Stour Valley Walk - 5th Leg

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I did this one last week on a rare rain-free day of intermittent sunshine, starting in Canterbury and walking the 8-ish miles to Chilham. This time i created a 'Junglist-Rambler' look by pairing walking boots with my big Spiewak puffer jacket.

I started by walking out of Canterbury through Westgate gardens which, incredibly, i'd not set foot in once during the 9 years i've lived in the area. There have been quite a few 'how did i not know about this?' moments during my walks. Some nice trees, a Victorian manor house, and the river running its length make the garden a good escape for shoppers and lunching office workers. I pass where the position of the old London Gate is marked and exit the garden through a heavily graffitied grey concrete underpass.
Boggy pastures where horses graze, mobile homes with rangy dogs outside, and overlapping railway lines occupy the margins of this tiny city.

Out into the country but it still feels very closed-in, thanks to railway lines on either side and barbed-wire protected orchards. I pass the remains of a manor where Henry VIII once stayed with Catherine of Aragon, so my guidebook tells me. Several old manor houses line the route along this section, all still occupied, but looking a bit out of place and bedraggled, often surrounded by commercial farmyards or industry and with trains passing close-by. The overcast sky and muddy surroundings probably don't help their appearance.

Past rows and rows of mobile homes that house east european migrant fruit pickers in summer, a few still occupied in january. The path double-backs on itself to cross the railway line, and i'm next to the river again, feeling more peaceful and rustic, despite a nearby light-industrial compound. In the centre of the compound, formerly Milton Manor Farm, incongruously sit the 12th century manor house and church of St John. A little further along, very close to the river and next to a picturesque weir, is Horton Manor, my favourite of the grand houses I see today.

I reach Chartham at midday and wander round the village to look at the church and the medieval houses that are dotted round the green. A modern paper mill is in operation on the site of the old corn mill recorded in the Domesday Book. Just up the road i find a medieval pub for lunch and a read of the paper.

Off again towards Chilham after a pint and a sarny and having shed a layer of clothes. Along the side of railway tracks again, into the village of Shalmsford Street where every house seems to have a sign reminding walkers of the privacy of the owners property and a collection of large, aggressive dogs. Geh arrf moy laaand!!! I do see a pair of lamas (or alpacas? who knows) in a small field, so it's not all bad. Eventually, after crossing a very muddy field, i get to the most picturesque, enjoyable part of the walk - Old Wye Lane. This is the old track that used to connect Wye, Godmersham, Chilham, Chartham and Canterbury. It winds through wooded hills with views out over several miles of the Stour Valley.

Chilham appears in the distance on a slight rise and I know i'm almost there. I come off the path and drop down to the river again, past the restored Chilham Water Mill and over the railway line once more. I start up the road to Chilham to look around, then decide my blisters hurt too much so I walk back to the railway station. I sit on the platform as dusk approaches and the temperature drops, reading about Obama's inaugeration the previous day in an even colder Washington.

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Photos

Some Graffiti
i thought it made the underpass look better

Bridge Over The Stour
An old bridge at Horton

Old King's Head
Old pub converted into cottages at Chartham

The Artichoke at Chartham
good lunch menu and a nice log fire

Tower House
Not sure if that's a Baobab in the foreground