The drive from home down to Ashford was easy and by the time I got off the motorway it was getting light. I found a parking space relatively easily but I was glad I done a bit of homework online first to find likely places otherwise things could’ve been very different. Time-wise things worked out just about perfectly. I bought a ticket and got to the platform with just five minutes to wait. It was a good job there were no delays on the way no delay in finding a parking space. The train journey from Ashford to Lenham is surprisingly short. It’s hard to imagine that it will take a long day to walk all the way back; though it certainly will.
It seemed like the walk from Lenham station back down to the start of the path wasn’t as risky as it seemed when I walked back the other night. Maybe I was tired then so it seemed tough going or maybe things are calmer first thing in the morning. Anyway, there were quite a few cars on the road but somehow, they seem calmer and less prone to see you at the last moment.
It looks like I made a good call in deferring my holiday from Tuesday to today, Thursday, because on Tuesday it was completely pouring down with rain at four in the morning but today looks like it’s going to be a sunny day all day. Excellent!
There are some really, really big open views over the vale looing roughly south along the path. It is not very exciting, but it is at least a huge open space dotted with trees. To be honest it almost looks like the floodplain at mum and dads.
Between Pope Hall Cottage and Coldbridge Wood, the path crosses a large field which had been ploughed up and seeded with something that looks like grass and no trace of the path across it was left. So I had to trudge across it with mud clinging to my boots and my ankles twisting. Not the greatest. I took a picture.
But a little further on, heading for Foxden Wood, the path was very peaceful. It was coming up for 10 o’clock in the morning. It was a clear morning the grass was still covered in dew so there were torrents of water spraying off the front of my boots with every footstep. And as the sun was getting a bit stronger the shadows were still wet and glistening while the areas that had been in the sun for more than a few minutes has dried out in readiness for the rest of the day. So the shadows were cool, damp and peaceful and the sun was quite bright, cool and a little silvery-golden. The air was cool but not cold. Perfect.
I stopped and had lunch right on 8K by the war memorial in Edgerton churchyard, which was pleasant enough. It is a small memorial but it was shocking how many names are on there for such a small village.
Around the middle of the day, it turned chillier and the sun seemed to be much more infrequent. I had to start thinking of putting on my fleecy top to stay warm.
This walk was actually rather boring. Like many walks in Kent it just seems to be endless fields and gates and styles and grassy bits. Up-and-down. Orchards. Some long-distance views over plains scattered with lots of trees. All very nice but a bit boring.
It seems to be fully chestnut season now. The horse chestnuts have all finished but the various chestnut trees are dropping nuts like crazy; or have recently finished.
The little hamlet just to the east of a place called Little Chart is very cute. It has some really snuggling old-style expensive cottages and houses surrounding a cricket ground with only a tiny road, Ram Lane, to service the whole place.
Soon after, Coldham Wood is a very peaceful and restful place. It seems that not too many people go there and it was a nice place to sit and have a snack and gather my thoughts.
Strangely by the time I came out of the woods, about 1 o’clock, the sun had come out again and it was a very pleasant warm afternoon.
Hothfield Common is the first area of any contrasting environment I’ve seen in absolutely ages. It’s a wetland area covered in heather and small birch tree saplings and it’s entirely different to the normal rolling Kent countryside. What a breath of fresh air.
Just south of Hothfield by a churchyard, the path vanishes. Goodness knows where really goes. I couldn’t find it, nor a sign to show where it should be. The greed diamonds on the map suggest the path goes right by the side of the churchyard but that is not possible. I did my best but still ended up having to climb over a 5 bar gate. Something is not right just about there.
Also, somewhere around the road intersection at Godinton Plantation, I must have missed a sign because I ended up walking along Godinton Lane and found myself unable to re-join the path until the hard left in the road at the entrance to Godinton Park. Fortunately the gates were open.
At about 18 km or perhaps a little sooner today, my left hip started to give me a really hard time. Every step became really quite painful. I don’t know why. I hope it will pass. Anyway, oddly today even at 21 km my legs weren’t really exhausted like they were the other day. I’m was really not that tired. My hip was telling me otherwise though.
This last bit of the walk along the river was easy. It’s tarmac cycle and pedestrian way lined with trees and very pretty. It’s a nice, easy and pleasant way to end the walk.
The fountain that they have in Victoria park in Ashford is amazingly huge. I wouldn’t be out of place in New York. It’s really big and really impressive. Lovely.
