A geocaching walk from Chartwell, Kent

Saturday 23 April 2011
Another beautiful day and so we decided on a trip to Westerham with Dad to enjoy the bluebells. We parked at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home and then set off up the steep hill towards French Street. Halfway up we headed off through the woods and then after getting a bit lost on the trails in the woods and finding a few geocaches we finally emerged on Hosey Hill lane and crossed the A25 into more woodland. We were very grateful of the shade today as it was so warm. We followed a forestry trail past a derelict tower which was so covered with ivy that at first we thought it was a large tree and then emerged onto a large grassy bank which we climbed to get good views across Westerham and the Downs.
Having walked through the very pretty town of Westerham, we stopped to have an ice-cream. We were surprised that among all the tea-shops and Antique shops there were no nice icecream parlours, so we had to make do with an ice-cream from the newsagents. We left westerham by walking up Mill lane, where we passed a lady who was cooling herself with the waters from the clear stream we were walking beside. There was a choice of footpaths here, a nice flat one beside the stream, or a steep uphill section. Our route followed the steep section! We climbed through the grounds of Squerryes Court but could not see the house as it was behind the trees.
As we walked through the woodland of Goodley Stock we were treated to carpets of bluebells with amazing scent.
We emerged onto the A25 but only had to walk a short distance before taking another footpath back into the woods. The woods were criss-crossed with footpaths and it was quite difficult to work out which path we needed but after a bit of back tracking we emerged at the top of the hill leading down towards Chartwell. We had been finding caches throughout and started to hunt for the last one when thunder started to rumble around. So as the cache was appearing elusive we decided to head back to the car before we got soaked.
We enjoyed a welcome cup of tea in the NT teashop ad then headed back home to dad's. As we left Westerham the rain started and was very heavy for a while, but as we got towards Maidstone the skies cleared and there was no sign of rain, so it had just been an isolated heavy shower.

Westerham and Chartwell circular walk

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Easter Break in Kent

It's time to catch up with some of the walking that we have been doing. We had a break in Kent staying with dad and a few walks were taken.

Friday 10th April, Good Friday
We decided on a walk today so drove to Westerham and parked at the NT car-park at Chartwell. We left the car-park and turned onto the footpath following the northern edge of the estate and then walked up quite a steep hill to Hosey Common lane, where we crossed the road and continued on a bridleway, through woodland to French Street hamlet. We were surprised that there was still evidence of the hurricane in 1987, with many fallen trees which were now regenerating and filing in the hedgerows. We turned right onto a footpath and descended steep steps to a stile which we crossed and continued across a field and then climbed another woodland path to a wooden bench where we sat and had a coffee and a hot cross bun.

More woodland was walked through until we got to Emmets gardens. The azaleas and daffodils were lovely but the bluebells were not out yet. We retraced our steps to the woods and followed the path. Unfortunately we took the wrong path here so after about 0.5 mile we had to turn round and retrace our steps. We got onto the right path and followed the path to Chart lane, diverting off for a short walk to find a cache. We then walked to the lane and down to the Fox and Hounds for a drink and bag of crisps.
After our break we crossed the road and followed a wide path to the remains of Weardale Manor. This 145 room manor was left to deteriorate in the 1920's and then the site was bombed in the war. There are lovely views of Kent, Sussex and Srrey from what had been the patio. We continued along the track and back to French Street hamlet. We retraced our outward route and then entered the Chartwell estate. It was raining by the time we got back to the car so we had been very lucky to have such a good day. 9.8km.
Monday 13th April
After just short walks on Saturday and Sunday - (Riverside park and a trip to Savacentre)we were ready for a longer walk. We drove to Shorne country park which had changed a lot since we had last walked here, about 20 years ago. There was now a large visitor centre and it was packed with families setting off for cycle rides.
We walked out of the park, crossed the A2 bridge and entered Ashenbank Wood. This was a lovely ancient woodland but we were surprised that there were no bluebells out yet. We walked through the woodland and followed the path beside orchards and oast houses into Cobham where we stopped to admire the water -pump (and found a very small geocache) and then went into the church to see the brasses. We walked through the churchyard and followed a wide green path beside orchards full of white blossom (cherry I think) towards Henley Street. We stopped for a break and then walked along the bridleway towards Luddesdown. We walked up a short but steep hill and had a brief look around the churchyard and at Luddesdown Court. We admired a field of pigs wallowing in the valley and then followed the path around to arrive at the Golden Lion, where we stopped for a drink and a bag of crisps.
After our break we walked up another steep hill and across a field, where the soil was very white and flinty compared with what we are now used to in Leicestershire. We walked through Cobhambury wood and followed the trail through Cobham park and past the mausoleum. It had been extensively refurbished since we had last seen it, when it had been highly vandalized, graffitied and surrounded by burnt out cars. It was now surrounded by high fencing so it was not easy to see the renovations.
After passing the mausoleum we walked through woodland until we reached Knights Place farm. We passed the farm and continued through the wood to reach the new London to Paris railway line. As we walked beside the line a Eurostar train passed at high speed.
We walked to the road and crossed the A2 bridge to head back through Brewers wood and back to Shorne Country park. It had been a good walk with plenty of wild flowers - anenome's, primroses, violets, blossom but only a few bluebells. We were also surprised to see a yellow frittilary on the bank as we walked back into the park. 15 km

