I am a volunteer Countryside Access Warden. A posh title that means i help maintain public rights of way. Kent County Council has decided i can resume work after the lockdown. Last Thursday i cautiously visited footpaths near home in Canterbury, avoiding people as much as possible. I pruned a lot of intrusive brambles.
Yesterday, Sunday, i revisited Blean Woods, to the northwest of Canterbury. On March 8th i went astray there during a very muddy walk. Hope for better luck walking the same paths. A sunny morning, though i wore a raincoat to keep out the wind.
Am still too wary to travel by bus. Parked near the shops in Tyler Hill Road, walked downhill towards Canterbury past Hillside Farm, home of the late Peter Firmin, past the closed Blean Tavern. On the right, up the hill after crossing the Sarre Penn stream, is a footpath leading into the woods. No mud at all. Past some cattle. A squirrel. A locked gate to climb. Something to report as a “fault” Navigation not difficult except for an indistinct path through woodland. This is a small part of the Big Blean Walk, “a forty kilometre walk through one of the largest ancient woodlands in England.” I quote from the guide produced by the Kentish Stour Countryside partnership.
A broad track leads northwest, well used by runners and walkers. Wide enough for separation. Not pleased to trip over a tree root and fall flat. After recrossing the Sarre Penn i was looking for a path to the right leading back to Blean. I was expecting a junction of five paths.
Instead three dogwalkers were talking at a junction of four broad paths. I was in the right place but the path i sought was missing. One of the dog walkers, a lady in her eighties i think, showed me the way past a covered reservoir to the main road, A290, Blean Commmon. I thanked her, wondering how i’d missed the correct path. Bought a bottle of ale at the shop to quench my thirst when i got home.
Much more pleasant than my March walk, but my navigation skills failed again and i need another visit.
Rambling Brummie 