Won’t go on about it but work as volunteer Countryside Access Warden is getting harder. Unfinished business in Ellenden Wood, about 5 km south of Whitstable harbour. Three recent visits failed to cover all the bridleways in the wood. Years ago i found a nearby path impassable cos of flood and vegetation. Thursday May 26 planned to resolve these issues. Triangle bus from Canterbury to Pean Hill, on A290 Whitstable road. Can locate bus stops from internet. Off bus, conveniently near CW85. Gravelly drive to someones house. No parking. Earthen path. Ditch on right. Elderflowers. Oak. Bit of pruning. Gravel drive to large modern house on right. Fingerpost overgrown. Pruned some prickly stuff and rewrote path number.
Turn right onto Fox’s Cross Road. Wind. Coat keeps wind out and i need pockets for maps, notebook, pens, secateurs. Other items in backpack. Shortly, after Oak Apple Cottage, big for a cottage, bridleway CW5 on left leads to woods. CW4 on right leads back to A290 and is the once impassible path. Quick look showed it dry and walkable. I turned left, noting lack of finger on post, and headed for the wood. Wide bridleway, muddy in places with large hoofmarks. Dry horse dung. Softer patch. Don’t want to fall, especially as i have to get bus back. Don’t want to lose tip of walking stick. View to Seasalter and Sheppey with four wind turbines.
Into Ellenden Wood, junction of four paths. South on CW5. Holly. Busy looking at feet. Mustn’t miss junction: should be track on right opposite CW7. Very clear marker post. Turn left on narrower path, slightly downhill. Actually enjoying woodland walk. Chestnut trees. Silver birch. Oak leaves underfoot. Turn left on CW6: no marker here. Muddy. Uphill. Green covered pond on left.
A triangle of bridleways: Part of CW5, all of CW7, part of CW6. An earlier blog described paths as like an Irish harp with three strings. This walk involved the top string. Back at top of triangle: retraced CW5 downhill to Fox’s Cross Road. See how walkable CW4 is. Improved access by pruning blackthorns with secateurs and saw. Path next to ploughed field. Strip of woodland, almost avenue of oaks. Hawthorn. Uphill. Right between fences, onto Pean Court Road, modern houses, Peace Haven, Red Roofs, Tala. Then cross A290 to bus stop for Canterbury.
Only two miles but one hour fifty minutes. Didnt fall, didnt go astray, not too much mud. Faults reported to County Council. Good feeling of completion.
Rambling Brummie 