Day 40 St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe to Dover: Journey's End

"Sara, they're going for the water!!!"

After calming down, contemplation...

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

This last day of the walk was beautiful, though we did not set out well-rested. Ken's allergies had gone wild the previous evening and early morning (interestingly, the same thing had happened on the last night of our Coast to Coast walk in 2008). Even the antihistamines didn't seem to help much, so his sneezing affected his sleep. Nevertheless, after a leisurely breakfast we set off on the path to St. Margaret's Bay.

We stopped at the small local shop to buy drinks, and Ken felt a bit teary at the thought that we didn't need to stock up on snacks for the trail anymore. I was thinking that it takes 30 days to form a habit, and we have certainly gotten into the habit of lacing on the boots, stocking up on snacks, filling our water bottles, etc.

The Traditional Ice Cream by the Sea

 It was a partly sunny day yet not too warm, absolutely perfect walking weather. We got down to the rocky beach at St. Margaret's Bay and sat on a slightly dilapidated art deco-styled bench, enjoying views of the ocean, ferries from Dover, some white chalk cliffs, and people out and about (though it was very quiet when we first arrived). I bought us some Magnum ice cream bars, because I knew that you couldn't go to the sea in England without having ice cream. We sat and enjoyed our treats companionably. I went down to look at the rocks and dip my toe in the ocean. I loved hearing the sound of the gulls and smelling the sea. We soaked up the scenery till 11:00, then began our walk along the cliff path to Dover. Because chalk erodes, sometimes it was a little scary, but overall the paths were far enough back from the cliffs themselves for us not to feel too alarmed by the heights. We could see France hazily in the distance, and enjoyed the distant sea views as well as the beautiful pink, blue, white and pale yellow wildflowers up close.

Sara Loves the Beach

Leaving St. Margaret's

 

On the Cliff Path to Dover

The White Cliffs...and Dover Harbour now in view

Dover Castle from the Cliff Path

Journey's End

The walk down to Dover was pleasant, and we found the end of the North Downs Way marker on the Esplanade—even though we had followed our own trails to get to Dover, it seemed a suitable ending spot for us. We had a long hug, and then took many, many photos, and got an English couple passing by to take one of us together. We then went down to the beach and dipped our toes in the water, and I again looked at the pebbles at the seashore.

Boot-Dipping at the Beach

It seemed strange to be done walking, though of course we still had to walk places. Our B&B host arrived at the same time we did, so that we were able to leave our packs at the B&B. We were extremely grateful for that, as we had a steep climb up to Dover Castle. We got to tour the wartime tunnels there (the 1940 evacuation from Dunkirk was organized from these tunnels in the cliff under Dover castle), as well as the medieval castle keep and tower, the Roman lighthouse, and the church. We squeezed in everything we wanted to see and left at the closing time of 6:00 p.m. For having finished the walk, we ended up doing a lot of walking up hills and stairs at the castle—we even ran a bit, to catch a "land train" that would take us from the tunnels up to the medieval castle.

For dinner, we went to a fish and chip shop (AKA 'chippy') near our B&B; it seemed appropriate to have fish in Dover. The fish and chips were good, as were the mushy peas and onion rings. It was a happy conclusion to our day and our walk. I'm glad that we have one more day before heading home, just to transition from walking to other aspects of life.

25,685 steps, 19.263 km, 757.4 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 5.68 mi (9.14 km) —does not include touring Dover Castle

And of course, like 2008 at the end of the Coast to Coast walk, the seals must come out at the finish line!

Day 39 Canterbury to St. Margarets-at-Cliffe: The Last Long Walk

Passing through...

...Patrixbourne

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

We got up at 6:30 a.m., knowing we would have a long walk today; indeed, our longest walk of the entire trip at around 19 miles. We went to the store to buy a lunch to take along and ate breakfast at McDonald's, our third North American meal of the trip. We set off around 8:00 a.m. and it was sunny and mildly warm, a lovely day for walking.

