Stour Valley Chilham circular

Fat Albert on X-country VFR nap of the earth <500>

Its Dejavu all over again.The Cycling dept (sans bikes) bumped into the hikers at the RVP at Chilham car park so decided to join forces with a strength of 8.We went down Mountain street,
through Godmersham park,crossed the road and up into the hills
following the heron sign on the posts.We found a log half way and perched on it for coffee and sandwiches.A C-130 passed over very low,probably US as ours are a different colour.
Back along the path which has been upgraded and will lend itself to cycling at a later date.We crossed the stour and headed back to Chilham.Thanks Terry for a good walk.8.5 miles.

Chilham Castle

The Stour

The Castle keep on the left taken from the hill

Green-Winged Orchid Anacamptis morio

The mill at Chilham.

Dengemarsh Desert

From Lydd we went down Denegemarsh road to the beach.
The red flags were flying on the range,so we had to cut the corner and save 3 miles.The shingle beach is the largest in Europe and possibly the second largest in the world.The area is the only desert in Britain (if you don't believe me look on the net.)
The beach shingle is very hard  to walk on and affect all sorts of usually uncomplaining muscles.After an hour and a half of this
(during which it rained)we arrived at the Britannia Pub and had excellent fresh fish and chips.It would have been nice to get a bus back,but we didn't.We walked across the nature reserve
(Britains oldest?)and dragging our heels ,eventually made it back for an ice cream in the village
10 miles 5 chaps dull and rain,then hot and sunny.

When the range flag has obvious bullet holes in,its worrying,so we worried a bit.

Lydd church the size indicates area prosperity (or smuggling)

These are my shingle-shoes and were a complete waste of time

This pic might be an offence under the Serious and Organised Crime act 2005.

The lighthouse seems to have a surprised expression.

The uploading of pictures of meals on social networking sites has been suggested as a psycological disorder

Marconi's radio shack,for cross channel radio tests,he pinched all his ideas from Tesla,who was not commerically adept,but an inventive genius.

We were prepared to pay £3 to go up this ,but it was closed.

One of the quarries ,now a lake

It never seemed to get any closer.

I do not own the copyright,it is here for educational purposes and discussion.

The path across the reserve.

Some of us are fitter than others.

Lenham

Our two members from the education services cried off at the last minute, the youngsters just have not got the stamina so only four this week so we reverted to plan B
We parked at Lenham car park on a warm bright spring morning and cut across Lenham Square as the start of the walk when we were accosted by a voice from the cafe we were passing . It was our former leader and the rest (2) of our cycling offshoot .
Their idea of a cycling day out was a train, with their bikes for show , to Lenham then sit in a cafe with bacon sarnies .
To prove we don't mind lowering our standards we joined then for a cuppa and chat.
So passed a very pleasant 15 minutes , but being keen our walking group insisted we set off on our walk
We cut through the grounds of Lenham Church where there were a lot of spring flowers coming out .
Following the public footpath through East Lenham onto Mount Castle Farm with its lovely large pond .
This footpath leads through Mount Pleasant and the Old Chapel where we stopped for 5 minutes for a chat to the owner. Then into Bull Heath where we stopped for a short break to enjoy the day . By now we had noticed one of our members had left his rucksack and food in the afore mentioned cafe . After this stop it was onto  Lenham Heath and joining the Stour Valley walk , on passed the sewage works on a short hop back into Lenham
Here we were treated to a Magnum by our expert photographer JC
A really good walk again . This author is away for 2 weeks so keep your eyes open for next weeks by another

 Lenham Square Start Of walk

 Happy Wanderers Cycling Group Meets Walking Group 

The Parting Of the Two Groups 

 Lenham Church

 Mount Castle farm

 Within Bull Heath 

 JC being a mountain goat 

 Following photos by JC