Sandwich and the sea

On Sunday feeling the need to do something we haven’t done for a while we headed down to Sandwich for a long walk. It’s just over an hour from us, and that might seem a daft thing to do just to go for a walk, but we were both looking forward to being somewhere we’d not been before, or not been for many a year if we’d even been there before. The Kent Ramblers site have a number of walking routes, and while there were some closer to home, the call of the sea must have been calling us - and so we followed their Walk 67: Sandwich and the sea, by the time we finished a nearly nine mile walk (or fourteen kilometres).

It’s been a while since we’ve followed a walking route, and with my troublesome toe still not quite fixed but not interfering with walking, we were both looking forward to it. We’ve done some walking holidays in the past in Portugal and in France - the sort where you walk to your next accommodation while your luggage is transferred by road, but not for a while.

We set out from the Gazen Salts car park easily finding the start of the route and the first metal bridge. Though like all of these walks we’re keen to get onto the next written instruction and begin to doubt ourselves wondering if we’ve gone too far, or missed a turning. Rarely we have, but even so it’s always a topic of conversation, along with the picturesque scenery.

We passed many families returning along the path above, some on foot, some on bikes and some with dripping ice creams. We’d chosen to walk on Sunday as the weather looked the best that day, and it definitely turned out to be a warm, but not too warm, one. The path soon opened up into an open field with a clear indication of our route ahead.

Metal bridges featured several times on this walk and on each I think we paused to take in the fauna and the reflections in the darkness of the water, just breathing in the nature.

There were regular markings and reminders we were following one from the many network of public footpaths, something we see less of where we live but take for granted across the countryside. This walk led us across a golf course - a first for me, which was also a second for me later in the walk when we crossed another - and that too was clearly marked as the walk directions said it would be.

We walked past some small thatched buildings, and across the fairway having first checked for passing ‘traffic’ and exited the course on the road running parallel to the beach. And as you’ll see not only did we get to see the sea, we were also treated to some pretty spectacular skies and cloud formations.

Heading back inland and across the second golf course of the day we were now heading towards another footpath, following a short way on the road. It was here MOH asked why we were walking along the road, and here we realised we’d not turned where we should, thankfully it was less than 20 steps or so to get us back on track - and once again that track was clear.

The walking notes warned this might be overgrown, and they weren’t wrong. As the path continued we were walking through longer grass with purple fronds at the top, it was quite the sight and not something I’ve seen before. We walked past fields of now flowering asparagus crops, and at one point to get to a kissing gate we had to navigate some stinging nettles. With shorts on, this was trickier and more painful than if we’d had our legs covered more, but we were soon on our way again.

We opted to do the longer route and so turned left and headed past the hay bales and alongside the stream, crossing another metal bridge and then shortly after an unattended level crossing. We’d seen (and heard) a couple of trains in the distance as we walked and realised the direction we were heading. Safely across the railway we were soon admiring the hedgerow sloes and hawthorn berries, and smaller than usual blackberries which were starting to ripen.

We headed back into Sandwich along the City Walls, which would also make a great short stroll, and were starting to feel the distance we’d walked. We were also hungry, so plans were agreed to fix that. The city walls brought us right back to the Quayside where the route directions start, and from there we headed to the Drill Hall which we’d spotted when we set off for a stone baked pizza and a beer - both of which were very, very welcome and a good end to the day, along with the 20k steps we clocked up on our way!

All in all it was a fabulous day out.

The Greats at Knole House

By greats, I mean the Great Hall, the Great Screen and the Great Staircase and to be honest they’re very well named.

Knole, which is close to Sevenoaks and was our stop off on the way to our cabin for our escape weekend close to home, is a former Archbishops’ Palace. The Great Hall would have been right at the heart of it and where the whole household would eat together. For me the floor was a fantastic part of the space, but there was much more to it than that.

The carved oak screen dates to the early 1600s and is decorated with leopards and other symbols of the Sackville family.

But the ceiling can’t go unmentioned - isn’t it fabulous?

The staircase, unlike the hall, was only for members of the family, distinguished guests and high ranking sevants.

The paintings though - they really should be named as greats too. They depict the Four Ages of Man, the Five Senses and the Seven Virtues, though one virtue - temperance - is missing.

The sculpture is Giovanna Zanerini, a celebrated Italian ballerina and mistress of the 3rd Duke of Sackville. She was known by her stage name - La Baccelli and lived at Knole, and she remains there today.

There’s much more to see at Knole, and considering it’s only about thirty minutes from home I can’t believe this was our first - but certainly not our last - visit. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re close by.

A woodland walk

It’s been a while since I had an urge to go to the woods. I’ve no idea why I did, but I did - and it was a good urge to follow up on. Even now, looking at the photos to create this post has been a good thing. Though obviously not as good as being there in person.

Petts Wood is relatively close by to us, but it’s a twenty minute car journey. We visited in October, so the photos are probably greener than it currently is. Even though it’s just over seven miles away, and somewhere we’ve driven past many a time, this was the first time we’d stopped, and the first time it was our destination.

We’d thought ahead and put our walking shoes into the boot, and changed into them before heading along the paths. But then again, not that clever enough to remember they were still in the boot of the car when we went food shopping just before Christmas. Finding them innocently there with a trolley load of shopping was quite a discovery.

I’m a fan of bracken anyway, but this view I could just keep breathing in. Maybe I should set that as my desktop wallpaper - though in reality, I don’t often see the wallpaper on my laptop as it’s covered by many layers of open windows.

The trees were fascinating too, and it’s true that the more you look, the more you see. At first glance the tree above looks an unusual shape, but looking more closely you’ll see that the horizontal part is actually a fallen tree that’s continued to grow towards the light, just in a slightly different way to when it was vertical.

The other thing that amazed me is that we’re less than twenty miles from central London, but the picture below could be much further afield.

These two photos represent how important it is to look down, as well as up. MOH was whinging that I was walking too slowly, but there was too much to see to race around. Perhaps if it were a place that was more familiar he might have a point.

And as we headed back to the car, the markings on the tree to the left definitely made us smile - it summed up our mood too.