As we left the Canterbury suburbs, the paths were busy with people out for local walks. They were friendly and often greeted us on the path, checking to see if we needed directions. Many dogs greeted us as well: one licked Ken in the upper thigh, so that it looked as though Ken had had an "accident." That amused me far too much.

Patrixbourne Church

The small village of Patrixbourne was a highlight, with many beautiful houses and cottages strung along a curving main street. The church was interesting (and unlocked), and outside the church there was a good information board about the village. The Neolithic burials nearby revealed that the people then were rich, aristocratic, and tall. Just like us, really.

Higham Park Poppies

Later, as we passed the Georgian mansion of Higham Park, there were three very large fields to walk through, some filled with broad expanses of red poppies. Beautiful. After that long march we arrived in Womenswold, and at first, all of the people we saw going by were women, which seemed somehow appropriate. We sat outside the (locked) church for a rest on a bench in the churchyard. A man on a bicycle came by, tried the church door, then parked his bicycle and knocked on the door of a house opposite, asking if the person there was the one with the key to the church. He was, and so we and the cyclist were able to have a look round the church. Afterwards, we shared our bench with the cyclist, whose name was Michael. He has visited over 1,100 village churches! We had a nice chat and exchanged names and information before heading out again. We have certainly enjoyed meeting people on this journey. [We have since exchanged further correspondence and home-made England photo calendars: his filled with churches he's visited and ours with photos from our trips in 2008, 2011, and 2013.—Ken]

It was again a long stretch to the next village of Shepherdswell, which had a lovely, large central green. We stopped at the local pub for a drink and an afternoon rest, and then looked at the church, with its distinctive apsidal east end and dark roof beams contrasting with the bright walls.

Exultation on the Way to Waldershare

A later event of interest occurred after we passed through Waldershare Park. We came to a road junction and witnessed a tractor wrapping a round bale of hay in black plastic. We had never seen how these "marshmallows" were made, so it was quite fun to watch. There was also another tractor that was scooping up the grass, transforming it in the innards of the vehicle, and spitting it out as a rolled bale of hay. All of this grass cutting means that, as Ken's cold has gradually gone away, in its place grass seed allergies have been bothering him.

Having passed the 14 mile mark, we were now in the "home stretch": a 4 to 5 mile walk along a quiet country lane towards the village of St. Margarets-at-Cliffe, our destination. We had a fun surprise in the small village of West Langdon, where we came across a telephone booth that was labelled "The K6 Bring & Buy Book Shop." It had books on little shelves inside the booth, and you could buy some or leave some, with the proceeds going to the village. What a great use for a disused phone booth!

Telephone Booth Book Exchange!

We walked on to East Langdon, where we rested on a bench outside the locked church, feeling sore and tired, then painfully set off again to St. Margarets. We knew we had to approach it for the last half mile via a busy road, and were so grateful to see what looked like a mown path at the side of the road. I said, "Look, horse manure!" and Ken said, "Great!" It might seem strange to be excited by horse manure (except in the context of gardening), but we were happy because we knew that if it had been used as a bridleway, we humans on foot would be able to use it as a path to the village, avoiding the road traffic speeding by. The path was also used by rabbits, which were very cute! Sure enough, the path led us to Holm Oaks, our B & B, where we arrived at 5:50 p.m., almost exactly 10 hours—and 19 miles—after leaving Canterbury. After a delicious dinner of sirloin steak in Diane sauce (Ken) and pizza (me) at the Smugglers' Inn, we came back to the B & B to relax our weary selves in our comfortable room complete with a deep ensuite bathtub! We had accomplished our longest walk of the trip, and for our last day tomorrow there is only the short walk along the White Cliffs to Dover, the end of our journey.

