I started from the station in Charing, heading out along the high-street of this pretty village,
then up onto the downs. Some good views of the village from the path, including the windmill at the
top of the hill. It was a lovely clear and sunny day, so good views back down to the village. The
path through the edge of the woods was very muddy though, and part of it was completly covered with
water! This part of the path is a bridleway and it was also used by a couple of horse riders and
also two trail bikes (one of which was going at considerable speed), which was probably part of the
reason the path was so worn. I know motorbikes using paths is a controversal subject in this group,
but they were being ridden by the police in this case!
Once out of the woods, the path was easier to walk again (as it wasn't so wet), and went through
pleasant open countryside. St Marys Church, marked on the map as "remains of" was actually mostly
complete. On past Eastwood Lake into Boughton Lees, an attractive village that still has the village
green as the centre of the village. Shortly out of the village the North Downs Way divides, with one
part heading towards Canterbury, the other towards Folkestone and Dover. I continued on towards
Folkestone, passing through part of a farm and across fields into Wye. I was expecting there to be
some sort of stone marking the division of the route, but instead a simple sign pointing in three
directions!
Once into Wye I planned to return by train to Charing, but found the line closed due to engineering
works, so ended up on a coach into Ashford instead, then on from there to Charing by train.
A pleasant walk, and I manged to avoid any showers. A few photos at
joncombe.fotopic.netshow collection.phpOpen ↗ - note the order seems to have messed up -
the 3 characters of the filename gives the correct order!
Jon.