NDW Day 4: Kemsing - Detling

I set off nice and early from Kemsing, about 6am and wandered along the top of the downs to Wrotham (which is pronounced Root-ham). Here I sat and made myself some breakfast as follows: 1/2 ltr of water in a pot, add a handful of rice and half a Kallo stock cube, bring to boil and simmer. Add a sachet of mushroom soup and a few chilli flakes. When it is back at the boil, remove from the heat and leave it in my patent pot cosy for ten minutes to finish cooking.. enjoy. Wrotham also has a public lavatory, bless it. The gents was locked, but the ladies was open and at 6.30am, that is not an insuperable problem...

Almost half way .. compare these mileages with the one on the sign at the start, in Farnham! Somebody doesn't do addition very well ..

Looking across the Medway Gap, somewhere beyond Wrotham

 The official route here does a really daft thing. Instead of crossing the Medway Gap via Aylesford as it should have, and as the Pilgrim's Way does, it bears left and goes via Holly Hill all the way up to Rochester. There it crosses the motorway bridge and comes all the way back again, down the far side. I have been along the whole route on daywalks, at one time or another. It is not an attractive itinerary and it takes in yet another motorway, the M2.

Instead, I made my own route which went along the edge of the downs from Holly Hill to Upper Halling, and then down to the Medway and across Peter's Bridge to the new and only half built Peter's Village. Thence to Eccles, and to pick up the official NDW again near Little Kit's Coty. Hopefully now this new bridge is open the powers that be will consider changing the route to take advantage of this opportunity to repair their Rochester Bridge blunder.

The shiny new Peter's Bridge across the Medway

the river esplanade at Peter's Village.

Shortly after crossing the A229 Bluebell Hill, you pass by the Upper White Horse Stone, a mysterious lump of rock that may or may not be part of an ancient megalith. The Wikipedia entry has lots of theories but no evidence of any kind .. all one can say is that this is an area with a lot of history attached to it, what with the two Kit's Coty stones, and the Coldrum stones too.

the White Horse Stone

After that, it was a pleasant walk up, around and along the top of the downs through Boxley Warren to Jade's Crossing at the A249 and the Cock Horse pub at Detling, where Sue came to collect me and take me back home for the night.

NDW Day 3: Godstone - Kemsing

Important work to do in the morning dropping Harry and Florence off at school, then Charlie took me back to Godstone to reconnect with the NDW.
The day began well enough with a pleasant climb up Winders Hill and along the top of the downs, but gradually the M25 became more and more obtrusive, as the path veered towards it..

view from Ganger's Hill

To left is an industrial quarry, and the path is heading straight down towards the traffic queueing on the M25 at the bottom of the field

Just a field away from the motorway now...

From then on it was visible the whole way until you cross first the M25 and then the M26, North of Sevenoaks. At one point you are walking along a pavement on a busy road with the M25 about 20ft away from you the other side. This part of the route is bizarre and I would recommend avoiding it altogether if you can. There would seem to be a much better route available, up from Knockholt Pound to Polhill Bank nature reserve and then back down towards Otford.

Before crossing the two motorways I stopped for lunch at the Tally Ho, Knockholt. This was an EXCELLENT pub! A traditional country local with a lively discussion around the bar, a friendly and welcoming staff and good food for walkers (in my case, liver & bacon). Highly recommended, and good value as well.  [on edit: this pub is now closed and has become two houses; a very sad loss].
 

A stunning display of buttercups in a field above Otford

Then I ploughed my way over the N25 and the M26 and up into Otford, a nice little town, though plagued by traffic. After Otford the path goes up a steep hill and back to the top of the downs, and more fine countryside. I wandered along for a while before stopping for the night in a field above Kemsing which I have put a tent up in once or twice before. Nobody here but some friendly and inquisitive sheep..

