9.34 train from Charing Cross (9.37 Waterloo East, 9.43 London Bridge) to Wye, arriving 11.03
OR
10.04 Southeastern Highspeed train from St Pancras International to Ashford, arriving 10.42, to connect with the above train, departing 10.57
Buy a day return to Chilham.
A combination of the morning of the Wye Circular walk (for directions and GPX see here) and the afternoon of the Chilham Circular (directions and GPX here), combining the best bits of either walk.
You start with a fine climb up onto the North Down escarpment above Wye, with extensive views. Then you are walking high along the sides of an idyllic part-wooded valley, with potentially varied spring flowers.
Lunch is at the quirky Timber Batts @ The Compasses, which offers a feelgood menu of creative burgers, ribs, vegetable chilli etc amidst inventive decor.
In the afternoon, you cross another downland section before descending to Godmersham, the country estate of Jane Austin's wealthy brother. You walk across its estate and on into the pretty village of Chilham, with its "castle" (a stately home), a tea room that shuts too early (4pm) and a nice pub by the church.
Trains back are at 15 past the hour, taking 1hr 36 mins to Charing Cross or 1hr 3 minutes to St Pancras for Highspeed ticket holders via a change at Ashford.
1 comment:
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade”, as Dickens says in Great Expectations. In other words W=mostly-sunny-but-chilly-at-times. In the afternoon some dark clouds encroached from the north west, but the showers somehow always missed us (or me, at least…apart from one brief sprinkle near Chilham).
I thought there were just two of us on the high speed, but several others emerged at Ashford. On disembarking at Wye there were 13 of us. Plus one we met on the downs who had come by car and a newbie who somehow missed us at Wye but found us fairly soon after. So N=15 - plus small dog.
Though I say so myself, I think this made a lovely walk for this stage in spring, with a nice mix of downland views and flower-filled woods. In particular one bluebell wood early on was two thirds out (madly early…). Lots of wild garlic not yet in flower thereafter. A cowslip slope mid morning was just starting to show some flowers.
Nearly all the group went to the Timber Batts (aka the Compasses Inn) for lunch or drinks. We all enjoyed the quirky decor and the friendly welcome, but there was some divergence of opinion about the food. One found the fish and chips so inedible she asked for a refund. I unwisely chose the full rack of ribs and was presented with a slab of meat so huge I will be having nightmares about it for a week. Veggie options looked nice. Sadly none of us had room for the Deep Fried Creme Egg dessert, which sounded intriguing.
After lunch the group got spread out. Several of us discovered an amazing wood anemone wood, near full out (unlike those in the morning, which were very tentative). As the author of this bit of the walk I wondered why I had never noticed this before…and then realised we had gone off piste. It is just behind the start of the afternoon downland section, if you are looking for it in future.
Descending to Godmersham we found fields full of lambs. Three were so entranced with these that they went wildly off route into the private grounds of the house, blithely ignoring the Strictly Private signs. The small dog was of this party and the sight of it caused one ewe to square up in defence of its offspring. Fortunately retreats were beaten and no humans or animals were damaged.
In Chilham the backmarkers squeezed into the busy White Horse pub to find others of our party already ensconced there. Tea, drinks and puddings were had before a mad panic to get the 5.15 train took hold. Four of us discussed on the way why we had been in such a rush, each saying they would have stayed had the other not been in a hurry to get home. So we stopped at the comfortable, though less characterful, Woolpack for another hour before getting the 6.15
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