A car-related walk

Lived in Canterbury over fortyfive years. Walked most streets, partly because my last job was delivering leaflets for Safeway. Always possible to find new routes, in this case part of daily life not for pleasure. Need to take car to Halfords, water plants at allotment, do a few things in city centre.

Tues July 12th. Warm and sunny. Devised route, about 3 miles my current limit. Thanks to decreptitude. Time constraints: Halfords like car soon after 8, library opens at 10. First drove to Norfolk Rd, near allotment to reduce walking. Short walk to water seeds and broccoli plants. Drove to Broad Oak Rd, most traffic going the other way. Halfords looking at aircon, because son and his partner like cooling. Remember driving around Australia with no cooling or heating. Open the windows.

About a mile to city centre. Broad Oak Road busy at this time, being popular route from Herne Bay to Canterbury. Walked on right hand pavement to reduce noise and exhaust pollution. Trading estate. Once spent a day photographing these often ugly buildings. Housing. Big hedge by allotments. Turn left on Stonebridge Road, crossing river Stour into newish housing where football ground used to be. Kingsmead field, saved from developers after big protests. Open field with small nature reserve.

Cross Kingsmead Rd. Through carpark of leisure centre. Used to swim in pool here. Riverside path. Past Millers Arms. Palace street. Cash From Natwest. Central Canterbury has plenty of cash machines. Primark. Slippers. £2.50. Feet need protection even in summer. Remember to look at list. Trying to maintain distance from people. Covid hasn’t gone. Smartly dressed young people: degree ceremonies in cathedral. Wilko for radish seeds, 50p. Wholefood for baguette £2.40. Library not open yet. Excellent espresso in Jewry Lane. Still not 10. Small park opposite library. Sat on bench to eat daily apple. Need energy. Library. Canterbury pottery show. Books borrowed: Jonathan Rice on famous cricket painting. “Haven” by Adam Roberts, about England after asteroid strikes.

Now headed for Halfords. Quiet route by The Friars, past Quaker meeting house cross a branch of river. By Marlowe theatre. Statue of Dave Lee on bench. Local actor, especially in pantomime. “Keep smiling Dave” with pat on shoulder. By river, through Sollys Orchard. Two punts and a rowing boat by site of mill, opposite Millers Arms. Riverside walk on the west bank, under Kingsmead road. Big willows. Ambleside Place then Stonebridge Road again. Hugged a sycamore. Have to go back along Broad Oak Road or make walk longer. Much less traffic now, about 11 am. Collected car with aircon working, and home.

Important lesson: took two days to recover from that three mile walk in hot sun.

Routine walk

A walk is a walk. Routine walk can be made interesting. Tue July 5th i had appointment at Kent &Canterbury Hospital to give a blood sample. Had to collect duvet from laundrette. Hoped to collect annual from Kent County Cricket Club. Because of bulk, duvet comes last. Part of the fun is devising a route, preferably a circuit, maybe shortest: travelling salesman problem. Simple with three places to visit. Like to make a circuit.

So a route emerges, about two miles. Even a short walk becomes a major expedition.

Sunny morning. Good for mind, but. Took years to realise that things i enjoy, such as walking and cricketwatching, best not done in dazzling sunlight. 13 degrees, cooling breeze. Short sharp hill up Guildford Rd. Left on alleyway between Martyrs Field Rd and Oxford Rd. People on way to Wincheap primary school. Holly tree, useful for berries at Christmas. Up Cambridge Rd cos i dont often go that way. Wide road, wide pavements. Left on Zealand Rd, former council houses. On left, Pewter Court, houses where bowls club used to be. Hello to former Labour council candidate. This ward has Libdem councillors. City Council is Tory, though we have Kent’s only Labour MP. Up Nunnery Road, smooth pavement of small slabs. Place of worship, Plymouth brethren or similar. Later found the meeting hall is for sale. Where did the brethren go?

Used to run up here. Don’t look back. South Canterbury Road. Big houses, gardens. Students on way to boys Langton. Tall green hedge, holly, ivy, hawthorn. Some haws. A bungalow with neat lawn and two trees, one green one coppery. The present Canterbury Bowling Club. Wide Road. Here was Canterbury south station on the Elham Valley Line, closed 1948.

Hospital entrance. Too early. Sat on bench in memory of Oakley O’Connor. Through hospital corridors, wondering why not all staff masked. Waiting room had about six masked people, unmasked man came in and coughed. Covid hasn’t gone away. Bloodsample painless.