47,792 steps, 35.844 km, 1532.9 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 18.01 mi (28.99 km) 

Day 38 A Rest Day in Canterbury

On the City Wall at Dane John Gardens

We were considering the possibility of walking part of tomorrow's walk today and taking a bus to and from the starting/ending point, just to shave off a bit of what was going to be a very long walk tomorrow. But we decided instead to take the rest day we had planned in Canterbury.

In the late morning we went to the Canterbury Heritage Museum and enjoyed experiencing the history of Canterbury from prehistoric times through the twentieth century. The end was a little rushed, as there were hordes of schoolchildren dashing around by the time we were looking at the last few exhibit rooms. We then looked at a ruined Norman castle built in the twelfth century and walked the city wall back to our lunch spot, Azouma, a Moroccan restaurant. It was a buffet and we ate too much, but enjoyed the food greatly.

Inside the Norman Keep

Feeling some "museum fatigue," we rested at our motel room in the afternoon, writing up blog entries to be posted in the evening.

Evensong was at 5:30 p.m., and we found a place in the quire that allowed us to watch the choir director. He was energetic and joyous, with an expressive face that interpreted the music. It was good. We had hopes of getting a photo with Canon Clare after the service, but we couldn't find her. We settled for a photo of the two of us outside the cathedral, taken by a Canadian from Waterloo, Ontario who was impressed that we had a Blackberry.

We had a light dinner of nachos at a Wetherspoons pub so that we could use the free wifi there. Our hotel had wifi, but it was not free and we didn't feel like paying for it, especially since there was no indication of what the rates were.

Lights out early, for a good night's sleep before the big walk the next day.

10,028 steps, 7.521 km, 287.3 cal

Day 37 Chilham to Canterbury: Pilgrims' Welcome and Cathedral Song

A Happy Arrival at Canterbury

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Today's walk to Canterbury would in some ways be the culmination of the spiritual aspect of our "Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving," given that Canterbury has historically been a pilgrimage destination and Dover has not. We were also being met by clergy at the cathedral, which added to our anticipation and Ken's desire to '"just get to the cathedral" as we walked the seven miles from Chilham.

Passing through Orchards West of Chartham Hatch

We had good weather; it was fairly warm, sunny at times, with one brief shower while we were indoors. We began with a long uphill walk to the village of Old Wives Lees (it is uncertain why it's called that, though there are several theories), and then throughout the morning our path took us through primarily agricultural country: fields, bits of forest, many large orchards, and at one point, the remains of an iron age fort (Bigbury, just east of Chartham Hatch). There we saw coppicing using chestnut trees, which we hadn't seen before—the trees are cut close to the ground so that they produce multiple thin trunks which are then harvested.

As we neared Canterbury, Ken wanted to approach it by way of the Stour Valley Path, which he thought would be a pretty way to enter the city via the River Great Stour, with the Westgate Gardens just across the river. However, our guidebook promised a "splendid" view of the cathedral from a point on the North Downs Way, so we took it, going up and down hill a few times, entering the outskirts of Canterbury only to find that the "view" could only be obtained by crossing into a traffic island into the middle of an extremely busy A-road. Sigh. We walked into the city, passing St. Dunstan's church, a Pilgrims' Way landmark. It was, of course, locked.

Christ Church Gate, Canterbury Cathedral

It is always a shock to the senses to enter a busy city after being in the countryside for days on end. We wanted a quick lunch, so bought some pasties at the Cornwall Pasty Co. They were okay, but we were chagrined to come across a crepe stand shortly afterwards—we love crepes!

We walked to the cathedral, and at Christ Church Gate asked for Canon Clare, with whom we had corresponded since we discovered that Canterbury Cathedral would have a special welcome and blessing for pilgrims. The woman at the gate didn't know about Canon Clare, but said, "You're pilgrims?" When we said we were [that felt a bit strange!—Ken], we were let in and directed to the welcome centre, where they phoned Canon Clare to come and meet us. She came soon after and gave us a warm welcome, asking about our journey and taking us into the cathedral. She pointed out a few special things in the cathedral, took us through the pilgrims' tunnel (originally created so that the medieval monks wouldn't have their services disturbed by the constant stream of pilgrims to St. Thomas Becket's shrine) to the martyrdom site, and then led us to the chapel in the crypt. She prayed a blessing on us, gave us a copy of the prayer, and chatted a bit more with us. She was a lovely person, and we really felt honoured to be so welcomed and prayed for at the cathedral.

