Canterbury Middle Ring

Canterbury Rings were initiated by David Reekie, helped by Simon Cox and Ray Cordell. They are a nonprofit organisation aiming to create a waymarked network of urban and rural trails in and around the city. I came across the rings by seeing one of their waymarkers. Found this info and maps by entering “Canterbury Rings” into Google. Don’t know how to contact them to give thanks. It’s easy to plan a walk by drawing on a map. To waymark it is a major feat.

“Canterbury” Cantwaraburh in old English, means stronghold of the people of Kent. The British name, Darovernon, meant fortified place by a swamp. The Romans adopted this as Durovernum Cantiacorum, after the native Cantii tribe. Thanks again to Judith Glover, “The place names of Kent”

The inner ring is about two miles and i walked it some time ago. The middle ring is about ten miles which owing to decrepitude i have done in four stages. Using buses to reach points on the Ring. Am very wary of buses: if one passenger has covid…

I like walking with a map in hand. Miss a waymarker and one can be lost. I photographed the website map and tried to relate it to the Ordnance Survey map.

For me, easiest access to the Middle Ring is by Triangle bus up the hill to Rough Common Road. Cross Whitstable road and walk towards Canterbury. Left onto cycle path. Right onto footpath between University of Kent student accommodation. Canterbury Ring waymarkers are green and yellow stickers, not too obtrusive. I soon went astray on a parallel path through a strip of woodland.

Regaining the Ring, i failed to spot any markers near the sports centre. Onto cycle way steeply down across grassland with trees. Left on bridleway, crossing the route of Canterbury and Whitstable railway, opened in 1830 and closed in 1953. Stephenson Road maybe named after George, the railway engineer.

St Stephen’s pathway across Beverley Meadow, a narrow tunnel under railway. Across The Causeway to St Radigunds St: the nearest this Ring gets to the city centre. Then a pleasant walk by the river Stour to Barton Mill and across Sturry Rd.

Through housing to the Old Park, area of heathland until recently army training ground. Valuable open space. Hope not lost to developers. St Augustine’s well. Through housing, past St Martins church and the former prison, now part of Cant Christchurch Uni. Up Puckle Lane to a path through cornfield and then orchards. Good view looking back to cathedral.

Off New House Lane, path next to huge housing development. More traffic, more demand for water, more sewage. Down Strangers Lane, across A28, to Tonford. Bridge over Stour. Thomas Sidney Cooper’s painting of the view from here is in the Beaney museum in Cant.

Level crossing over the railway to Ashford. Tonford Manor, a farm with some ancient remains. Turn right on path between orchards. Tunnel under A2 then left under railway. Path by stream. Information board where path crosses the North Downs Way says it is Whitehall Brook. Short detour to Black Princes Well. Turn right onto Church Hill Harbledown. This is Chaucer’s Bob-up-and-down. Steeply up steps next to Coach and Horses pub.. Worse going down. Beer garden, disliked by some residents. Pity. A pub should be a centre of its community. Bridge over Harbledown Bypass. Uphill again, Dukes Meadow. Path next to Kent College to the start.

Easy walking, apart from the steps. Much on tarmac. Firm grass or earth. Though it hadn’t rained for a while.

Thanks to the creators of the Canterbury Rings.

A walk from Goodnestone

There are two Goodnestones in East Kent. This one is between Wingham and Aylesham, east of Canterbury. The name, once Godwineston, means “Godwine’s farmstead” probably referring to earl Godwin of Essex, father of Harold II last Saxon King of England.

To a visiting walker it consists of The Street with church of Holy Cross, a primary school and Fitzwalter Arms pub. And a modern culdesac where i parked. At the end of the street is Goodnestone House, a palladian mansion. Extensive gardens are open to the public. Jane Austen’s brother lived at nearby Rowling. She often visited the area and found inspiration for the houses and characters in “Pride and Prejudice”

Last Sunday awoke about six to a thunderstorm with heavy rain. Overcoming worries about weather and my fitness i joined DATROWS for a three mile walk from Goodnestone, led by Mike Weston. Raincoat was not needed.

Seven of us met at the end of the street. We turned into School Lane and walked an anticlockwise circuit. According to the Ordnance Survey map we passed through Loverswalk Wood and the Serpentine.

Mostly easy walking: no mud but two tricky stiles. Saw two men with dogs not on a public path. I waved. One said “Good morning … or is it afternoon?” Later, where the walk crossed a road a police car stopped. We were asked if we’d seen these suspicious men.

