Rambling Brummie

Christmas in Canterbury

Past the winter solstice. The days slowly get longer. More light. Less heat though. Neighbour Liz said “spring is coming” Yes, but winter comes first.

Tradition means doing the same each year. Tradition is doing things without knowing why. at Christmas, each family probably makes its own traditions. With young children what’s done twice has been done always.

One personal ritual is delivering cards locally. A short walk. This year including Wincheap, ancient road to Ashford, meaning wagon market or wine market. Into Gordon Road, probably after General “Chinese” Gordon killed at Khartoum. Twentieth century developers built Edward Close opposite nineteenth century Gordon, presumably in tribute to Rev Awdry.

Martyrs Field Road, with its small park and monument to the 41 Kentish martyrs burnt at the stake 1555 – 58 in the reign of Mary Tudor. Erected 1899 by public subscription. Many places in the world have similar intolerance today.

Heaton Road, presumably after Sir John Hennicker Heaton, Canterbury MP before 1910. We now have Rosie Duffield, Canterbury’s first Labour and first female MP.

Recent flats in Elham Rd and Valley Rd, in memory of the Elham Valley railway whose embankment was here. Cogans Terrace, not sure how to pronounc it or who Cogan was. St Mildreds Place. Think rectory was here, now Canon Appleton sheltered housing. Once a fine copper beech in the grass in front. It was diseased – the stump remains. A replacement tree was stolen. Bastards.

A familiar route but i hope interesting

Now its Christmas Eve, with its own family traditions. Tree, wreath, pinboard for cards. Carol singing in the city centre, with the archbishop. Not these covid years alas. Maybe in 2022?

Happy Christmas

Golf and walking

“Golf is a good walk ruined” A golf course is a wide open space, largely grassland, with clumps of trees and often streams and ponds. So why don’t i like walking on them?

East Kent has several golf courses, including Royal St Georges, Canterbury and Broome Park. All are crossed by public footpaths. On all i’ve gone astray.

Two recent walks from Boughton east of Faversham. Looking at footpaths south of A2. Several cross Boughton golf course. Often footpaths are not well marked: here they are. Impression that some golf clubs would prefer footpaths to disappear. Sunny morning, cold wind. Wore two jumpers, woolly hat and windproof coat. Saw only two golfers. Not easy seeing yellow way marker arrows at a distance. Second visit. Cold but no wind. Four sets of golfers. One asked me what i was up to, which is unusual. Explained i was a volunteer checking the public paths. Must look suspicious looking lost with a bag of tools and waymarkers. Went astray this time.

One problem is that there isn’t a worn path to follow across the fairways and greens. Another is the golfers. Don’t want to put them off their play. Don’t want to be hit by aa ball. Not all cry “fore”

Positives. Its rare in Kent to walk in large open space without fences. Usually easy walking without mud or stiles.

Think i feel uneasy because i’m intruding. Walkers have the right to walk, but golfers are playing their game. Need at least one more visit to Boughton golf course. Maybe i’ll feel more confident.

November

Thomas Hood wrote a poem which starts “No sun no moon no morn no noon” and ends “no shade no shine no butterflies no bees no fruits no flowers no leaves no birds. November!” Thought he was overdoing it for dramatic effect. Was planning to say November’s not as bad as that. Wikipedia tells me London when he wrote in 1844 was heated by coal, and peasouper fogs were common. 1956 Clean air act cured that problem. Now we have vehicle pollution and smoke from woodburners.

November can be a gloomy month. Sometimes it never really gets light. After 46 years in east Kent i’m still surprised when the sun sets about 420 pm. This November wasn’t too bad. One wet and windy day including a hailstorm. One wet night. Some gloomy drizzle. But many cold dry sunny days, great for walking.

Trying to return to normal. Countryside access work, walks with Datrows, allotment. The last never stopped during pandemic. Allotment a welcome refuge.

Last week looked at a few footpaths south of Boughton. A new area to me. It was cold, damp and grey. Wore two jumpers, woolly hat and windproof coat. Rural walk with hopgardens and orchards. Roar of traffic on A2. Replaced a waymarker.