Canterbury Cathedral Quire, Looking East

We looked around the cathedral a bit before the evensong service, which is at 3:15 p.m. on Sundays. Then we found a place in the quire for the service, and saw Canon Clare again, who had mentioned that she would get us a card or stamp related to our journey. She had printed out a special certificate for us, describing our journey from Barnstaple to Dover, going along the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester to Canterbury. We were touched by this, and are looking forward to framing this certificate to be near the one indicating our completion of Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk in 2008. 

At the beginning of the evensong service, there was a general welcome to guests and pilgrims, and a special welcome to us, indicating where we were from and how far we had walked. That was pretty special, to be welcomed in a cathedral service. The service itself was beautiful, with many attendees and a choir of men and boys singing praises to God.

We wandered around the cathedral for quite some time afterwards, looking at the many monuments, side chapels, beautiful carving and statuary. Around closing time we ended up near the crossing at the entrance to the quire. The tourists had thinned out by then. Ken told me to wait there, and he went down and talked with a verger who was standing nearby, showing people the way out. Ken came back and said he had permission to sing one verse of "Amazing Grace" in the quire, "as long as the verger didn't know anything about it." So we both went into the empty quire, and Ken sang a verse while I accompanied with harmony. His voice filled the cathedral. We left the quire to see two tourists about to go in, and the woman said, "That was brilliant!" The verger said that it was nicely sung, and said, "You probably didn't know that the quire was miked, so that you could be heard throughout the whole cathedral." We didn't know. As Ken says, after singing praises to God in Canterbury cathedral, what could top that? A truly once in a lifetime experience to end a very special day.

24,556 steps, 18.417 km, 744 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 7.94 mi (12.77 km) 

Day 36 Boughton Lees to Chilham: Get Her to Godmersham

Godmersham House—after the Rain!

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Today was a relatively short walk from Boughton Lees to Chilham (less than 10 miles), which we planned in order to leave time for us to visit another literary site. While en route to Chilham I was going to visit the Godmersham Heritage Center, which I had prearranged to have opened for me—an opportunity for which I was grateful. Godmersham Park was the estate that Jane Austen's brother Edward owned, and Jane visited there often.

It was raining and our kind hosts offered us their conservatory to sit in and chat with them until the rain abated a bit. It would have been nice to do so, but we felt we needed to get going in order to arrive at Godmersham shortly after noon as we had arranged. We were already a bit late because Ken was still feeling slow from his cold. So we left around ten, walking into a blustery drizzle which was mostly at our backs. We had good paths to Bourton Aluph. Evidently there is going to be a village fète here later in the day as there was a marquee (empty at the moment) outside the church, but as has happened so many times recently, the church was locked. It was cold, rainy, and frustrating. 

We soon recovered good cheer at the thought of getting to Godmersham, however, and walked up our main ascent of the day to King's Wood quite quickly. As we walked the quite good and well-marked forest path, Ken told me his motto for the day was, "Get her to Godmersham." I had told the curator that we would be there at noon or a little later, so we did have to hustle. It was a fairly long but easy walk through the wood, and as a bonus we were quite well sheltered from the rain, which came and went with varying intensity for much of the morning.