Out through carpark, along avenue of chestnuts to oldest building. Road next to cricket ground to Nackington Road. Nackington, said to come from “Nata’s Hill”, is a hamlet 2Km away. Big trees on left big houses on right. Left on Old Dover Road. Route of Roman road to Dubris (Dover), later called Watling Street. Into St Lawrence cricket ground. Coffee in Lime Tree cafe, enjoying view of green playing area. Man watering square with hose. Bought the club’s Annual in shop. A few words about Kent’s poor start to season. The man was optimistic.

Out to Old Dover Road. Bat and Ball pub now l’Hote, boutique hotel bar and grill. Downhill past old fire station. Left to laundrette, collected duvet, chat with a Stour Valley conservation volunteer. Home via Lansdown Rd, Station Rd East and Wincheap.

Two mile walk, useful exercise, home in time to hear England beat India in Trent Bridge test.

Routine issues

Countryside Access Wardens are asked by Kent County Council to deal with issues reported by members of public. June 16th i looked at path CB15 in Tyler Hill. “Remove vegetation to make finger visible from road”. Not clear which end. Planned to walk CB15 and nearby CB43 making a walk of one mile.

Parked in Fleet Lane, Blean which leads to Well Court Farm, by some houses. Warm and sunny. Walk CB43 to Hackington Road and back, a little pruning. North on Fleet Lane, interesting wood sculptures. CB15 on left by bungalow. Pruned to make fingerpost visible. Path between concrete wall and fence of bungalow. Gravel. “Do not park”. Earth and grass path. Big drain cover. Stile. By Tyler Hill Meadow, 0.8 hectare local nature reserve. Unimproved grassland, wood and scrub. Slow worms, lizards, 11 species butterfly. Owned by Hackington Parish Council, managed by them with Kentish Stour Conservation group. Years ago Did some work with them, mowing and removing hay/grass.

Three brown cattle in field on left. Oaks are labelled, eg English Oak, about 150 years old. Duck under tree branch. Something has dug two holes in path. Cd fill with stones?

Oaks labelled, eg English oak, about 150 years old. Three brown cattle in meadow on left. Stile. Have long said if anything stops me walking it’ll be stiles. This one didn’t look difficult but i had to crawl between fence bars. The step is too short. Right on access road to The Halt, bit of disused Canterbury &Whitstable Railway. Is pond in front of house where there was a winding engine.

Left on grassy path. Lots of pigeons in field on left. Three buildings, prob pigeon lofts. Wide grassy path with buttercups and daisies. Tyler Hill Road. Oppositehouse: Nickeldene. Fingerpost indeed hidden in vegetation. Mostly not prickly. Used secateurs and pruning saw so that footpath finger visible from road. Issued with loppers but not easy to carry. Saw deals with thicker branches.

Retrace route: stile easier this way. A mile walked. An hour. Drove to Meadow Grange for coffee and compost. Later at home saw a swift, first of year for me.

Thursday Jun 23rd. Warm and humid. Met office forecast <5% chance of rain but YELLOW WARNING for thunderstorms. Decided to chance it, taking waterproof coat.

This “issue” to remove vegetation from bridge and stile on CB19, a short path off Chapel Lane in Blean. My card index tells me i’ve done this before. Don’t remember.

On the way took picnic box to storage garage, Red Lion cottage for bags manure. Red Lion House, once a pub. Home of Oliver Postgate who designed adjacent cottage for his father Raymond. Peter Firmin lived a mile away. Together they made Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, and other classics. Cd in car “A vision shared” songs of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, sung by eg Dylan, Springsteen, Emmy Lou Harris.
Eventually parked in Bourne Lodge Close, residential. Short path CB17 between houses to Chapel Lane. Some prickly pruning. Barnfield, Kent Fruit Services. Short walk on Chapel Lane, which leads to Walnut Tree Farm and Amery Court and paths in Clowes Wood. CB19 on left. Earth path across beanfield. Lost my will forcing between plants. Could revisit from other end, or wait till beans harvested. Fact is, i gave up. Back to car, Headingley Test on long wave radio. Delivered manure to allotment. A day of rail strikes and two byelections. Both showed voters rejection of Johnson’s government. Hayfever bad.

No thunderstorm.

Sunday June 26, a bluesky day with a few white cumulus. Past the solstice: days getting shorter for six months. But height of summer is yet to come. Visit to nearby paths south of Cant. Expected easy walk with light pruning as often visit these paths. From St Mildreds Place on CC52, fork right at allotment gates on CC56 to Hollow Lane. An ancient route in a deep cutting. CB491 above the lane. To Iffin Lane junction. CC53 north from junction with Merton Lane leading to CC52. Easy except for hefty old brambles which needed gloves and pruning saw. Scratched because i won’t have longsleeves in summer. Two miles in two hours. Paths now more walkable.

