Length: 15 km (9.3 miles). Toughness 2/10
10:37 Margate train from St Pancras (Stratford 10:44), changing at Ashford International (arr 11:14, dep 11:25) for the Eastbourne train, arriving Ham Street at 11:33. Buy a return to Appledore (Kent) (not Appleford, in Oxfordshire).
For a slower but cheaper (non-High Speed) journey you could take the 09:52 Ashford International train from Victoria (first stop Sevenoaks at 10:32) to connect with the Eastbourne train (arr 11:16, dep 11:25).
Trains back from Appledore are hourly at xx:57, again changing at Ashford for St Pancras or Victoria.
Bluebells get most of the headlines for spring wildflower walks but the SWC Nature page for April reminds us that other species can also put on a decent show, and at the start of this walk Ham Street Woods should have a fine display of wood anemones. This ancient wood is not unlike many others in the south-east but the rest of the walk is across more distinctive territory, the flat landscape of Romney Marsh intersected by its Napoleonic-era waterway, the Royal Military Canal.
The suggested lunch stop is the Woolpack Inn in Warehorne, which has plenty of outside tables but as usual will almost certainly need booking if you want a Sunday lunch inside. In the afternoon there's a choice of routes after you reach the unusual church at Kenardington: for a change I suggest taking the alternative route alongside the tree-lined canal but you could opt for the slightly shorter main route through Gusbourne Vineyard.
In Appledore Miss Mollett's High Class Tea Room should be open until 4pm. This might be the only refreshment option as the Black Lion pub has recently changed hands and is reportedly ‘closed for renovation works’. You'll need to allow 30-35 minutes to reach the station, 2¼ km from the village; there's nothing nearby to entertain you if you misjudge and have a long wait for a train.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.106
1 comment:
5 at the station in w=sunny-T-shirt-weather We started off with a trip round Ham Woods, kthe muddiest bit of the walk. But not all that muddy. It was awash with wood anemones. One overkeen member of the group suggested an extended loop so that’s what we did. We eventually got out of there and along the canal to the Woolpack. They were only serving food to people who’d booked. So it was drinks only. From Kenardington church we took the longer route along the canal in hope of hearing the marsh frogs ‘laughing’. They weren’t. ( I heard later that the best way to get them to laugh is to tell a few croaks). Between you and me, with no laughs to lighten our way,, that route got a bit samey after a while. We got to Miss Mollets just in time to see it close. And the pub was shut. So it was off to the station for us. Except one who took a detour to the Ferry inn which was ‘open and thriving’. A n=6 th walker (who had started an hour earlier) was discovered at the station.Trains out and back were standing room only.
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