A Classic Kent Lanscape: Oasthouses after Godmersham

As we finally exited the main part of King's Wood and were descending down the hill towards Godmersham, Ken got the shimmery vision in his left visual field that accompanies a migraine, so we had to go a bit slower because he wasn't seeing the path well. Ken said that it felt like as he was getting nearer the spiritual end of the walk—that is, Canterbury—he was being challenged: first by his cold and now by a migraine. (Fortunately, when he gets migraines he only experiences the visual field disruption and a mild headache; he is very thankful for that, as he has family and friends who suffer debilitating migraines.) We left the woods and turned south-westwards into Godmersham Park, and just as the house came into view, the wind and rain picked up, blowing directly in our faces. It really soaked us. We hastened on, knowing that the visitor center was past the house a ways and near the church. We got there at 12:45 p.m., only to find a note on the door saying that the director couldn't find someone to open the centre after all. I can understand that someone might not want to wait around on a Saturday for walkers to show up, but it was disappointing—especially since we had turned down our B & B hosts' kind invitation to chat and wait out the rain solely because we needed to make our appointment at the centre. Sigh. [I admit, I did actually shed tears of disappointment, which is something more akin to being a Bronte heroine than an Austen one--or is it? To do the centre justice, the director had sent an email the day before, but I hadn't been able to check email and didn't receive it until it was too late.--Sara]

On the other hand, amazingly, Godmersham church was open! It had a good feel. We prayed, sang, looked at the Austen (Knight) family monuments and then went outside and ate our lunch on a bench that was surprisingly dry as the sun had come out. Now the wind and sun were drying things off as fast as they had soaked us earlier. We set off around 2:00 p.m. and retraced our steps to rejoin the North Downs Way. It was no longer raining, so we were able to take some photos of Godmersham House and the beautiful Kent countryside.

No wonder Chilham has been used as a movie set...

A short time later we arrived at the beautiful village of Chilham—itself an interesting study in pre- Industrial Revolution social structure: the village is on the top of a hill, with the gates of the manor house fronting on one side of the village square, the church sitting almost directly opposite at the other end, mostly half-timbered buildings forming the boundaries of the square and small lanes radiating away from the centre in several directions. (One can easily see why Chilham has often been used a set for television and movie productions, for example, a recent adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger.)  It was also a very busy village, particularly today as it is a weekend and there was a large wedding going on at the manor house, with many expensive-looking cars parked in the square [and many expensive-looking people coming from and going to the house!—Ken].

Smiles in Chilham

After taking in the whole scene, we stopped at Shelly's tea room, where we decided against yet another cream tea. (Ken figured that the further away from Devon and Somerset one goes, the less reliably delectable and generous the teas get! Although the teas at Shelly's looked okay.) Instead of a cream tea, I had delicious fresh strawberry ice cream and Ken had a milkshake with the longest bendy straw we had ever seen. Ken chatted with a friendly couple at the next table, and found that the husband had cycled the St. James of Compostella pilgrimage route in Spain five times, which is quite an accomplishment indeed.

Bagham Farmhouse Entry

They took a fun picture of us laughing in the village square which was nice, as most of the time on this trip we have been alone and consequently don't actually have many pictures of us together.

We went to the village church and . . . it was locked. At this point frustration was turning into resignation.

Eventually we walked down the hill to our B & B, Bagham Farmhouse, and looked at the antiques store next door—actually part of the same property—just before it closed. It was a sign of things to come. We checked into our B & B, a fifteenth-century house packed to the gills with lots of interesting antiques, including a suit of armour near the entry. Our day concluded with a short walk to the Woolpack Inn for dinner, and then back home to relax and get a good night's sleep. Despite the disappointment at Godmersham it had really turned into a very nice day.

27,264 steps, 20.448 km, 858.8 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 9.36 mi (15.06 km)

Beautiful Chilham

Day 35 Eyhorne Street to Boughton Lees: Resting Pilgrims

Other than Ken's cold, a fine day on the Pilgrims' Way

Pondering with Percival

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Today's walk was a long, fairly straightforward one from Eyehorne Street to Boughton (pronounced Borton) Lees. Coming after an even longer walk the day before, it was tough to get going in the morning. It was made more difficult for Ken because his cold affected his energy, and so we didn't depart until nearly 10:00 a.m. Our route consisted almost entirely of following the Pilgrim's Way, which was pleasant as it mostly contoured the lower slopes of the downs, with few climbs of any note and good views ahead to the southeast along the gently declining ridge.