Bluebell Hill

Saturday 31st January 2009
It was a lovely bright day so we went for a walk with dad, Jenny and Brian. We picked them up and drove to Bluebell Hill and parked at the picnic site on Common Road. We set off along the North Downs way through some pretty woodland emerging onto a path running parallel with the busy A229. We followed the path until it emerged onto the old Bluebell Hill. Here we were a bit confused by the guidebook but eventually found the path that dropped down to the fields below. In the corner of the field was Kits Coty, a neolithic burial chamber.

We walked along the edge of the field and then through some woodland onto the road. We crossed the road and walked along the Pilgrims way for a short distance and then turned off along a track, with a view of Little Kits Coty (the Countless Stones), and some oast houses in the distance.
A short distance along the track we crossed into a field containing some horses, and then across a very muddy field. The farmer had reinstated the footpath by driving a tractor across to mark the position, so we could see where we were going but the tracks were very muddy, we all struggled with heavy boots and were glad to get to the end of the field. We used a wire fence to scrape some of the mud off our boots and then crossed a wet, but not muddy field. We should have crossed a stile halfway down the field, but it was broken and on the other side of the fence was a very large puddle. We decided to continue down the field rather than cross the fence, and found a way out at the bottom, a bit further along the road than we should have been. Unfortunately Jenny had a fall here, but apart from muddy gloves was ok. We followed the road into Aylesford. We had a drink and bag of crisps at the Little Gem, the smallest pub in Kent. This had been John's and my favourite pub, 25+ years ago and we were pleased to see it hadn't changed much, although it didn't do as many real ales as it used to.
After our break we had a walk along the street and a view through the houses to the river Medway. We then climbed some steps, leading up to the church and walked beside the churchyard to emerge onto the Centenary Way. The path went around a large chalk quarry and then across a field, and beside woodland, until we entered fields, newly planted with (possibly)grape vines. From here we could see where the cars were parked, on top of a steep chalk cliff. The Centenary way emerged into Eccles and then we took another footpath which passed through woodland and then a very steep climb to emerge onto the North Down's way again on top of the chalk cliff. John and I had a quick look for the Found View cache. We hadn't been able to find it when we looked at christmas, but this time it was quickly found, log signed, and then we drove home. We had walked 11 km.

Ightham Mote - Kent

Tuesday 30th December 2008.
We decided on a post christmas walk to shift some of the extra calories, so drove to Ightam mote and parked in the NT carpark. It was -2 degrees when we set off but was a lovely bright day with lots of hoar frost. We walked round the mote and dad stopped to take some photos.



