CTOG14 - THE ROUTE

The Route

The route follows part of the North Downs Way starting at Canterbury Cathedral and finishing in our home town of Guildford at the Cathedral.  The North Downs Way is 156 miles long in total running from Farnham in Surrey to Dover on the Kent Coast.  A lot of the route follows the Pilgrims Way which was the traditional route taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury.  Because we wanted to return to our home town, we are doing our walk in reverse by starting in Canterbury.  Our route is approximately 110 miles long and we are hoping to complete the challenge in 9 days (walking 12-14 miles per day) finishing in Guildford around 3 pm on Sunday, 28^th September.

Our daily routes are:

DAY 1

Saturday, 20^th September 
Canterbury Cathedral to Chilham

We hope to start from the Cathedral grounds around 11:00am and we are easing ourselves into the first day with a distance of only 9 miles.

DAY 2

Sunday, 21^st September 
Chilham to Charing

Our aim is to start walking at around 10:00am each day.  Today’s route takes us through Boughton Lees, past Eastwell Manor Hotel and up to Charing. 

DAY 3 

Monday, 22^nd September 
Charing to Detling

The route takes us past Lenham and Hollingbourne and on to Detling village.

We are staying the night at Aylesford Priory, the 13^th Century Priory where the first Carmelite friars settled on their return from the Holy Land.

DAY 4

Tuesday, 23^rd September 
Detling to Cuxton

The route now heads north undertaking the long steep climb of Blue Bell Hill and heading towards Rochester.  Having crossed the River Medway near Rochester the route heads south and we finish the day at Cuxton.  We are staying at Aylesford Priory again that evening.

DAY 5

Wednesday, 24^th September 
Cuxton to Otford

Our route takes us past Trottiscliffe (pronounced ‘Trosley’) and Wrotham (pronounced ‘Root-um’) before ending up in Otford.

We are staying the night at Otford Manor which commands a fantastic position high on the North Downs overlooking the village of Kemsing and the Weald of Kent in the distance.  Otford Manor was the home of Sir Oliver Lyle of Tate & Lyle family fame and consequently it is known locally as ‘Treacle Towers’.

We are now halfway through our challenge!

DAY 6

Thursday, 25^th September 
Otford to Limpsfield

After the big climb of Star Hill on the way up to Knockholt village, the route passes Westerham to arrive at Titsey Park near Limpsfield.

DAY 7

Friday, 26^th September 
Limpsfield to Reigate Hill

This part of the route runs roughly parallel with the M25 motorway.

DAY 8 

Saturday, 27^th September 
Reigate Hill to Gomshall

We shall be really feeling as though we are on the home leg after 7 days of walking.  One more night away from home.  Early night ready for our return to Guildford tomorrow.

DAY 9

Sunday, 28^th September 
Gomshall to Guildford Cathedral

An early start for the team in an attempt to get back to the Cathedral between 4:30 and 5:00pm.

We do hope that you will come and walk part of the route with us on ANY/ALL of the above days.  

Please check our Facebook pages throughout the walk and we will update our progress and post more precise details of our planned walking for the following day. 

https://www.facebook.com/CTOG14