Author Topic: Completely covering Kent  (Read 38041 times)

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #180 on: 15:12:33, 20/11/21 »
Just a few photos from our 7 mile circuit around the woods, orchards and villages in the beautiful area between Faversham and Canterbury this morning…

This is Bossenden Wood near Dunkirk. The autumn leaves were wonderful:



Me posing by an apple tree in one of the many orchards in this part of Kent:



Passing through more orchards between the picturesque villages of Hernhill and Dargate:



Going through leafy Dargate before heading back into the woods for the long uphill return to Dunkirk:



Such a quiet, peaceful area!  :)
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ManofKent

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #181 on: 20:45:56, 21/11/21 »
Just a few photos from our 7 mile circuit around the woods, orchards and villages in the beautiful area between Faversham and Canterbury this morning…



Hernhill is a lovely village. My problem is voiding the temptation of a pint in the Red Lion and maybe a stop off at The Three Horseshoes...  ;D

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #182 on: 15:35:31, 09/12/21 »
I enjoy doing indoor workouts as well as outdoor walks and runs but, at this time of year, the former can prove a little too tempting. So this morning I took advantage of the blue skies and gentle breeze to do a late-autumn walk of a respectable distance around some of my favourite spots.



I took a photo of my favourite tree. I imagine I’m not alone in having a favourite tree - for me, this oak is magnificent. But adding to that is its setting in a clearing a little way up a hill where there are wonderful views. There are usually lots of pheasants beneath it, although there was only one today. Again for me, the tree is special because I pass it often and I’ve taken more photos of it than of any other!



In a video I linked to recently (North Downs Way: Wye to Canterbury), my wife mentions that we sometimes see goats on a particular section of the North Downs Way near Chartham Hatch, but not on that occasion. Actually, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen them, but today I discovered them in a sunny spot at the top of a hill.  :)



I did 18.3 miles with 1,300ft of ascent in 4hrs 27mins and no running. Back to the treadmill tomorrow!  ;)
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ManofKent

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #183 on: 15:52:48, 09/12/21 »
That's quite a distance. I've done bits of that route, but not all of it by any means.

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #184 on: 16:55:59, 09/12/21 »
That's quite a distance. I've done bits of that route, but not all of it by any means.

I don’t know if this will be of any use or interest, but…



The yellow lines show parts of the last three routes I followed, which all just happened to be in the area between Hernhill, Dargate and Dunkirk. It’s not really a coincidence, because I love this area and the tracks that I’ve labelled are especially excellent.

My favourite tree is near my favourite road - Dawes Road. I love this quiet lane because it has woods on one side and fantastic views on the other. The three bridleways I’ve highlighted are wonderful woods walks - especially the ones to Dargate and Crockham Road. Thread Lane is a twisty, undulating narrow road that passes lots of orchards. Speaking of orchards, one of the best orchard paths on the map is the one near Hernhill village hall.

Of course, you might know all of these routes anyway…    ;)


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ManofKent

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #185 on: 17:22:44, 09/12/21 »
For non-drivers there's an occasional bus service from Faversham and Whitstable (638) that stops at Hernhill and Dargate (better in week than weekends).


The view from Dawes Road is great, although I've been caught out with black ice at the top where it turns the corner a couple of times in winter -it can hang around to quite late morning and I'm hopeless walking on ice.

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #186 on: 13:19:16, 12/12/21 »
For this weekend’s 10km outing, we decided to go straight from the door to Clowes Wood - our local woods.

There are two paths that we can take to Clowes Wood. There’s the Crab & Winkle Way cycle path, which is nice and gravelly and runs from Whitstable in the north to Canterbury in the south. And then there’s the footpath from Bogshole Lane that crosses four fields before reaching the woods.

The latter is usually preferable for several reasons, including that it rises to a few hundred feet and provides fantastic views, but mainly because I’ve never yet seen another person on that path…  :)



However, for much of the year there are cows in the first field, that tend to congregate around the gate. And that means that we then continue along Bogshole Lane and take the long way round to the woods. So basically, it’s simpler to forget about the fields route until the cows go inside again.