Sunday joined Datrows walk from Goodnestone, first for a while. I’d missed one walk because it was horrendously wet. Cold and sunny. A leisurely walk led by Mike Weston. Reverse of Aug 22nd’s walk. Not leisurely enough for me. Failed to keep up. Talk with Steve Tebbett who had repaired two shaky stiles. Told about “where do camels belong” by Ken Thompson, about invasive species. Discussed alternative energy. Are heat pumps the answer?

A colleague once said “November is a winter month” Sometimes it is. Anyway we move into December. Happy walking.

Autumn in the woods

What is autumn? Days get shorter and cooler. Fruits ripen. Leaves fall from deciduous trees. Walkers can enjoy cool dry sunny days, or endure cold wet days which don’t get properly light. Climate change ripens fruit earlier. If it delays winter does that mean longer autumn?

As a countryside access warden i visited Ellenden Wood, about three miles south of Whitstable last Thursday. Parked near a man who’d lost his car keys in the wood and was waiting for a recovery truck. Costly.

The public rights of way here are all bridleways, usable on foot, pedal bike or horse. I hoped they’d be wellused and clear. A CAW’s function is to check that paths are unobstructed and waymarked. Report any hazards such as broken stiles. The pleasure of walking is a bonus.

Parked in Denstroude Lane, near southern entrance to Victory Wood. A 21st century planting replacing wood cleared in the 1950s. Ellenden and Tong woods are older. My walk was a triangle, one corner being on Fox’s Cross Road. Other rights of way would have to be visited later.

A pleasant sunny morn. Little mud. Being autumn, fallen leaves covered the tracks making navigation difficult. Hoofmarks helped. Lots of oakleaves. Beech. Squirrel. Molehills. Reeds in damper areas. Many paths are not on the PROW map. By luck or experience, didn’t get lost. Fell once, slipping on tree roots and sitting in mud. Fitted two waymarkers (blue) and did a little pruning. Especially thorny things at eye height or trippy at ground level. Passed one dogwalker.

At the northern end an unexpected view across grass to Seasalter and Sheppey. The final leg was directly into the low sun. Dazzling.

That was a good walk. Autumn can mean plodding through mud or crossing freshly ploughed fields. Rain. High winds. My next walk may not be so pleasant.

We’ll see.

Chestnutting

Season of mists and fruitfulness. Damp in the air as i drove to Rough Common, about 3km northwest of Canterbury, for chestnuts. Usually go there in time for halloween and bonfire night. Somehow forgot this year. A circuit of Stockwood, part of Blean Woods which stretch 4km west to Dunkirk. “Blean” means rough ground. Always call the eastern end Rough Common woods. May not be owned in common, but are open to all. Used to be a favourite family walk. Includes a stream, bridge with a resident troll, a pond and a fallen tree which became a spaceship.

Parked in Church Wood Close. Cross Rough Common Road to footpath CB501. Downhill on earthen path, leafcovered. Beech holly oak silver birch chestnut. Downhill to dry stream. Picked up about fifteen chestnuts. Take what you need and leave the rest. Fungus. Some mud. Brambles of course. Bridge. Don’t bother the troll this time. Steep mounds maybe for BMX riders. Onto wide track by dry pond. Spaceship tree gone. Timber stack. Back on road. Pub now student letting business,Unilet. Back to car, a mile walked. In just over an hour.

While walking alone i don’t think about covid. Odd that i haven’t mentioned that earlier.

Bought manure from Red lion cottage, welcome coffee at Meadow Grange. Visited Blean rec ground for a private two minute silence at eleven, thinking of all the war dead throughout history.

While walking alone i don’t think about covid. Odd that i didn’t mention that earlier.

Hernhill revisited

A second visit to Hernhill, about five km east of Faversham. Name means “at the grey hill” Looking at loose ends: footpaths which don’t easily connect with my previous visit as a countryside access warden.

Thursday Nov 4th, my sister’s birthday, was cloudy with cold wind from the north. Almost cancelled plan when radio mentioned thundery showers. Don’t like rain. The met office forecast reassured me.

Parked by St Michael’s church, near the Red Lion pub. Walked north past houses. Right onto footpath ZR516. Amusing sign: Want to start FREE Yoga? Please start by bending over and picking up your dog poo! (known as the downward dog position) THEN POOP IT IN THE BIN! Humour may work better than orders.