Pleasant walk. Little traffic on Sunday. Path by Hollow Lane is in a strip of woodland. Rest on bench at end of New House Lane, in memory of Dennis Gould, clerk to Thanington Without parish council, 1989 – 2001. Later path through apple orchards, views of cathedral, Club Chemistry,Simon Langton Boys School.

Two miles in two hours. Time to make coffee before play in Headingley Test

Back to the beginning

Became a volunteer countryside access warden almost eleven years ago after a oneday course with Kent County Council in Wye. My first work was on Aug 11th, 2011. Seemed logical to start with my home grid square in Canterbury and spiral outwards. Visiting all paths in each square. I’ve visited every path within about 10km of Canterbury. Readers if any will know age is catching up with me. Decided to start over again, reducing travel.

Sunday June 12, sunny morning with slight breeze. Coatless. Most tools in small backpack. Need pockets for map, notebook, pens, secateurs. A bumbag somewhere? A distorted figure of eight route southwest of city centre. A little pruning. Two path numbers rewritten: inks fade in the sun. About two and a half miles, including short detour to water seeds at allotment. Walk through residential areas, “industrial estate”, mostly retail, farmland.

Things w orth noting.Carefully folded carpet in a Morrisons trolley. Former Adscene building, now home of Canterbury Archaeology Trust. Prince Charles is criticised for speaking truth that deporting refugees to Rwanda would be appalling. Tobin Motors, source of our last three cars. Glimpses of cathedral tower. Screaming herring gulls overhead. Big Boys Pizza, formerly Sportsmans cafe.

Met man at allotment gate, talked of tomatoes and blight. Slight rise to top of Lime Kiln Road gave good views of orchards and beyond. Fryer Tuck chip shop. A pink Glambulance, a mobile beauty salon based in Faversham. Small community garden with roses by pillar box in Oxford Road. Who does gardening? Long mural on wall of path between Lansdown Rd and East station “A weed is just a flower in the wrong place” Wish people wouldnt deface art with their own tags. Catching Lives, who help rough sleepers, has picture of pig flying with the aid of coloured balloons. Is it a Banksy? Club Chemistry, former Pickfords warehouse i thought. But can just read lettering at top: Godden furniture repository. Loud traffic at roundabout. Coffee at Shotspace on Wincheap. Served by woman in dark prescription sunglasses cos she’d broken her specs. Told her she looked mysterious.

Walk took nearly two hours.

Confirmed paths are walkable, not surprising. A few minor actions. No faults to report.

Jubilee walk

Thursday June 2nd, 69th anniversary of queen’s coronation. Two public holidays, days when i try to avoid travel. Postponed footpath work in Bridge. Chose favourite riverside walk from Canterbury. Maybe three miles, my present limit.

Sunny. Wore coat to keep wind out. 8.24 am. York Road quiet: no bin collection today cos of holiday. Cross Wincheap, light traffic. Maidens Head pub. Under railway bridge. A few drink cans. Left onto Rheims Way. Aldi open. Hello Neil. A volunteer with Friends of Westgate parks. Little traffic: admire curve of dual carriageway between avenue of trees.

Left into recently mown meadow with beacon for tonight. Gas burner and orange pipe. Wide path downhill. Metal bull on right. Backpacker. Bridge over Stour. Left. Part of Toddlers Cove fenced off “construction site” Onto cycle path. Female runner. Walker with two poles. Three female runners. One more with pink teeshirt “JUST DO IT” Too warm for coat, took it off at Crichton family seat. Reflections.

Under railway bridge: three arches, one for river. Admire brickwork of skewed arches. Bench in memory of Joan Allen. Parkinsons UK. Woman running with pushchair. Bench by nettles. Oxeye daisies. Picnic table. Remains of Elham Valley railway bridge. Used to creep round on mud before cycle path built. “Share respect enjoy” Symbols for walkers, cyclists, wheelchairs. National cycle network.

Lovely morning. Sun behind me. No wind. Decided to carry on to Tonford, making three mile walk. “Cyclists moderate speed and give way to pedestrians” Under A2. Now feels truly rural. To right, Bigbury where iron age hillfort is. Buildings with cone of oast. Lots trees by river on left. Tonfield Field on right, no access to public or dogs. Ground nesting birds, eg snipe. Wet area increased by digging scrapes and small ditches. Long grass, buttercups. Highspeed train heads for Canterbury West.

