Author Topic: Completely covering Kent  (Read 38029 times)

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #150 on: 16:22:19, 17/10/20 »
This morning, my wife and I drove the short distance to a local woods car park to do a woodland and farmland circuit. The drive was to allow us to explore an area between Tyler Hill and Broad Oak (just north of Canterbury), and to include some paths and tracks we've not walked before. The squiggle to the right on our route was us backtracking to find an entrance into the woods. 



Setting off into Blean Woods : Me posing by a cycle route sign, with my brand new body cam attached to my backpack strap.  :)



I hadn't intended to do a write up on this rather dull day, but we came across a very photogenic area of sunflowers where we took lots of photos.

Here are a couple of them...



Sunflowers aren't uncommon in this area, but we've never before seen them covering such a large area:



Wonderful as sunflowers are, it was the combination with purple tansy flowers that really made for a fantastic sight:



The squiggle on the map was all down to these mushrooms. We spotted them as we crossed a field, went over and took some photos, then walked along the side of the field looking for a way into the woods. With our way blocked by a barbed-wire fence, we eventually gave up and retraced our steps.



Nearing the end of our very pleasant 10 mile countryside amble, we found a nice group of Fly Agaric toadstools:



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WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #151 on: 18:46:43, 18/10/20 »
For today's walk with daughter and grandsons, we parked in the lovely village of Wingham a few miles east of Canterbury. My daughter once worked in nearby Ash, but had only driven through Wingham on her way to work. So today was partly about her seeing more of this delightful part of Kent.

The route was as follows: take quiet country lanes and a woodland path to the Little Stour river. Walk alongside the river to the villages of Wickhambreaux and then Ickham, and return across farmland.



Setting off through leafy Wingham:



The entrance to the woods was through a very big gate!



We emerged from the woods and crossed a footbridge to join the riverside path to Wickhambreaux:



Cows on the other side; playing by a ford; and just playing...



The weir where we stopped for lunch and played a version of Pooh sticks:



The charming village of Wickhambreaux...



...and the church in equally charming Ickham:



Me racing my 5 year old grandson and being very determined to win, while my 7 year old grandson carried my backpack:  :)

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WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #152 on: 15:25:20, 24/10/20 »
Just a very quick account of a very short walk this morning.  :)

We're looking after the boys today and we decided to investigate a local field that's been full of cattle for months, but which I thought might be safe to cross now that autumn has arrived. There wasn't a cow in sight - let alone a bull! 



This particular field is quite big at about half-a-mile to the stile at the far side. The OS map shows a footpath crossing the middle of the field from end to end, but several 'official' finger-posts attempt to direct walkers around the edge of the field. On this occasion we chose the farmer's route. We came across some very circular fairy rings:



Investigating a big water trough covered with duckweed. Note the 'official' sign that's nowhere near the actual footpath...



Arriving at the stile at the far side of the field:



From there, we followed an unnamed stream for a while, and looped our way back across a couple more fields. A short outing, but a very pleasant one.  :)
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gunwharfman

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #153 on: 18:45:01, 26/10/20 »
I had one of those 'funny little moments' this morning. I went for my daily off-road run and was running along a twisting woodland route when I almost fell over a couple of young teenagers kissing and canoodling sitting on a log. I was surprised and they were even more surprised. All we could do was laugh and I ran on. The shock on their faces when I came charging through was priceless.   ::)

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #154 on: 14:54:56, 07/11/20 »
My wife and I are taking part in the 'Run in the Dark Virtual 5k' later this month and we plan to try out our route this evening, so we chose to do a relaxing and shortish local woods walk this morning straight from home.

Although we know the general area well, we decided to make things a little more interesting by finding our way through an unfamiliar part of the woods for about a mile where no paths at all are shown on the map - and using only the sun to navigate.  :)

We began by crossing the farmland between home and nearby Chestfield...



...where we followed a small stream for a while...