One thing I like about the autumn is the cows disappearing from fields. There are three herds near us and they’ve all gone in now - including this lot…



At this point I have to mention that my wife really doesn’t like wet mud. As in really, really, really doesn’t like it!

I didn’t fancy the detour so we set off across the first field. It didn’t look too bad, but it was like a very shallow lake covered with grass.

The second field was just as wet, except there wasn’t any grass and there was a bit more sloppy mud:



Progress was slow! I got to the third field quite quickly by sort-of skipping across the sloppy stuff, then I waited a while. The third field is quite steep and I didn’t get a photo because we were walking into the sun, which was just over the brow of the hill. Being sloped, you might think the third field would be drier, but it wasn’t.



We passed the farm buildings (visible on the map) and crossed the last field before the woods. Here the path was under water. This is where I mention that we were both wearing non-waterproof trail-running shoes!



Finally we were there and we set off along some of our favourite trails through the woods. Twisty, turny, ups and downs and absolutely fantastic. And although we spotted some people on the main tracks, we had our trails completely to ourselves.





We missed a turn somewhere along the way (the route was in my head!) and we knew that a very short extension would be needed before we got home if we were to do the desired 10km/6.2miles, so we turned down this road where I used to live about 15 years ago…



There weren’t nearly as many houses back then - and the residents all contributed to the upkeep of the road. This morning it was a river!
« Last Edit: 15:55:28, 12/12/21 by WhitstableDave »
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Dodgylegs

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #187 on: 17:23:09, 12/12/21 »
Looks like you've had similar issues as me! Walking ECP sign pointed straight across recently ploughed field, previous feet had travelled across so walked in their footsteps... by the far side I was about 2 inches taller and much heavier, due to all the 'claggy muck' being attached to boots!

WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #188 on: 18:20:07, 12/12/21 »
Looks like you've had similar issues as me! Walking ECP sign pointed straight across recently ploughed field, previous feet had travelled across so walked in their footsteps... by the far side I was about 2 inches taller and much heavier, due to all the 'claggy muck' being attached to boots!

You've reminded me of a couple of photos from the same field (the second one above) - in the days when I still wore boots...   ;)



It got to the point where I couldn't lift my feet until I'd knocked some of the clay off!
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Dodgylegs

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #189 on: 00:11:33, 13/12/21 »
You've reminded me of a couple of photos from the same field (the second one above) - in the days when I still wore boots...   ;)



It got to the point where I couldn't lift my feet until I'd knocked some of the clay off!


Got it in one there Dave, only it was more like clay! The next ploughed field was also signposted for straight across, no footprints seen going across, just a long detour around field!... I ended up walking back up the river estuary, tide was out, thankfully!


WhitstableDave

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Re: Completely covering Kent
« Reply #190 on: 12:27:30, 14/05/22 »
I rarely do any Kent walks in places that I’ve not been before anymore, but I did one this morning.  :)

My wife is a member of Vegan Runners and does a parkrun every Saturday. The group likes to descend en masse more-or-less at random on a Kent parkrun once a month. This morning they chose Ashford and, since that’s not too far away, my wife joined them and I went for an hour’s walk.



The parkrun took place in Victoria Park, which I discovered is really very nice. The Great Stour flows along the park’s northern border and is little more than a stream here:



I set off well before the runners and stopped to take a photo as my wife went past (she’s a fraction left of centre with her hand raised):



I’d looked at the map beforehand and decided to follow the river to Singleton Lake, do a circuit, and head back on different paths wherever possible. For the middle of a big town, the area is wonderfully tranquil:



A family of geese that's obviously used to people being very close:



I gather there were 47 Vegan Runners out of a little over 300 parkrunners. My wife’s in there somewhere!



This shows the current state of my GPS-recorded walks (and runs) in East Kent. Today’s contribution is the tiny green smudge towards the bottom-left!

« Last Edit: 12:33:57, 14/05/22 by WhitstableDave »
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