Three miles along we rested on Brother Percival' s bench, north of Harrietsham. We later rested below a large chalk cross cut into the hillside, which was a war memorial. There were beautiful poppy fields nearby, and we saw a woman galloping her horse back and forth a few times along the gravel track.

"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"

Today's nature report includes tidings of Roman snails, kidney vetch (prettier than it sounds), and a shrew scurrying across the path in front of us.

Charing Castle and Church

Our afternoon break was at the pretty village of Charing, where we had tea and looked around at the many interesting old buildings. We did get in to the church, and with Ken's cold managed to sing one slightly nasal verse of "Amazing Grace." [We were also brought up short by the carved wooden crucifix outside at the west end of the church under the tower: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?" Sadly, it apparently did mean nothing to the vandal who defaced the sign. It means everything to us—Ken].

Upon leaving Charing we reconnected with the North Downs Way/Pilgrim's Way and had good paths, making excellent progress even though we were tired. We arrived at our B & B around 6:20 p.m., where we received a warm welcome from our hosts Tania and Nigel. We stayed in a very comfy self-catering suite, with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room. It was wonderfully relaxing, and we had a good night's rest.

On the Home Stretch to Boughton Lees

40,000 steps, 30 km, 1264.6 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 14.68 mi (23.63 km)

Day 34 Rochester to Eyhorne Street: Met with Kindness

It would have been an amazing view in sunshine...

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Today we were met with kindness wherever we went—which we needed as we were facing one of our longest walks of the entire trip. As we headed out of Rochester, we moved over on the sidewalk to let a woman with a bag of groceries go past us, and she stopped and asked where we were walking. We said we were going to Canterbury, and she told us about some things to see there that she enjoyed. She said she would be with us in spirit on our walk, and kindly bid us farewell.

An Inventive and Appropriate Sign

On the long walk along Borstal Road out of Rochester, I began looking for a washroom, even though I knew there wouldn't be any en route. We bought sandwiches at a small corner store, and the nice man there mentioned that there might be a washroom in the co-op down the street. We walked a bit further and didn't see the co-op, so I poked my head in the door of a pharmacy and asked if the co-op was down the street. The answer was yes, and I tacked on the fact that I was looking for a washroom there. The woman at the pharmacy said that the co-op didn't have one, and there weren't any nearby. She asked if the situation was dire, which by this time it was, and she said she could escort me to the one upstairs. She had to escort me to the door because it was a pharmacy and they had to be secure about the drugs. She was very kind, and I was very grateful!

Detling Millennium Sign

Around 11:00 a.m. the rain started, mostly drizzle. Ken took a couple of routes different from the North Downs Way in order to decrease some of the ascents and descents, although we couldn't avoid one long and steep climb (though it was made a bit shorter by Ken's alternate route). Our lunch was eaten in short standing breaks. The path to Detling seemed endless, but we finally arrived. We walked to the bottom of the village to see the church, but it was locked. We walked back up to the Cock Horse Inn (a Cock horse was an extra horse added to a coach in order to help the other horses pull the coach up the hill). The rain had stopped by then, and we had a good rest at this pub.We figured we wouldn't want to go out to a pub for dinner that night after a long walk, so we ordered a BLT baguette to take away.

They don't make 'em like this in Canada!