We turned left along a bridleway and quickly discovered we had gone wrong. We had made the same mistake last time we did this walk so returned to the lane and walked further along before turning left at the next bridleway and passing some Hoppers cottages. The path was beautiful as it was so cold, frosty but sunny, the path was frozen solid so was good to walk on. We were followed by a guided tour from Ightham mote but we turned off the path and climbed a steep path onto Birchet green where we walked through an orchard where the trees had lots of dropped apples on the ground. The blackbirds and jays taking advantage of them. We continued on the bridleway, through apple trees until we reached Stone Street.

We walked along the road for a short distance and then took the footpath between the vicarage and Stone house and climbed a steep hill into a Beech woods. We emerged at Seal Chart and took some time looking around the pretty church and churchyard. We then followed a narrow bridleway down to the A25 where we stopped for lunch at the Crownpoint Inn.

After lunch we bravely crossed the A25 and followed a permissive path through woods and behind the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Oldbury Hill. We crossed the lane and climbed the path around the hill fort at Oldbury Hill. We went round the top and then down to the lane recrossing the A25 and into Fishpond woods. Here we passed a man who was sweeping leaves up. It seemed a thankless task in the woods but it seemed he was collecting the leaves to put on his borders. We had a chat with him and then climbed the steep sandy track up the valley onto the ridge and then down a steep path back to the road and back to Ightham mote. We had walked about 12km.

This was our last walk of 2008 andwe had managed 1208 km, slightly better than last year and not bad considering the disrupted year we have had.

Kent Hospices sponsored walk.

Sunday 18th May 2008
Dad, John and I were up early and left home at 8.30 to drive to Charing for the Kent Hospices charity walk. We met friends of dad's (who we were walking with) in the carpark. We set off at 9.30 after getting our walk passports stamped.
There were lots of people walking and we followed a stream of walkers onto the Pilgrims way. We were surrounded by rape fields which affected my eyes so I had to resort to borrowing Brians sunglasses which helped quite a bit. We continued onto the North Downs way and then went to the second checkpoint at Warren Hill where we had a short break for a drink and a hot cross bun.


We continued on to checkpoint 3 which was the almost half way point where we had another short break and then walked along Longreach and the track to Otterden Place. Then onto Stalisfield Green where we had a good sit down and a break at the pub before walking through Kent Wildlife Trust woodland.


It was lovely walking through the woods, there were a few bluebells left but not much wildlife, possibly because of the noise of the walkers sliding through the mud.


We finished the walk at 2.30pm and after getting our passports stamped had a glass of bitter provided by Shepherd Neame. The whole walk was very well organised, soldiers were acting as marshalls at every junction which made it very easy walking as well as drinks and refreshments available at every stop.


It didn't seem like 11 miles, actually it was only 10.5 miles but it still didn't feel like it. We were very pleased that we had completed it and felt so good at the end.

Dover -14th March 2008

Friday 14th March 2008

We decided to celebrate Easter early before my fourth chemo session so travelled to Kent for the weekend to do family visits.

On Friday it was dry when we got up so despite the forecast rain we decided to go for a walk. Dad drove us to Dover and we parked by the NT visitor centre. We then walked along the cliffs to St Margaret's bay. It was quite slippery in places, dad slid down a bank at one time (luckily nowhere near the edge of the cliff) and we had to haul him up and find another route round.

The sun came out and it was lovely looking at the cliffs and the ferries arriving from France. The SeaFrance strike meant that several of the ferry bays were empty which was unusual but there were loads of lorries queued up waiting for crossings.

At St Margaret's we stopped at the Coastguard for a drink and then walked back along the same route. The gorse was in flower and there were lots of rabbits about.

At the South Foreland lighthouse there was a sign out showing it was open, for the first time this year, so we went in and had a quided tour. Several landmarks were pointed out from the top including the WWII radar staions (originally 4 now only 3), the house where Ian Fleming wrote the first 007 book -apparently the local bus number was 007! and finally the house overlooking the cliff owned by an American who insisted on flying the Stars and Stripes when in residense so that the first thing travellers saw when arriving at Dover was an American flag! The lighthouse was clockwork powered and we got to wind it up so that the top was turning -great fun. We continued the walk back to the visitor centre and had a cup of tea before driving home. A really nice day and our first real walk for ages! (10km walked).