Friendly sheep near Kemsing

NDW Day 2: Dorking - Godstone

Note: I am sorry but owing to problems with my new shiny new phone, I was not able to publish this blog whilst walking. Instead I made notes, and now that I am home I will issue the updates over the course of the next few days. I have also extended and updated day 1 and added photos.

Today was a long, hot day. I was up early and started walking soon after 6am. The countryside is lovely at that time of day, fresh and unspoilt.  Lots of birds, rabbits, squirrels etc. Twice I caught sight of deer. Look at this:

Early morning on the Downs above Dorking..

I crossed the pleasant open area of Ranmore Common and then the path went through Denbies Wine Estate, Britain's biggest vineyard I believe.

a corner of Denbies Wine Estate

Immediately after the route crosses the river Mole, via stepping stones, and then goes up Box Hill, which is quite steep..

stepping stones across the river Mole

Climbing up Box Hill. Lots of these...

.. but the view from the top is spectacular. Dorking right of centre

By noon, I had already done more than 13 miles. The afternoon was not so good as I started to wilt rather, in the heat. Also the landscape changed and the dreaded motorways - M23, M25 - began to intrude. I stopped for a mediocre lunch in a dusty little town called Merstham, right next to the motorway and then ploughed steadily on to Godstone where I was picked up by daughter Charlie and my two lovely grandchildren and whisked back to their house in Crawley Down for a night of pampered luxury (fish & chips from the van in the village and a glass of rose, excellent)..

strange gravestone in the woods for a horse called "quick," though presumably dead

A lime kiln, near Box Hill

NDW Day 1: Farnham to near Dorking

Sue dropped me off about 9.30am at Farnham station, after the usual struggle with the rush hour M25, and off I set. There is a peculiar sculpture thing, to mark the start of the North Downs Way:

As I said in a previous post I have a rather low opinion of the route the NDW takes, but I could find no fault with today. Walking along pleasant sandy tracks through the Surrey hills with sunshine and lovely views.. top class. I put up my little tent in a field a mile or two before Dorking, and after walking 21 miles in hot sun, sleep was not at all a problem..

 Lots of very pleasant sandy trails, through the Surrey hills .. 

.. and some lovely views too. 

 Church at the top of St Martha's Hill near Guildford, confusingly called St Barnabas' .. perhaps they were an item [edit: I was confused, this church is dedicated to St Martha, and St Barnabas has the next church along, a much grander affair on Ranmore Common. The two saints were more or less coexistent, so could still have been an item ..]

View from the churchyard

 

Three graves there of members of the remarkable Freyberg family, who between them share a VC, four DSOs, an MC, a GCMG, a GBE and more. Having googled Bernard Freyberg I bowed to him before leaving.

I ploughed on, and about the 18 mile mark started to look for somewhere to put up the tent. This proved more difficult than I had expected, not because Surrey is built up - it isn't, not around the North Downs, anyway .. the problem with the Downs is that they slope a lot. The ideal campsite is (a) secluded, and (b) flat, and (b) was an issue. Eventually I found somewhere suitable, at the foot of the White Downs, before Dorking, a few feet outside the National Trust boundary.

A squashed grass snake..

.. and below is Richard, who was walking from Winchester to Canterbury, along the Pilgrim's Way. The two often coincide - not here, but here the Pilgrim's Way is also the dual carriageway A31

North Downs Way preparation 2 - Ready to Start

So .. more or less ready to set off, early in the morning...

I'm happy with the route, which comes to only 119 miles not the forecast 125... this is because I flatly refuse to walk up to the M2 motorway bridge at Rochester, over the bridge and then straight back down the other side. How anyone ever thought that would be an enjoyable experience beats me. The official route should have gone via Aylesford. Instead, I will go over the new Peter's Bridge between Halling and Wouldham.