We got going again and walked on Pilgrim's Way road for awhile. There was a fair bit of traffic, so we decided to take some footpaths across the fields rather than the road; the footpaths cut off some distance as well. But not all shortcuts turn out to be short! The first path was fine. The second path was through a bean field, and there wasn’t really a path where the right of way was indicated on the map. The third field was tall canola, with a barely visible path that took us to the center of the field and then utterly disappeared, which was frustrating. [At this point, for one of a very few times in the trip, I lost patience and got very frustrated at the plowed-under path, railing at the farmer with ever so slightly "colourful" language! Then again, I usually know instinctively when paths will be well-trodden or not, but I wanted to get off the road, which wasn't really all that bad. Sigh.—Ken] We waded through to the edge of the field, getting covered with yellow pollen, then picked up the path again. After crossing the railway line, we found our path took us through a cow pasture.

Much Prettier than Canola!

In the same field but coming from the direction of the station was a woman wearing nice slacks and flat but classy looking soft leather shoes, and carrying three shopping bags. Her cell phone went off in the middle of the pasture, which felt surreal. She asked if we were heading to Eyhorne Street, and we said we were, and she said she was headed the same way and we could follow her. I was amazed to see her easily climb a stile with her shopping bags, then walk down a path which was basically tall, wet grass trampled down. She was met by a man who took her bags, and then she came back to us to see if we were alright directionally. We all briefly consulted the map together, and then we were off on our final steps into Eyhorne Street, having once more experienced kindness.

Our Beautiful Room at Woodhouses

Our walk concluded with a very kind welcome from our host Richard, who gave us outstanding tea and good biscuits, got us newspaper to stuff into our damp boots, agreed to do our laundry, and set places for us at the dining room table to eat our dinner which we had brought from Detling. The baguette was excellent, and it came with a small green salad and homemade rather spicy tortilla chips, which were delicious. When we were done, Richard came out of the kitchen with a bowl full of fresh strawberries, saying that we should have them so as to use them up before they spoiled. It was a fitting and delicious dessert emblematic of the kindness we had feasted on all day.

42,068 steps, 31.551 km, 1316.2 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 15.44 mi (24.84 km)

Day 33 Cobham to Rochester: Gads Hill and Rochester Cathedral

It would be a Dickens day...

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

The first couple of miles of our path to Gads Hill this morning was partly cleared for us, because a school in Cobham was doing a charity walk along the path and volunteers were clipping nettles and other growth away from its edge. The volunteers told us that about 1200 boys would be following about ten minutes behind us. It was wonderful to have things cleared for us. It was also fun chatting with various volunteers at checkpoints as we preceded the walkers. Today was quite humid, and as we walked across a golf course, one of three men teeing up said it was a bit sticky and we'd be welcome to water from a nearby drinking fountain. That was kind, though we were carrying water with us already.

Gadshill Place – Once Dickens's Home, Now a School

We briefly discussed two possible routes: one directly to Gads Hill, the other to a village called Shorne which was supposed to be pretty and had a Saxon church. We chose Shorne. The village was indeed very pretty but the church was locked, which was quite disappointing. We continued on to Gads Hill, which was the home of Charles Dickens in his later life, but is now a school. I had no idea if I could get in or not, so I left Ken with our heavy packs at the Falstaff Inn across the street, while I went to the school to see if I could take photos of the outside of the house. A friendly postman at the Falstaff gave Ken some good tips about how to get to Rochester quickly and safely.

The security at the school was tight. I had to walk all the way around the new building to get to reception, and then reception called to see if someone could take me round, then two people met and greeted me, one of whom would show me round. Christie was her name, and she was marvelous. Not only did I see the outside of the house, but also the inside. I wasn't expecting it to be a museum, and it wasn't—it was clearly a school. But the "bones " of the rooms were still there, with the Dickensian study still resembling what it was when he was there. She even showed me a Victorian toilet and noted that not everyone got a backstage tour of Dickens's loo! After about a half-hour tour, I hastened back to Ken at the Falstaff and we had lunch together.