Horses in fields. Ragwort (separate): looked for cinnabar moth caterpillars but found none.

Talk. Cricket: Kent cricketers we remembered. England’s Test defeat by India. The dreadful Hundred, seemingly intended to take cricket away from the counties. And why should we, in Kent, support any of the teams? Housing: massive building in the interest of developers not local needs. Built without infrastructure: water, roads, sewerage.

A pleasant walk and it didn’t rain. Mike gave away surplus beans and cucumbers from his garden.

Reference; Judith Glover, “The place names of Kent” Wikipedia. “A rich seam” by White Cliffs Countryside Project.

Joys of path clearing

As a countryside access warden i’ve done a lot of vegetation removal, light pruning using secateurs or a folding saw. Was issued with loppers but not easy to carry, especially on a bus.

Walkers help to keep paths clear, crushing vegetation. If a path is not walked it can become overgrown quite quickly. I found two local paths blocked. In each case walkers had detoured through a neighbouring orchard. Okay if the orchardist doesn’t object, but in the longterm a right of way could be lost.

So, two short expotitions, equipped with secateurs, loppers, shears, pruning saw and a bottle of water. Gloves and a longsleeved top to avoid thorns and nettles. Not forgetting walking stick.

The first path was off Hollow Lane, Canterbury, between newish housing and an orchard. Total walk about a mile. Nettles and fierce brambles. Time clearing the path about an hour.

I left the path narrow but walkable.

A week later i tackled the second path. It was on the fifth of August, the weather fair and mild. I got up with the lark in the morning, but had coffee and breakfast before going out. Again blocked by brambles and wildflowers. Cow parsley. A length of fence had collapsed across the path. Again, walkers had detoured through the fruit trees.

I had reported these blockages via the County Council website. With mixed feelings i found that someone with a brushcutter or similar had cleared the path. Mixed because i was left with nothing to do. But pleased that the path was now walkable.

I walked up the hill and back down on another path. Decades ago this path was between hedges and was useful for gathering windfall apples from overhanging branches. The big trees were replaced by smaller ones. The two hedges have become one. I pruned several brambles which threaten to grow across the path.

Uphill across a wheatfield, sat at a play area to eat my apple (shop not windfall) I picked a blackberry. On August 5th. Forty years ago, in my winemaking days, i picked berries in mid September. Climate change, or climate catastrophe.

Down Lime Kiln Road and home. Coffee needed.

Nettles and brambles

Countryside access wardens are asked to deal with “issues” about public rights of way. This one, at Harbledown near Canterbury, was a stile on CB485 obstructed by nettles.

I thought of a three mile walk including this stile, taking bus back from Blean. Am very wary of buses, especially as distancing seems to have ended. Also not sure i could walk three miles. Wore a longsleeved shirt, rare for me, and carried gloves secateurs and pruning saw.

A pleasant sunny Thursday. Drove to London Road estate, planning a mile walk. This was built as council housing with road names taken from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. I drove up Knight Avenue, parked on Priest Avenue and walked to Wife of Bath Hill.

There a short path between houses led to Mill Lane, part of the North Downs Way. A national trail from Farnham in Surrey to Dover. At the top of the lane impressive gates to Mindora Heights and Canterbury Barn. Then an earthen path steeply downhill. A stream when wet.

At the bottom, a bridge across a stream, which i had thought nameless. A newish information board told me it’s the Whitehall Dyke, 4.9 miles from Court Wood near Blean to Hambrook Meaadow in Canterbury where it joins the river Stour. It is a rusty chalybeate stream, containing iron salts once thought to have medicinal properties. The similar waters of Tunbridge Wells were said to cure colic, melancholy and flatworms. Make the lean fat and the fat lean.

Near the bridge was the stile i’d come to see. It had parts missing and could be walked round. I removed a few nettles, thinking it could be a seat for tired walkers.

Then walked southwards next to the stream. An earthen path with hoofprints. Was kept busy with secateurs pruning brambles. At ground level where they can be trippy or higher where they can endanger eyes. Used pruning saw on tough old brambles. Horses in field “please do not feed” Roar of A2. Bridge over the stream. Brick arch under the railway.

Onto Whitehall Road. After Whitehall Farm a path leads uphill to the left. Here stopped to talk with former Datrows member going the other way. She had done a lot of walking during the pandemic.

Steep path led to bridge over the railway and even steeper steps. Needed to use the handrail. An earthen path. Dead mouse. Among the houses and back to the car.