Shortly saw three dogwalkers enter the rec. Path on grass next to a hedge by apple trees. Three metal kissing gates. I pruned obstructive branches. One gate had a puddle: the most mud i saw on the walk.

Turn left onto Crockham Lane, hurrying past a tanker emptying a cess pit. Past Black Oast (doesn’t look like an oast) which seems to be a dyslexia specialist unit, and Godfrey’s Grave. Sign on a wall reads CLARIDGES Godfrey’s Grave

Failed to find who Godfrey was. Twice passed a woman with two black dogs. Failed also to find end of path ZR513. A likely place had no fingerpost or other sign of public path.

Returned to car, walking past primary school. Years ago went to a wine and wisdom there.

Parked by pumping station in Fostall. Mother and daughter led two ponies. By a row of houses found the fingerpost and path end and walked uphill between fences. At the south end found no sign of fingerpost. Nailed a waymarker to a post. The final path was north from Fostall, a drove lane severed by A299 Thanet Way. A grassy path next to wooden fence, became progressively more obstructed by brambles. Too much for my secateurs especially when a thorn stuck in my nose.

A short walk, accompanied by rumble of traffic on Thanet Way.

And it didn’t rain

Acknowledge Judith Glover “The place names of Kent” and Wikipedia

Two sloe walks

Autumn: time to pick sloes, bitter fruit of the blackthorn. Some make sloe gin. Don’t like gin. For years i’ve made sloe vodka, adding sloes and sugar to the spirit.

Usually i do countryside access warden work on Thursdays. Planned a local walk on October 7th to check on a hole i’d filled and seek sloes in a hedge. A lovely morning, mist clearing to sun. The footdeep hole, filled with stones from my allotment, earth and wood seemed ok. I sat on a bench eating my daily apple, enjoying view of the misty cathedral. Chatted to a runner.

Found one sloe.

October 14th i visited East Blean Wood, a nature reserve about eight km northeast of Canterbury. It lies on Hick’s Forstal Road. A forstal is the land in front of a farm. Hick, variously spelled, was a farmer in the fourteenth century. (Judith Glover, The place names of Kent) In spring the wood has bluebells and wood anemones. In autumn, a hedge of blackthorns where i’ve picked sloes before. I planned a three mile circuit, testing my stamina.

First problem: Kent Wildlife Trust now charge for their carpark. “Pay by mobile” £2.50 a day. Seems they need more income. Can’t do that. Don’t have suitable phone. Changed plan and parked in nearby Knave’s Ash. Nearby should be sloes. The blackthorn hedge was leafless and sloeless. Returned to car. Path i’d planned to walk (CH36) had several notices “Path closed due to subsidence” I walked past the farm buildings as far as a ploughed field. Could investigate from the other end. Another short path (CB76) was clear.

Drove back along Hicks Forstal Road. Saw several squirrels, or the same squirrel several times. Parked off the roadside, like others possibly avoiding parking charge. The path number was missing. I attached an endmarker to the fingerpost, CH36. Walked along path hoping to see extent of subsidence. An uneven stretch with long grass. Realised i was walking into the sun. Compass agreed i was walking more south than east. I had picked the wrong path.

About turn through the long grass. Ate apple for energy. Nearing the road i stepped aside to wee in a hedge. My eyes focussed on . . . . a sloe. I collected twentyone, maybe enough. Avoided spiky thorns. Corrected the endmarker to CH32. If the old marker had been there i wouldn’t have been misled.

As a walk, not good. Failed to do the three mile circuit. Walked about two miles, none in the nature reserve. Failed to find the subsidence. But i didn’t fall over.

And did find some sloes.

Postscript: the following week i was again surreptitiously weeing in a hedge when i spied more sloes. Now have enough to make sloe vodka for christmas presents.

Walk don’t run

The London Marathon was last Sunday, delayed by covid from its place in the spring. I watched the start on tv then took one of my regular walks, a circuit of Canterbury. Reminisced about my past running.

Worked for 24 years at Canterbury College as a science technician. The college is less than a mile from open country, had changing rooms and showers and a group of technicians. Jogging was fashionable in the 80s. One of us organised a three mile jog. Think there were seven of us. This reduced to two, and then one. Me.