Rochester Castle from Medway Bridge

We had a hot and sticky walk into Rochester. It's always a shock coming into the city after having been in the country—noisy, busy, hotter because of the pavement. We found some rest in Rochester Cathedral, which was cooler and more peaceful. We liked it, and thought the cathedral could have done more to feature some of its interesting and beautiful elements. After we finished our cathedral visit, we thought we would go to our B & B to see if we could drop off our packs before the Evensong service at 5:30 p.m. We arrived and found a note from the host that she was nearby and we could ring her (we had arrived early and hadn't expected her to be in). Since we didn't have a phone, we thought we'd walk back to the cathedral and wait for Evensong there. As we began walking down the street, we passed a car coming towards us slowly. Ken gave the driver a big smile, and she stopped a little further on and asked if we were the walkers. We were, and so we walked back accompanied by her cute little dog named Heston, while she parked the car. She settled us in our room with the most delicious cold elderflower cordial, which was extremely refreshing on a humid day. We rested awhile, then headed back to the cathedral for Evensong.

Rochester Cathedral Quire

Usually the Evensong service at Rochester Cathedral on Wednesday is said, not sung. There was a special service tonight, however: two choirs, one from King's School, Rochester and the other from New Beacon School, Sevenoaks, with some parents as part of the choir and playing instruments. There were three different students playing the organ, as well as some trumpeters.

Ascending the Pilgrim Steps

It was a joyous place to be, filled with the students' parents and other attendees at the service. The congregation was invited to sing as well on some of the hymns, so the volume was amazing. One of the hymns mentioned us singing praise in the evening while those in the west were beginning their day with praise in the morning, and that choked both of us up a bit. After the service, Ken turned to me and said, "Well, that was fairly sublime." It was indeed sublime, beautiful singing and joyous trumpet and organ. We didn't want to leave afterwards, so we sat outside the cathedral for awhile watching people exit. We then wandered down the high street, and chose to have dinner at Thai Four Two, which turned out to be a good choice with lovely warm curries and delicious noodles. A satisfying day.

26,017 steps, 19.512 km, 818.5 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 7.81 mi (12.57 km)

Day 32 Borough Green to Cobham: A Rather Pedestrian Walk

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Our packs felt quite heavy today, since it's the first day we haven't had the luxury of leaving most of our things at Richard and Cathi's.

The walk today was good, but not much was noteworthy. We followed the North Downs Way along the base of the North Downs for much of the day as it headed northeastwards towards Rochester, then left the trail to climb up and over the hill northwards towards our destination, Cobham. On the steep climb over the North Downs escarpment, I distracted myself from the effort by looking at the interesting rocks embedded in the path—the flints here are like Easter eggs, with a white chalk outer coating and a glassy grey or black inside. Partway up the hill, I saw in the bushes a rusted axle and two wheel rims, and I said that clearly someone else hadn't made it up the hill. We made it, however.

Luddesdown Manor & Church near Cobham with Thatched Outhouse in Foreground (We were tempted but didn't use it!)

It was a disappointing day for visiting churches: in the morning the church in Wrotham had a coffee hour going, which is a nice thing to have but meant that we couldn't sing; a later church that was indicated on the map had been turned into a private home; the church in Luddesdown was locked. We did manage to visit the church in Cobham, known for its remarkable collection of brasses. Ken's allergies which might be a cold made it difficult for him to sing, but we sang "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" and the Doxology.

Historic Poster at the Leather Bottle

Sitting in Dickens' Chair?

We stayed at the Leather Bottle Inn, which Charles Dickens enjoyed visiting frequently. It is now filled with Dickensian pictures and and other memorabilia from his life and novels. We had read in a guide that the chair Dickens used to sit in when he visited was still at the inn. We saw a chair that matched the photo I had, but there was nothing at the inn to indicate that it had been his chair. But I sat in it, just in case. There was better wireless reception there, if nothing else. We didn't have any Dickensian adventures, however, just a quiet evening.

28,501 steps, 21.375 km, 879.8 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 10.22 mi (16.45 km)

The Leather Bottle Inn, Cobham