Lords Test later, Eng v NZ. Hope to see some on son’s Sky tv. Otherwise Radio 5X. Singleplank bench next to large molehill. Powerlines have balls attached to warn birds. Across river, three horses in field. One maybe donkey. Mallards. Houses in Tonford Lane with lawns down to river. Constant noise of A2 traffic.

Tonford Lane. Footbrige over river. 55 min so far. Here Canterbury outer ring walk, 20miles meets middle ring, 10 miles. I pause, thinking of visits with children and Sidney Cooper’s painting which i looked at Tuesday. Walk back downstream. Plenty dog walkers. Sit on bench next to molehill to eat apple. Revived a little. White stuff blowing from tree. Clive Soord, local artist, passed on bike. Ceramics and sculpture.

Notice in five languages No coarse fishing in close season. English and four eastern European languages. Under A2. Artistic graffiti on vertical parts of bridge. Cyclist with dog in rear carrier.

Turn right. Bridge over river. Uphill. Out of rural Canterbury into commercial Canterbury. On left b&m, Pets at Home, Pure Gym. On right, Park & Ride. Ahead Morrisons. Ten Perch Road, in memory of allotments once here. Standard size: 5 rods by 2. Cross The Boundary, memory of former Bretts sports ground. Across carpark, up ramp to Maiden Lane, another sports reference. Now suburban Canterbury. Seems litter has been removed. Hedge on left, fences on right. Behind one lives Michael Rundell, author of Dictionary of Cricket.

Cross Cow Lane, past Jubilee hall (not this one) cross Wincheap by lights. Near here the Elham Valley Railway crossed Wincheap. Alley to Valley Road. Cross Elham Road (get it) Past wall behind children’s playground. Cogans Terrace. Cross Victoria road, another longlived queen. St Mildreds Place. Another pink teeshirt “THIS KENT GIRL CAN” Left into MFR and home.

Walking can be a refuge from world events, such as Putin’s war. As a republican, i welcomed escape from the bally ho about the royal family

Reviving coffee at home. Felt good. Pleasant flat walk. Slow of course, 3 miles in 1 hr 50 min. Didn’t fall. Legs and feet ok. Rest of day listening to Test.

Last walk in Ellenden Wood

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 round the city

For over forty years i’ve been using Canterbury Library, in the Beaney in the main street. Since retiring i’ve visited most Tuesdays, together with any other business in the city centre. Keeping the same day makes it easier to remember when books are due back. Used to go and return by shortest route, about two miles. Now i go further for exercise. Hope of rejoining to DATROWS leisurely walks, three miles.

Library used to open at 9. Would go there first to finish business before city centre is crowded. Now opens at 10 so aim to end business there.

Last Tuesday planned to visit Waitrose, Wholefood, Waterstones and library. Need to plan and make a list so i don’t forget anything. Then seek coffee. A warm sunny day. Raincoat in my backpack. In case.

Oxford Road: Victorian and twentieth century housing. Used to be one of my routes to work. Later part of leafletting area for Safeway. Steeply up Norman Rd. Cross Nunnery Fields to Prospect Place. Down Puckle Lane. Short stretch of Old Dover Road. Left on quiet Abbots Barton Walk above old lime quarry with flats. Left on noisy New Dover Road. Cash from machine by Tesco. Bought Big Issue from John.

Feel affinity with homeless, rough sleepers and the like. Could easily be me. Worked, badly, for the Simon Community decades go.

Used to feel buying Big Issue was a donation and the magazine was an excuse so it wasn,t begging. Found the mag a good read. Then i realised the seller has a business, buying at £1.50 and selling at £3. Not a handout but a hand up. John is not the recipient of my charity but a person with a history and his own problems. Remarkably he always manages to appear cheerful. So i feel better. Thanks John.

Waitrose for quiche and finger plasters. Across carpark to Longport. A notice that council wants to sell site for housing. Church Street St Pauls. Church hall, now residential, was scene of parties years ago after Mystery plays in the cathedral. Pedestrian crossing across busy ring road at lights. Burgate. Wholefood for baguette. Cross main street to Rose Lane. Waterstones for new highway code. Escalator to top floor, stairs down. Difficult with stick.

Library: nowadays i borrow one fiction: Asimov’s “The naked sun” oddly not in collection at home. One nonfiction. Broaden interests by going through the Dewy decimal numbers. 306.094109. Iain Dale “Why can’t we all just get along…” Good question.