Then a holiday in Hastings with wife and two young sons broke the sequence.

First London marathon revived my interest. Saw the two winners cross the line handinhand and thought “I’d like to do that” A feeling i rarely have. Also thought it was too ambitious. Then five mile Canterbury Fun Run. Thought i can work up to that. went from threemiles to six in easy stages. Advice from workmate John Adam, runner and musician. Replace old plimsoles with running shoes. Llew Williams, a lecturer at the college, ran at the same speed at me. We trained and ran races together. Seems to me that made us runners, not joggers. Maybe an unnecessary distinction.

Injured left knee cartilage by slipping on a kerb. Later damaged back. In those far off days the doctor told me to lie flat for two weeks. Depressing. Recovered and began building up the miles. Lucky entry to London Marathon. Foolishly ran in Thanet marathon three weeks before. Foolish because i could never have recovered in time. There’s a steep climb after Ramsgate that finished me. I stopped after about twenty miles. No chance of running in London.

So i found what failure feels like. Running is addictive. That and fear of failure drove me on. Odd how a meaningless activity gives meaning to life. The late BBC commentator David Coleman could understand records, best times and fun runners supporting charities. There must be thousands like me, serious runners though not very fast. Why do we do it? I was going on about this during a Canterbury marathon when i slipped and sprained an ankle. Coleman’s revenge?

To cut the story short i ran the London marathon in 1987. At that time it finished on Westminster Bridge. Jimmy Savile later fixed it with the queen to end on the Mall. I stepped over the finish line with tears of relief saying “never again”. I was 12,860th in 3hrs 55min.

Soon i entered for yet another Canterbury half marathon. Years later i lost motivation and decrepitude took over.

The walk? Okay except for traffic noise on the ring road. Runners kept my mind on the marathon. Wasn’t tempted to break into a run myself. A small boy fed ducks in Westgate Gardens. A couple embraced on top of the Dane John mound. Difficult to keep a safe distance from other people: too many think covid is over.

Home in time to see the marathon winners.

A short walk in Ospringe

Ospringe is a small place in East Kent. Can’t decide if it’s a village. Or a part of Faversham, separated by the A2 here called Ospringe Street. Certainly Water Lane has the feel of a village, with primary school, 12th century church of St Paul and St Peter, and historic Queenhouse farm and Maison Dieu.

Water Lane was once a stream with raised sidewalks. The name Ospringe refers to the spring which feeds the stream, now in a culvert under the street. The lane is wide enough for easy parking by twentieth century modern bungalows opposite the school. Carved in stone on the school wall: “Come ye children and hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord”

I was in Ospringe to take my wife to visit a convalescent friend. Used the opportunity to visit two local footpaths, a walk of just over a mile.

Walked along Mutton Lane to Vicarage Lane. Rewrote the footpath number, ZF12, which had faded. Into a meadow: “Sheep grazing. Keep to footpath” But no sheep. Here people had not kept to the official footpath but had made a path to Water Lane. I found that they (and i) should have climbed a stile into a strip of woodland before turning right to the lane. People make paths, not always corresponding to the legal rights of way. A little pruning on the path through the wood.

Back on Water Lane, after Ospringe water treatment works, turned left on footpath ZF14 into a pleasant piece of woodland. Again people had preferred a path back to the lane, staying in the wood. The right of way left the wood by another stile and crossed grassy scrub to the lane. A little more pruning in the wood.

Walked back along the lane to the car passing the flinty church with its tower and small flinty building opposite .Maybe a mortuary chapel? Further on, Queen Court is halftimbered, once the family seat of Herbert de Burgh. Seized in 1234 by Henry III and given in dowry to his queen.

There are plans to convert the ancient barn to residences.

Maison Dieu, at the end of the lane on the A2, was commissioned by Henry III. It was hospital, hostel, monastery, retirement home and royal lodge. The present building is a small part of the original complex. In the care of English Heritage, but managed by Maison Dieu Museum Trust. Open weekends and some bank holidays. Display of Roman artefacts.

A short easy walk on a pleasant sunny day. In normal times i would have visited The Ship, pub on the northern side of the A2. Advertises real ales, homecooked food and live music. I’m still avoiding people, especially indoors. Too many seem to think the pandemic is over.