Only a mile. Good feelings, especially after a cup of coffee.

Sunday morning coming up

During the night i wake every hour or so. Rather than think thoughts, which leads to depression, i turn on the radio with thirty minutes with the sleep timer. BBC world service is adfree and serious. Unfortunately, it is largely news which is depressing. War and famine in Yemen, war and famine in Tigray, Israel/Palestine, dodgy Brexit deal, blundering lying Johnson … i won’t go on.

Sunday, June 20th. Sooner i go for a walk the better. Rain forecast at 9a.m. A favourite walk, two mile circuit of Canterbury. Didn’t feel fit for more. That’s another story,

On Wincheap an ambulance driver bought food at the recently opened “Mange tout” cafe. Saw a white squirrel at Toddlers Cove playground. Not quick enough with camera. Hugged a tree. Runners. Dog walkers. A row of sleeping mallards on the riverbank. River not very high in spite of recent heavy rain.

Ecopark off Pound Lane. Part lawns and benches. Part long grass and bee friendly plants. Self seeded sycamores were removed and boxes installed for bats and birds.

Plenty of water over the weir near the Millers Arms. Drizzle. And not yet nine. Said to a woman in St Radigunds St “hoped to avoid the rain” She replied she was going to put on a longer coat.

As i walked past the Parrot pub and onto Broad Street i found myself singing “on the Sunday morning sidewalk …” From Kris Kristofferson’s song “Sunday morning coming down” made famous by the great Johnny Cash.

But i wasn’t coming down. The rain was, which i dislike, but the walk and contact with the natural world had lifted my depression.

Hence the clumsy title.

A walk from Hernhill

Hernhill is a small village to the north of Boughton. As a countryside access warden, i planned a two mile walk to check footpaths to the south. A walk of two halves: the first mostly across farmland, the second on roads.

Hernhill has a village green with Red Lion pub and St Michael’s church. In the churchyard lies John Tom, a Cornishman who called himself Sir William Courtney who led a small agriculture workers’ revolt in 1838. This was ended by the military at Bossenden Wood, where Courtney and eight followers were killed or fatally wounded. This is said to be the last battle on English soil.

In a sense my walk was a failure as i couldn’t find paths through orchards and polytunnels. Farmers often plant trees leaving gaps for rights of way, sometimes they do not. However it’s a wardens job to report unwalkable paths. I plan another visit to check.

The road part of the walk led me through the gardens of Mount Ephraim, the seat of the Dawes family for at least 250 years. A sign says “enchanting beauty in the heart of Kent” Formal gardens down terraces to a lake. Weddings catered for. Fruit growing. Topiary. Tea rooms. Pleasant memories of outdoor Shakespeare.

Talk with Sandy Dawe himself, on carpark duty. Pleased to be open to the public after lockdown.

The exit road from Mt Ephraim is by the intriguing named Slutshole. A short path leads back to Hernhill.`This name means “at the grey hill” [Judith Glover]

A pleasant walk – apart from going astray – on a sunny day. No mud. Several dog walkers. Back home, a welcome beer from the local shop.

Back to Boughton

As a volunteer countryside access warden, i visited Boughton in December 2020. It’s taken four more visits to walk all the footpaths between The Street and Staplestreet Road.

Boughton is between Faversham and Canterbury, on the Roman Road which was later called Watling Street. With Kentish originality it is here caled The Street. It is lined with buildings of many ages. Boughton is about two km from west to east, and about five hundred metres from north to south.

South of the Street is mostly modern housing, with urban footpaths. Near the bypass (A2) is a stream, a strip of woodland, and an uneven path.

The footpaths northwards very soon lead into farmland. I was pleased to see, in May, fruit trees in blossom and hop bines about to start climbing their strings. Two oasts in Bull Lane.

All the paths were walkable. One had been recently strimmed of long grass and nettles. I did a little pruning with secateurs and removed obstructive ivy branches with my saw. A couple with a black dog thanked me.

Boughton has two pubs on the Street, White Horse and Queens Head. I hope to visit them when i feel safe with other people.

Three churches walk

A leisurely walk with Dover and Thanet Rights of Way Society on May 9th covered three miles in the valley of the Little Stour. Connecting the villages of Littlebourne, Wickhambreaux and Ickham. The last two i would call hamlets.

We started at the Rose Inn, Wickhambreaux, dividing into two groups of six, led by Jan and Steve Tebbett, walking in opposite directions. I joined Steve’s anticlockwise group. Across the village green through the churchyard of St Andrews. Parallel with the Little Stour past former watermill, a large white building now offices i think. Past the church of St Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of vinedressers. This is Littlebourne. Turn left after the church, crossing Nargate Street and then the river.