...before crossing some more farmland. The 'White Oak' got its name after the tree was struck by lightning: 



From Chestfield, we crossed the golf course - which we had entirely to ourselves for the first time ever!  :)



From the highest point on the golf course, we had some wonderful views. About 5 miles behind us on the North Kent coast is Herne Bay:



Entering Thornden Wood (part of the larger Blean Woods) where we followed a promising path:



It's good fun trying to head in a certain direction on woodland paths that start well but then twist and turn and head entirely the wrong way. Sometimes you just have to head off through the trees and undergrowth in the hope of finding another path before too long!



One of the nicest spots we came across - and one we recognised from previous walks. Even so, it took some trial and error before we were confident that we were headed the right way out of there...



It was a lovely 7-and-a-bit mile walk. The weather was perfect and, being off the beaten track, we hardly saw a soul. And, of course, the woods are always at their very best at this time of the year.  :)
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cpjmathieson

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #155 on: 18:10:10, 08/11/20 »
Some great walks, do you have a website or blog? Or access to GPX files please. I have walked all of the Kent Coast and much of inland, but still I am surprised by some of your walks O0

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #156 on: 18:57:36, 08/11/20 »
Some great walks, do you have a website or blog? Or access to GPX files please. I have walked all of the Kent Coast and much of inland, but still I am surprised by some of your walks O0
Thanks Chris.  :)   I do have a blog of sorts, and there's a link to it in my signature. I haven't made many GPX files public, but I'd be happy to email you with any that you'd like. (Sadly, it seems that file attachments aren't possible here - unless anyone knows otherwise...)
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cpjmathieson

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #157 on: 19:08:11, 08/11/20 »
Thanks Chris.  :)   I do have a blog of sorts, and there's a link to it in my signature. I haven't made many GPX files public, but I'd be happy to email you with any that you'd like. (Sadly, it seems that file attachments aren't possible here - unless anyone knows otherwise...)


Thank you, I'll check out the blog. I put a link to my blog and link to a GPX Site I upload to; http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/map-area.php?  

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #158 on: 22:50:24, 08/11/20 »

Thank you, I'll check out the blog. I put a link to my blog and link to a GPX Site I upload to; http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/map-area.php?

I've registered as WhitstableDave and uploaded GPX file named 'Devil's Kneading Trough'. I've done lots of walks near there, so I hope it's the one you meant!  :)
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #159 on: 16:36:29, 19/12/20 »
We're sticking to local weekend walks for several reasons: we don't like to drive anywhere at the moment, we don't want to encounter other people, the weather isn't great in December, and (most importantly!) we've got into the routine of doing a cross country run on Sundays so an undemanding Saturday is a Good Thing.

Today, I decided to take my wife to see a nature reserve about 2 miles south west of Whitstable called Wraik Hill Nature Reserve. I've walked through it just the once - and that was at least 3 years ago - but my wife had never been there. Actually, Wraik Hill is one of those 'secret' places that most people in the area don't even know exists. The entrances aren't obvious: the one to the south off Wraik Hill (the road) is unwelcoming, with a broken steel rail blocking access to what was once a small car park, and the one to the north is via a gate off a rarely used footpath. There's another gate to the west off Pilgrim's Lane, which simply looks like a typical gate to a farmer's field. It's no surprise then that I didn't see anyone in the reserve last time and we didn't see a soul there today either.

But, having said all that, Wraik Hill Nature Reserve is well worth a visit for the views as well as the tranquillity of the place. From the top of the hill, there are wonderful views of Whitstable, the marshes toward Seasalter, and the Isle of Sheppey beyond.

To make a walk of it, we took a round-about route...



...that included crossing a very muddy field. We don't usually go that way because it's not really on the way to anywhere we go locally, but my wife had put on her waterproof socks and gaiters and I was wearing my waterproof socks and trail shoes, so we quite fancied wading through a spot of mud (photo left).

Reaching the far side of the field we found the next footpath to be impassable. This path is so seldom used that hawthorn is growing through the gate, making it impossible to open, while the path beyond has also been taken over by that nasty plant. There was no (real) choice but to use the field edge (photo right):



This information sign is set well back from the quiet Wraik Hill lane at the far side of an ex-car park which is now returning to nature. I took a photo because it gives a clue as to the location of another nature reserve nearby called Foxes Cross Bottom - the likely destination for our next outing!



