hike | camp | paint
After I abandoned the westbound walk at Detling in August, a few other bits of walking got in the way of picking it up again - a trip to Snowdonia in September, the West Highland Way in October, and not least the Kent Pilgrims' Festival in September. The latter involving walking all the way east … Continue reading The North Downs Way AGAIN – Part 6: Detling to Halling
Now that the pressure of leading my own walk was over, I could relax a bit and simply follow. Sometimes it's nice to just be pulled along by someone else: no decisions to make, just put one foot in front of the other and enjoy the walk. First, though, I had to get to the … Continue reading The North Downs Way Again – Part 5: Kent Pilgrims’ Festival Days 3-5 (Wye To Dover)
In the first post of this series, I mentioned that I was co-leading two days of walks as part of the Kent Pilgrims' Festival. Along with that my co-leader, Mike, and I offered to assist the walk leaders of the other 3 days with their walks - help manage the group / bringing up the … Continue reading The North Downs Way Again – Part 4: Kent Pilgrims’ Festival Days 1-2 (Aylesford to Wye)
07:52 as I opened my eyes and glanced at my watch - bugger! Could have sworn it was quarter to 7 or so. I leapt out of bed in a semi-panic - I was going to start a big day already behind, and have my choices made for me. This is what comes of downing … Continue reading The North Downs Way Again – Part 3: Westwell to Detling
As I turned away from the trail last night, I noticed that there was a problem on the other side of the road - an apparent path closure. I had a brief look at the sign, promising myself I'd mull it over overnight. When it came to it though, I completely forgot, and found myself … Continue reading The North Downs Way Again – Part 2: Paddlesworth to Westwell
When I became an Ambassador for the Trail last year, I decided to do a complete re-walk, as it was 2016 when I finished the walk before, and even that had been spread thinly over 10 years. My familiarity wasn't what it could be. Of course in the time since, I've walked parts of the … Continue reading The North Downs Way Again – Part 1: Dover to Paddlesworth
Last year I managed to make myself go out for a camp in every month, and although some of those were done in the course of a multi-day walk, some were very much a matter of forcing myself out to sleep. For 2022 I wanted to do something a bit different - specifically to make … Continue reading The Elham Valley Way (plus a bit…)
A video version of this adventure... https://youtu.be/ND-m9hpw6q0 The blog post for this trip is at: The Darent Valley Path See also some reflections following the trip: The Clarity of the Trail
Although it was a bank holiday weekend, this time it wasn't practical to head for the hills, especially with choice much reduced by the current "situation". I had no desire to be in some honeypot location fighting my way through hordes of people; no desire to sit on a train in a mask for hours … Continue reading The Darent Valley Path
Dover was miserable as I stepped off the train. A walk through town saw me narrowly avoiding being accosted by some rather dubious-looking characters. Not responding to their calls was probably the smart thing to do. Ironically, by the time I found the Market Square and then followed the NDW I was almost back at … Continue reading The North Downs Way 11: The End
WHEN that Aprilis, with his showers swoot.... So pricketh them nature in their corages; Then longe folk to go on pilgrimages, And palmers for to seeke strange strands, To ferne hallows couth in sundry lands; And specially, from every shire's end Of Engleland, to Canterbury they wend (From the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey … Continue reading The North Downs Way 10: The Missing Canterbury Tales
I learned something overnight. Something which was actually pretty obvious and staring me in the face the whole time. And it's this....you really don't need that much stuff to have an ok time. Let me elaborate.... I've always taken far too much stuff on walks, mainly because of the "this might be useful" trap. But … Continue reading North Downs Way 9: Dunn Street to Chilham
Last week I was all packed and ready to go on this walk, but for one thing - my fitness. On the morning of the walk I realised my ribs were still not healed enough for it to be a sensible thing to do. So reluctantly, but in hindsight pleased with myself for making the … Continue reading North Downs Way 8: Detling to Dunn Street
Dropped off at the picnic site, I started by walking back up the road to the exact spot where I'd stopped the day before and walked along again to the picnic site off-road. It was still a bit hazy over the Medway valley, but it was already warming up nicely. With legs still smarting from … Continue reading North Downs Way 7: Blue Bell Hill to Detling
I thought I wouldn't get much more walking in this year, but with a delay in starting work (due to not having any yet!) and a spell of fine weather, the opportunity was too good to miss. I decided last week that after several weeks of holding off due to uncertainty around my work situation, … Continue reading North Downs Way 6: Wrotham to Blue Bell Hill