DAY 4 - DETLING TO CUXTON

DAY 4                                  Tuesday 23rd September 2014

ROUTE                                Detling to Cuxton

DISTANCE                          14.3 miles (plus 1.5 miles back to van)
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE    52.9 miles

START POINT                    Detling (Harp Farm Road) - TQ 776 599

FINISH POINT                    Horseholders Wood - TQ 676 644

WEATHER                          Sunny and warm

WALKERS                          Cally Charman, Rod Boreham and Graham Palmer

SUPPORT DRIVER            Jim Rice

SUFFER SCORE                4.5 (5 for the extra 1.5 miles to the van)
    (On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easy and 10 being unbearable!) 

CTOG AWARD                   Guildford Street Angels
                                            In recognition of your dedication in serving the Guildford people

We woke to another glorious day and were looking forward to what would be a strange day as instead of moving generally in an East-West direction, we would spend the majority of the day travelling north or south.  The reason…..the River Medway! 

Feeling determined at the start of yet another day!

With Detling now behind us we tracked across open farmland with views towards Aylesford and Maidstone. 

Acres of open farmland

Industrial views in the distance

Cally's lively pace continued through adjacent woodland which steeply descended towards the A229 before our route turned north parallel to the busy dual carriageway to begin the climb up Bluebell Hill which links the county town of Maidstone with the Medway Towns.  

Dappled sunlight in the woods

Striding out

We passed Kits Coty House which is the remains of a megalithic ‘dolmen’ burial chamber dating back to between 3500 and 2800BC which is 200 years before Stonehenge was built.

Kit's Coty

 

Emerging alongside the A229

As we moved further north still tracking the noisy A229, we arrived at the beautiful Bluebell Hill picnic area where we again met with Jim Rice who was once again driving our support vehicle.  During our break, Graham took time out to look at the Kent Air Ambulance Memorial erected in memory of the crew who lost their lives following the air crash in 1998 and in particular Mark Darby who Graham had known through his work at Brands Hatch Race Circuit.  It was so cruel that those 3 men should have lost their lives whilst trying to save the lives of others.  Their memory lives on with the memorial.

In memory...

Heading away from the Bluebell Hill picnic area

The North Downs Way then veered towards the M2 motorway and as we emerged from woods into open farmland, we got our first glimpse of the magnificent Medway Bridge.  

The Medway Bridge

And in sunshine...

Eurostar sharing the Medway Bridge

It seemed to take an age to reach the bridge and before we attempted to cross via the footbridge, we met up with Jim again for another quick refreshment stop.

The footpath across the bridge is shared with a cycleway which apparently allows motorcycles to use it as well as we soon found out as one passed us at speed.  The noise from the adjacent M2 was constant as we crossed the Medway and we were pleased to reach the comparative quiet of the A228.  

Footpath across the Medway

View towards Rochester Castle

Medway Marina

Looking back at the Medway Bridge from the A228

Of course having crossed the bridge we had moved from the land of Men of Kent into the world of Kentish Men, although quite what difference that makes we shall wait for someone to tell us!!  We were now truly in West Kent.

More fields...

We cairn do it!

Idyllic Kent

Our target finish for the day was in Upper Halling and the day finished with relatively level walking through the coolness of woods on what was now a very hot day.  Having successfully reached the end of the day’s walk, a total of 14.3 miles, we found that a locked barrier was preventing Jim from reaching us and so we had  to walk a further 1½ miles to reach the van which then took us back to our overnight accommodation at Aylesford.

The offending barrier which added a painful 1.5 miles to the end of the day!

 www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/CTOG14