Saturday Walk - The Greensand Way from Pluckley to Ham Street or just to Ashford (SWC Walks 152 & 153)

Length: 25.8 km (16.0 mi) or 16.4 km (10.2 mi) 

Ascent/Descent: 200m or 150m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours or 4 hours 

Toughness : 4 out of 10 or 2 out of 10

 

Take the 09.34 Ramsgate train from Charing X (via W’loo East and London Bridge (09.43)), arrives Pluckley at 10.46. 

Alternatively, take the 09.40 Margate train from St. Pancras I’nal (via Stratford I’nal (09.48), change at Ashford (10.18/10.30), arrives Pluckley 10.37.

Return trains from Ashford are on xx.02 and xx.30 to Charing X, xx.16 and xx.40 to St. Pancras and xx.56 to Victoria. 

Return trains from Ham Street are on xx.02 (change at Ashford). There is also Bus Line 511 to Ashford, leaving from opposite the station at xx.52 to 17.52.

Buy a Ham Street or an Ashford return.

This is a pretty route, combining two stages of the Greensand Way. Check out the photos on the website, they were taken in winter. The route starts along a link route through pastures to Pluckley village, where you pick up the Greensand Way proper. You then pass through a sequence of orchards to Little Chart and continue through a variety of interesting and pretty landscapes, from pastures, woods, commons and bogs to the very large Godinton Park Estate to Great Chart. From there, … 

    -- For the Ashford Ending, you finish with an acceptable urban stretch along a link route into Ashford's centre, following the Stour Valley Walk, largely through parks and along the Great Stour river, to Ashford International station.  

    -- For the Ham Street Ending, you skirt Ashford's sprawling suburbs with its many new estates and pass a couple of walker-unfriendly farms. Some pretty countryside follows though, with tranquil pastures and the enchanting Ham Street Woods National Nature Reserve (the latter along a mud-prone bridleway), all the way to the fine village of Ham Street.

Notes: 

The route shown on the route map reflects the waymarking on the ground as of December 2020; this differs widely from the route shown on OS maps and as described in Kent Council's outdated resources. All changes improve the route by avoiding busy roads or arable field crossings. 

At the end in Ham Street, the Greensand Way leads to the train station first, then on to its official finish at the pub in the village centre. To get to the pub first, fork left in the car park at the far end of Ham Street Woods, along a tarmac lane, and at a T-junction in the village turn right towards the pub at a crossroads. From there turn right towards the station.

 

Lunch: The Swan and Dog in Great Chart (12.7 km) or The Queen's Head in Kingsnorth (17.7 km). 

Tea: [Ashford] Curious Brewery Taproom & Restaurant or The Everest Inn (Nepalese). 

[Ham Street] The Duke’s Head.

 

For walk directions, map, height profile and gpx/kml files click here and here. 

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