13.5 km (8.4 miles). Difficulty 5/10.
A North Downs walk, rural, peaceful, good views and an away-from-it-all feel. Through woods and open fields, hilly at times.Lunch:
Alas, this walk's lunch pub closed a while back, but there is the Harvel House Farm Café (01474 551062) near where it used to be. It's a short distance down Harvel Lane.
Tea: First up, the recommended Cock Inn (tel 01474 814208) Allow at least 15 minutes to reach the station.
Nearer the station there's the Railway Inn 01474643212
Trains: Get the 9:42 Gillingham train from Victoria, arriving 10:31. Return trains at xx:32.
Directions: here Use the Sole Street start on page 5
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N=8 turned up on a w=cold-sunny day. An early error was quickly glossed over. We started off following the return route but when this was realised, we criss crossed over to the ‘correct’ one..
We passed the gutted shell of the Golden Lion . Enquiries revealed it is undergoing a refurb and should re-open in 6 months or so. We poked our noses in the Cellar Door, an outlet for the local Silverhand Wine. All bubbly by the looks of it. (It is possible to buy a bottle and drink it there, but it was a bit early so we didm’t).
3 parted company before Harvel. We didn’t quite pick up why, but there was speculation it might have involved pursuing what walk-experts call a “shortcut”
There had been some snow overnight and we continued in a biting wind across ice, and snow, the latter sometimes as much as half an inch deep. This sort of thing wouldn’t have stopped Hillary or Tensing and it was’nt going to stop us. At least the mud was frozen.
We went to Harvel House Farm Shop Cafe, a thriving concern. The trendier walkers ordered ‘melt’s, Mr Tiger settled for coffee and a big bit of cake.
The afternoon largely involved an assault course through woods . Slippy twisty paths, windblown trees. Scary stuff for Mr Tiger who had only just emerged from Xmas hibernation and still suffering withdrawal symptoms from too much chocolate and other sweetmeats. But, like Hillary and Tensing before us, we pressed on and achieved our goal, reaching the Railway Inn for a cosy pre-train drink
That’s not all. On the way back, all warm and toasty in the train, we had grandstand seats for the rising full moon, visible nearly all the way to London.
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