Coffee in the yard of Cafe St Pierre. Across St Peter’s Place into Westgate Gardens. Pleasant riverside walk. Punt, mallards on water. Ate apple at Toddlers Cove, children’s playground.

Avoided noisy Rheims Way and Wincheap by walking by river and through tunnel under railway to industrial estate. Past Autocare, Bamboo Tiger to Spring Gardens. Cross Wincheap and home.

Three miles, but more than two hours walking. Not good enough to rejoin the group.

Rough Common notes

Short walk as countryside access warden in Rough Common, about three km WNW of Canterbury. First drove to Red Lion Cottage on A290 for bags of manure. Parked Church Wood Close, leading to Sidney Cooper Close.

Wearing coat, mainly cos i need pockets. Bit breezy up here. Path CB503. Replaced tatty endmarker on fingerpost. Finger missing pointing south. Grassy path between garden fences. Daisies. Pretty purple flowers. Gravelly underfoot. Back of village hall car park. Saw son James play cricket here for Harbledown. Would prob have won but for torrential thunderstorm. Net. White pavilion: painted concrete blocks. Children’s play equipment: slide, climbing net etc. Borage? Cross Garden Close. Rewrote path number: used new wide Sharpie pen. Ivy covered breeze block walls. Earth path. Little electricity substation on left. Nettles. Turn right into St Michaels Close.

Left onto Palmars Cross Road. Noisy. Popular way out of Canterbury to Whitstable. Drove this way myself. Council leader wants to build a bigger road near here. Destroying woodland. Down 10% steep hill. Opposite entrance to “Woodlands” On left two storey houses. Difficult crossing: L-driver stopped for me. Havisham Manor any connection with Dickens? Flinty building with half timbering. Walk on what i assume is old road down to former A2. Paddock on left with brown and white horse. Narrow path through nettles. Tarmac then concrete down to A2050 Harbledown bypass. Cut finger on saw cutting brambles. Foolish: couldn’t find secateurs.

Right onto busy road towards Faversham. Luckily sidewalk on this side. Gorse in flower. Oxeye daisies. Hawthorn. Opposite on old road Kent College junior school. Vernon Holme, one of Sidney Cooper’s houses.

Right, leaving road but not noise. CB501 stony farm track. PRIVATE ROAD NO ENTRY. Access to Isobel Mead Farm. Woodland on right. And a stream. Unkempt grass on left. Tractor and trailer abandoned, covered with brambles. So slow. Is it worth doing this? Thinking of stopping at 80. Doing less and less. Pity: gives me a small purpose in life.

Large house on right, solar panels, big grassy garden. Y junction of tracks. Footpath goes thro gate between ends of Y. Gate rests on large molehill. Stream on right. Grassy between fence and grass field on left and wood and left. Years ago used to park bikes at end of field before woodland walks.

Have visited every footpath within 10km of Canterbury. Do i keep extending my area increasing car journeys for short walks? Or revisit nearer paths?

Charles making queen’s speech. Think she should retire. Annoyed media obsessed with Johnson and Starmer and covid regs. Horrible things government doing, or not doing, not scrutinised. Similarly war in Ukraine dominates media.

Dismantled shed in field to left. Britain selling equioment to Ukraine. Bet SAS there. Seems some would like UK USA Nato to be at war. Scary. Nuclear war.

Welcome waymarker. Turn right into woods. Come here chestnutting. Over dry? stream. Pipe made into bridge. Turn left. Bluebells. Holly. To right gate. Private. Presumably into woods belong to big house. Left.Uphill. No mud! Today i stay on public right of way. To left is path next to stream where i reckon best chestnuts are. Catkins on path. Walking clockwise go down steepest hill but up longest hill. Fallen branch but easy to walk past. May report it. Fading bluebells among brambles. Great difficulty uphill. Decrepitude. Silver birch, Oak Beech i think. Slightly downhill. Stony. Bear right up wider path.

Bit of wood to left has model zebra, tin man, dark skinned Dorothy, model boar, wooden horse, someone flying. Bluebells. Info Board RSPB Blean Woods 509 hectares of woodland and heath. Road. almost opp village hall. Short walk to car.

Started as CAW with large shoulder bag with tools and smaller bag with maps, notebook, compass, secateurs. Later all in one bag. Lopsided. Now use small back pack. OK in winter when i have pockets. Easier walking, especially with stick, but difficult access. Should i get a small bag?

