so another walk on the cards this time with Mark & Linda, we decided to continue where we left off last time and walk along the beach & cliffs from Deal to Dover.  Not to be caught out a third time with the weather, we wore shorts, but hey, thank goodness we took long sleeve tops, bracing wind on those cliff tops. I also wore my old walking sandals as I knew they would be comfortable (ha!!)

 



The view from St Margaret's Bay back towards Deal, the camera phone doesn't do it justice.

First event of the day, we met in the car park on the seafront, £7.50 to park for the day !!!

Then we set off along the edge of the pebble beach, various plants growing through the pebbles, people walking dogs, lots of cyclists and generally people out enjoying the weekend.  People are very friendly when you walk, everyone says hello to each other.

Then I thought must stop soon my sandal is coming loose, eventually stopping to find my sandals had perished inside the soles and were falling apart, what a nightmare, at this point we were too far from any beach type shops to even buy a pair of flip flops. (There was no hint of this when I put them on earlier)

Geoff got out his first aid kit and taped up the soles, good job he'd been on the first aid course, not sure he thought he would be repairing shoes though.. we walked on although with some difficulty for me, we eventually reached St Margaret's and stopped to rest my feet and have our sandwiches, the sandals had fallen apart even more... the next possible shop was an hour and a half away on foot.. so this time Geoff taped my feet into the sandals.. the lady sitting near us said I looked like a Pilgrim.. it did look funny.

I made the decision not to go on to the shops but to turn around and head back, the sandals felt very secure and comfortable even as the were depositing their insides everywhere.

Its a tough walk anyway, very up and downhill, it feels much longer than the 5.5 miles each way.. luckily no-one we passed laughed at my feet. The last mile was hard knees and legs aching from having to walk slightly differently, however, they got me to the end of the walk, back in Deal Car Park (just), we had to go in the rear of the pub, the others thought I looked like a donut..

Finally home, sandals cut from my feet, my feet and legs were black from all the dust of the track being kicked up, a few blisters, no surprise really.  No-one can say that I didn't wear these sandals to death, they have been to a lot of places with me around the world.  Now they are in the sandal graveyard.

Its a great walk, we will do it again and get all the way to Dover.  If you would like to see the route click the link.

http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=EA59BA7E-CC02-E1DD-3303BD79C7008229&success=1

Chilham Circular

I have always liked to walk but this year Geoff and I plus a couple of friends have upped our game to embrace longer walks at the weekend. Generally 10 miles or more, brought about by the guys starting the first leg of the Camino de Santiago earlier this year.  We enjoyed these 'training' walks so much, even though the weather was generally foul, that we decided to keep them up.  We don't always go as a four, some walks include other friends and family too, or just the two of us.  Our walks nearly always include a stop en-route for food & drink (wine & beer) well you need something to keep you motivated !

We did invest in basic walking kit, however, Linda & I were caught on the hop this time, the forecast wasn't great, so we layered up but also made the mistake of wearing jeans...way to hot when the sun came out, together with the more strenuous stomps uphill, causing us to overheat..big time ! So off to London to buy lightweight walking trousers.  Just digressing slightly here, Covent Garden has numerous 'outdoor activity' type shops.  Well worth a visit.

So as I said, Sunday turned out to be a wonderful warm sunny day, here and there a slight breeze, which was actually quite welcoming as we hiked up the steeper slopes.

 
We met in the village square at Chilham:

Chilham is a village and parish in the English county of Kent. It has been a location for a number of films and television dramas. It is quintessentially English, Tudor style properties, cute tea room, small souvenir shop and naturally a pub are based around the main square. Chilham Castle overlooks the square and surrounding countryside.

There has been a castle at the site of Chilham, on the edge of a wood, in the heart of Kent, for over eight centuries; perhaps thirteen or more.

It has changed hands many times, having been home to a host of colourful and sometimes eccentric families. Held from time to time by Kings of England, it was also once occupied; briefly, by the heir to the French throne on his way to invade London (he wasn't successful).

The house that was built in 1616 on the site of the ancient castle, and bears its name, has since 2002 been the home of Stuart and Tessa Wheeler.  I believe that some days the gardens are open to the public but check first.

We left the square behind us and headed off across open fields, through bluebell lined woods, I was slightly un-nerved at the start when told this was probably the time snakes may be on the path basking in the sun ( really ? or just scaring the what'sit out of a novice walker).

I was surprised at how many different woods we passed through, Church Wood, Down Wood past Woodsdale Farm then Coneyearth Wood.  Karen was unhappy about the trees that had been felled in some areas, leaving it bare just with the odd oak here & there.  Here is a picture of what it used to look like.

The  next stage was along the Stour Valley Walk which took us through fields of goats & warnings about bulls, luckily not spotted (!) & up country tracks into the village of Crundale, we headed up a hill to find a spot to picnic with views across the countryside, towards Wye which was to be our next stop.  How many shades of green are there ?

Crundale is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent in southeast England. The village is located on the North Downs, about halfway between Ashford and Canterbury.

The parish is a small one, and many of its activities are shared with the neighbouring parish of Godmersham. Its population is about 150 persons. No shops or pub (!) just a traditional red BT phone box...please put me right if there is more here than nicely appointed homes.


Terry selected this spot, in the middle of the footpath, Karen said why in the middle of the footpath, what if other walkers wanted to get by.. Terry said the hundreds of walkers that would pass us..were after all.. walkers.. so he was sure they would be able to cope with the deep 6" grass just in front of us... (We'd barely seen a handful of walkers all day & no-one passed us by, let alone tried to step over us) however, we did see in the distance a trail about ten walkers going up the hill the other side, looked like a stream of ants....So they 'could' have come our way.

As a thought when does a walker, become a hiker ???

 

 

Is this Cowslip ?

 

Refreshed or was it feeling lazy after lunch... we started off along the hillside towards Wye, though weird metal gates (not made for fat people) over stiles, a bit high for those with shorter legs, overhanging branches to catch the taller of us, as we negotiated our way along the route.  More woods, Warren Wood, Marriage Wood and Beech Wood, then past Wye College, the graveyard at Wye Church and making a stop to buy ice creams in the village of Wye (plus a toilet stop!)

Leaving Wye behind, retracing our steps back through the graveyard past Home Farm near Bilting, our 'experienced' walker/guide then led us along a narrow very overgrown footpath, at every step I expected Indiana Jones to appear, left to make my own decision I would never have guessed that this 'was' actually the footpath that we were meant to be on... we then ventured up a very steep, exhausting calf screaming (in my case) incline stopping halfway for water and wondering if we'd make the top.  All the visits to the gym were of no help !  We pushed on to the top to be greeted with masses of scented bluebells, worth it in the end !

 

 The home stretch along the North Down Way, bluebells filled all the spaces between the trees and Canterbury Cathedral could be seen in the distance from our viewing point.

As we neared Chilham, we walked along Mountain Street and past the Chilham Castle grounds, more people along this section, up until then we'd only passed a handful of other walkers, really felt we were away from it all, not really just outside Canterbury.

Back into the square at Chilham to the busy local pub, live music was playing so we took ourselves off the the seats in the graveyard with our well earned drinks.

Click the link to see our route on the OS website.

http://www.getamap.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/?key=pduh7Pq8QXKKhP6hrXqNLg2

It was about a five hour walk, 12.9 miles (20.76km) it felt much further.

All in all an excellent stomp for a Sunday.

PS. No snakes spotted