I will try to do the walk in six days, at roughly 20 miles per day. I will spend night 2 at my daughter Charlie's house at Crawley Down, and night 4 back here at home since the route passes not very far from both places.. so hopefully I should not have to spend even two consecutive nights in the tent. I don't mind camping. The absence of a shower, a decent mattress or a kitchen make it less than ideal, but it does have its compensations

Also, I had intended to go around the Canterbury loop this time, having gone via Folkestone when I did it before, but when I look at it, the Canterbury loop looks so urbanised and unappealing I decided not to do that either and will follow the same route along the Wye downs and the Folkestone cliffs as last time.

Equipment is not much of an issue, I put the tent up yesterday on the top lawn and it was all present and correct and looking good ..  altogether it looks as if I will be carrying about 6.5Kg, or 14lb, which I am happy with, especially as it includes a tent, sleeping bag and about 2.5Kg of food and water. I could make it less, since I will only be away from home for three days at a time, but it is similar to what I will need in Snowdonia in July, so will be good training. The forecast is so good I am not taking full waterproof gear, just a nifty Zpacks showerproof and windproof jacket. I will put the gear list at the end of this post if I can. My only real problem is that the nice new Brasher Supalight boots I was planning to use have rubbed a raw place on my heels while doing the Linton Boundary Walk last Sunday. Obviously they need more running in, so I will have to use my Salomon trail shoes instead. They should be OK and they weigh a fair bit less. Shame to start off a walk with a blister plaster though!

Now off to mow the grass, otherwise it will be knee high when I get back.. early start tomorrow for the drive to Farnham.

My gear list:

North Downs Way preparation 1: Background

Leith Hill, highest point on the Greensand Way (and higher than anywhere on the North Downs Way!)

Background 

When I first started longer distance walks in 2007, the first long walk I did was along the Greensand Way, which runs past about 100 yards from my house. It goes for 110 miles or so from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet, south of Ashford in Kent and is altogether a very nice walk

The second walk I did was the North Downs Way, which runs from Farnham in Surrey to Dover, either via Canterbury or via Ashford and Folkestone. About 125 miles, or 130 via Canterbury. I didn't like the route as much for two reasons, first because it spends far too long near motorways - the M2, M23, M25, M26 and M20 all feature, not to mention the A2, A24, A28 and A31 - pretty much a clean sweep of trunk routes in Surrey and Kent. And second, because it was a recent route construction done by a government department, and as a result it follows no common-sense path, such as the Pilgrim's Way and the Greensand Way do. Instead it shoots up and down the North Downs on what seems to be a pretty random basis, sometimes several times a day. Its inefficiency in terms of getting from A to B rather offended my engineer's outlook.. and I haven't been back since, except for short sections here and there on other walks.

One thing it did have going for it, was that all this upping and downing was quite strenuous. Accordingly, after ten years I am finally going to have another go at it, as preparation for the Snowdonia Trail, that I shall be doing in July 2017, and Andorra, scheduled for August. It's time ..

I start on Wednesday, 24 May 2017 from Farnham. I shall walk the northern route via Canterbury, having gone the other way last time. It should take a week or so.

Preparations:

The idea is mainly to raise fitness levels, but also to try out and test the equipment. So I am taking a tent and cooking gear with me, all mod cons. However most of the kit is already tried and tested, so it is really more a question of getting the moths out, seeing that nothing is missing, and that it all still does its job efficiently.

Before I go I need to:

- plot the route. I have a handbook, but the North Downs Way handbook is unusually poor. It regularly gets distances and directions wrong. Nowadays I am pretty much paperless so I will simply plot the route onto my Anquet Maps OS mapping, and then follow it. It takes a while to get that completed.

- review the route, to see where I can eat and if I need to book any accommodation - but I might not book, might just play it by ear. Surrey, Sussex and Kent are not out in the wilds exactly, there is lots of choice available. As soon as you book somewhere in advance, your route and timing are fixed

- go through the equipment and do a trial pack and make sure I have all the food, bars etc. that I will need

and, er, that's about it! But before I set off next week, I will either do another post or update this one