An hours walk. No mud. Passed no one except in vehicles.

This is an experiment. Poor memory. Writing notes means frequent stops. Used microcassette recorder. Most of this blog is a transcript, little altered but punctuation added. Aim to record thoughts while walking. Does it work? Please let me know. First and last paragraphs added afterwards.

Note: Sidney Cooper, landscape artist, 1803-1902. Born Canterbury. A favourite painting from a favourite place (Tonford) is “Fording a brook, suburbs of Canterbury” in the Beaney, Canterbury. I look at it every time i visit our library.

Whitstable Mayday

Mayday, May 1st, is a complicated celebration of spring, or winter turning to summer. More complicated here because the Mayday bank holiday is always on a Monday. Created in 1978 by a Labour govt. This year May 2nd. Ancient, or revived, customs in Kent include Rochester Sweeps festival, Jack in the green, morris dancing at Blue bell hill. Celebrating spring and fertility.

Another aspect is Mayday the workers holiday, celebrated by trade unions and all kinds of leftwingers, socialists and communists. Some years i join the London Mayday march from Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square. A reminder of the many struggles against war and injustice.

Other years i’ve driven to Blue Bell Hill, on the north downs way north of Maidstone. At 530 a tree comes alive in a circle of fires. Morris sides dance while the sun rises. Even if it rains. This year, covid hasn’t gone. Avoid train trips. Avoid long car drives because of petrol price. Simpler to take bus to Whitstable.

Dancing by the Library, led by Dead Horse Morris, Creekside Cloggers. Group from Margate. Garage coffee. Pint in plastic from Duke of Cumberland. Short procession. Giant figure of Neptune. Dancing by Horsebridge. By this time finding hard to deal with crowds. As though covid never happened. Brief walk on stony beach: views of Sheppey, somewhat misty. Neptune pub and Seasalter. Dead Horse women, or Broomdashers, danced to tune of Chattanooga choo choo. Learned they dance on May 1st at five near the Hotel Continental in nearby Tankerton, where the sun rises out of the sea.

The dancers moved on, ending up at the Lions fair in Castle Gardens.

I walked up a tarmac path to the grassy Tankerton Slopes. Modern beacon. Flagpole with national flag. Two cannons. View east. Herne Bay rising above Hampton. Remains of Herne Bay pier. Icecream. Ate it on seat “In loving memory of Ted and Florrie Scott”. Walk past tennis courts to bus stop.

This is one of my favourite walks, done in reverse. The crowds that made me nervous meant that Whitstable’s first May Day since lockdown was a success.

Bluebells

Bluebells are part of Spring. A few years ago Steve Tebbett told me best bluebells in East Kent are between Broad Oak and Sturry, about 5km northeast of Canterbury. Den Grove Wood on the map. Visited a few times before Covid. I then kept car trips to a minimum and avoided buses.
Thursday April 28th i found courage for bus journeys. Combined with visit as countryside access warden: i hadn’t walked these paths for three years. 11 degrees, dry, cool NE wind. No rain recently. No mud expected. Bus to Broad Oak turning, not many passengers but most were maskless. Path CB73 is close to the bus stop. Grassy path between fences. Pruned brambles. Three years ago i had to climb over ten fallen trees. Now reduced to big logs. Used saw on an ivy tree. Turn left onto Sweechgate. Soon left onto CB68. Refreshed path numbers with marker pen. This path was wider. Area of woodland. Ponds to left and right. Deadnettles. Mead Manor. Curious buildings. Halftimbered house. Broad Oak Chapel. Canterbury Rings marker.

Left onto Shallock Road. These roads are busy: alternative to A28 as route to Canterbury. At a bend, left onto CB60. This dullish walk is an intro to the main course. Dry earth path. Yellow route card for Duke of Edinburgh’s award. On the right fences of caravan park, or retirement trailers. On the left, bluebells. Eventually, spectacular. On my first visit a man advised me to turn right off the main path. A circuit through the best bluebells. Beech trees, hawthorn a sea of blue. Photos.

Back onto main path. Barbed wire fence on left, bluebells everywhere. Out of wood. View of cathedral and industrial Canterbury, trading estate i guess. Down short steep slope. Last patch of bluebells. Ate my daily apple.

Level crossing. Stopped while train passed towards Canterbury. Notice of proposed viaduct to take A28 across these meadows.

Through Junior Kings School, for the children of the rich. Past St Nicholas church onto Chapel Lane. Bus back to Canterbury.

About three km walk, of which about 500 metres among the bluebells.

But well worth it.