This is mostly a flat walk, today on firm dry paths. We cross a soft meadow, which was recently underwater, and gently climb to a bridleway where we turn left towards Ickham with the Duke William pub and church of St John the Evangelist.

Where the two groups meet Steve produces a bag of oranges. On to Seaton, where a left turn takes us across the river and back to Wickhambreaux. Several posters opposing lockdown bring comments of “they should look at India”

Placenames. Littlebourne means little stream, the Little Stour. Ickham: settlement with a yoke of land, about 50 acres. Wickhambreaux is more complicated. Wickham means dwelling place. The extra syllable comes from the variously spelled Breuhuse family.

Topics mentioned during the walk: minimum wage, why not introduced till the 1990s. Water supply, lack of investment by privatised companies.

A pleasant walk. A short extension to the Anchor in Littlebourne could make three pubs walk, but three pints in three miles might be excessive.

Towards normality?

Two walks in a week, of importance mainly to myself. A year ago i intended this blog to be based on walks with Datrows [Dover and Thanet Rights of Way Society] and as a CAW [Countryside Access Warden] Then came Covid restrictions.

I’ve never been locked down, though walking has been limited by decrepitude. Now, Kent County Council has allowed its volunteer CAWs to resume activity. And walking groups may go out in groups of six.

Having proved my stamina with a four mile walk, i picked an easy walk to look at footpaths. Could i carry my bag of CAW equipment and manage a walking stick? Graveney is a tiny place between Whitstable and Faversham. I chose it because i could park by All Saints church and it’s flat. I’d not walked there for decades, and was pleased to find the paths well-marked and well-trodden. Didn’t go astray and didn’t fall over. A slight rise to Broom Street and the Old Vicarage. Farmland and fruit bushes. Dog walkers. Posters opposing building of 320 hectares of solar panels on grade 3b agricultural land. Posters supporting the Green Party.

Didn’t have much to do, but it felt like a return to useful work.

On Sunday i joined the Datrows walk from Bridge led by Steve and Jan Tebbett. Two groups of six, a distance apart.

A football match on Bridge Rec. Children practicing football skills. On Conyngham Road i thought i needn’t use my stick, tripped, and fell, grazing left hand. Embarrassing. The rest of the walk was fine. Hard earth paths replacing the mud of winter, The Nailbourne flowing well. Nervous of people: to me, six is a crowd. But good to be back with the group. A buzzard high overhead. Welcome coffee in the garden of the Red Lion.

And a welcome bottle of Whitstable pale ale after driving home.

April 26th, 2021

Swale Heritage Trail

The Swale is the channel between the Isle of Sheppey and the rest of Kent. From Old English “swalwe” meaning rushing water. The Borough of Swale is the local government area including Sittingbourne and Faversham. The Swale Heritage trail links these two towns and continues to Goodnestone to the east of Faversham. The trail was conceived by Swale Borough Council and developed with Kent County Council. KCC produced a guidebook in 1995 which includes three circular walks involving parts of the Saxon Shore Way.

The trail is about twelve miles and easy walking, or was in 2008. No part is more than 20 metres above sealevel, and i don’t remember going astray. Sittingbourne [Stream of dwellers on slope] and Faversham [Home of the smith] are well connected by train. Goodnestone [Godwine’s farmstead] has a bus service.

Not wishing to wait ages for a rural bus, i used a car for the eastern section, walking to Faversham from Goodnestone and back by the Saxon Shore Way and other footpaths. One highlight was seeing a fox take a rabbit for breakfast. Another was meeting former colleague John Adams and his dog Honey by Faversham Creek. We were both technicians at Canterbury College. John, musician and songwriter, encouraged my marathon running.

For the western part i took a train to Sittingbourne and so walked in the same direction as the guide. My diary reads “ok except for being unfit and long walk through industrial Sittingbourne” Two km i think to the start of the trail near Murston.

Between the two towns the trail goes through orchards, meadows and small villages. Traces of former industry: brickfields, clay and gravel pits. Creeks made Sittingbourne, Conyer, and Faversham busy ports. Faversham once made explosives.

I enjoyed a pint in the Castle at Oare towards the end of my walk. The trail passes Bob Geldof’s home, Davington Priory, before crossing the creek near the Shepherd Neame brewery.

A pleasant walk and thanks to the producers of the guide.