And here's the view from the top of the hill. Whitstable is to the right; the Isle of Sheppey is just behind my head; and the area to the left is called Seasalter Marshes. If I recall the story correctly, the only battle on English soil during WWII happened on the marshes when there was a gunfight between the crew of a crashed German plane and a local garrison. Apparently, the enemy surrendered and the aircrew were taken for a drink at a pub on the coast. Even more interestingly, that same pub has been frequented by Bob Geldorf who lives/lived near Faversham further along the coast:



Wraik Hill is very undulating and muddy, and has a lot of gates. The last part of the nature reserve on our walk was through some very pleasant woodland:



Just as an aside... we passed a building site on the way back, where some lovely fields with wonderful sea views are in the process of being covered in tarmac and brick. Believe it or not, the track in my photo is a public right of way that continues down to the town. I'm not certain, but I would have thought the construction company has a duty to ensure they don't make the PRoW totally unusable?

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gunwharfman

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #160 on: 12:27:52, 20/12/20 »
My location app is Real-Time GPS tracker 2 and I wonder, now that you have you new treadmill can you download such apps and then follow another person's progress? I know you can run a route already filmed but could you virtually run with others in real-time?

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #161 on: 14:21:38, 20/12/20 »
My location app is Real-Time GPS tracker 2 and I wonder, now that you have you new treadmill can you download such apps and then follow another person's progress? I know you can run a route already filmed but could you virtually run with others in real-time?
Good question.  :)

There's a system called Zwift (https://www.zwift.com/uk/run) where runners have avatars and can 'see' and race against each other in races such as the London Marathon. It's not something I've tried yet though.
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #162 on: 21:23:08, 31/01/21 »
Having taken the government's directive to stay home literally during the current strict lockdown, I've not been out walking and consequently I've not added any more walks to this topic for quite some time.

This afternoon, I formulated a plan that I wasn't sure I could carry out - partly because the process looked incredibly tedious (and it was!). But I persevered and... created a short video (lasting less than 90 seconds) that shows every one of my 995 walks in Kent (so far!) being added to to Google Earth - one at a time.  :)

In the video, every Kent walk I've recorded since October 2016 appears on the map in order from first to most recent. The adding of routes appears to slow down with time for the simple reason that I've walked the same paths over and over again - and the closer they are to Whitstable, the more I've walked them. Also, I venture further afield in the summer months than in the winter and, of course, I've hardly ventured anywhere at all since last April.

Anyway, here's the video. Just click the image...



...or use this link: https://youtu.be/3oBhDttV6Ds  :)
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Dodgylegs

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #163 on: 19:54:54, 05/02/21 »
Impressive stuff! Is that easy to do Dave?


Mapping my 'walks from front door', out in constant rain again today... I thought, 'try and keep out of that mud!'
Discovered a footpath I hadn't yet walked, had to do it, Ah loads & loads of mud!

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #164 on: 09:56:43, 06/02/21 »
Impressive stuff! Is that easy to do Dave?


Mapping my 'walks from front door', out in constant rain again today... I thought, 'try and keep out of that mud!'
Discovered a footpath I hadn't yet walked, had to do it, Ah loads & loads of mud!

Thanks.  :)  It's not difficult to do, but it's incredibly tedious. I wasn't going to bore anyone with the details, but, since you asked...

I have all 995 walks in Google Earth, grouped by year. I listed all of the walks for the first year with the checkbox for each unticked (so they didn't appear on the map). I had a screen capture frame placed over Kent (MS Expression) and started recording. Then I ticked every walk one by one as fast as I could so they appeared in the video being recorded. I did this for each of the five years I've recorded walks for, so I ended up with five videos. I resized the videos and joined them together in Windows Video Editor and increased the speed by x8 so it wouldn't take too long to watch. Finally, I uploaded the finished video to YouTube.  :)

I think my explanation was more tedious than the actual process!  ;)
Walk, Jog, Run : our YouTube video channel.

 

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