26 July Walk-no Lunch-yes.

A vist to East Malling Village for lunch.
The temp was in excess of 33 C and we thought it might be a good idea to put the lunch on the blog occasionally,so here it is;-
Ham off the bone ,
Chips(fries)
salad and Egg,
with Bitter (beer)
no walk this week,but an RV nonetheless.
Also a picture of the Pub(lic house)which must be 3 or 400 years old at least.
A horticultural trade show up the road (was gatecrashed)
and you can see a picture of a young lady wearing the
national flag,handing around stawberries.
We saw some old buddies,and told them how good retirement was
Next week a walk along the Medway River (mostly flat)so many pubs ,so little time.

18 July Maidstone-train-Gravesend Ferry Essex

The Gravesnd Pilot cutter with the bone in its teeth ,off town pier


A walk through Mote Park in temeratures of over 30 C to maidstone market for a bit of a look around then to the rail sation and by train to Gravesend for a trip to Essex on the Ferry.
It was a sparkling day on the river,and we just went over for the ride.On our return we visited the Three Daws pub on the river bank and had a good lunch and some "Dartford Wobbler"beer.
only about 6 miles today ,owing to the excessive heat.

12 July River Medway Strood to Hoo Marina

Upnor High street,one of the prettiest in Kent,with a lovely little pub ,some smart cottages bedecked with flowers and a Castle at the bottom of the road
(Oh yes another pub at the top.)











A lovely sunny day that turned out very hot.
We met at Strood rail station from all points of the compass,some by bus some by train.
We started opposite Strood pier near the moored Russian Submarine,and followed the Saxon Shore way,until we went wrong and continued through an industrial estate.
We passed the end of the now-defunct Medway-Thames canal,
which is now utilised with its tunnel for rail traffic,and through a new housing estate.
having regained the correct path,we passed by The Royal Engineers marine base and towards Upnor castle.After having the living daylights scared out of us by canon fire from sailing Galleon opposite,(The Grand Turk)we went up the high street to the Tudor Rose pub,a charming little building surrounded by kent weatherboard houses.After a swift drink,we went to the foreshore and along to the Tudor Fort at Hoo,and took some pictures of the crumbling brickwork.
We retraced our steps and called in for lunch at the Tudor Rose which was very busy.
After a leisurely lunch we made our weary way back to Strood station.
About 7 miles (plus individual suppliments)

7th July Charing circular walk 13 miles no stops!

Richard 3rd's son's tomb Ray plodding along stadily




North Downs Way nice surface

A test of endurance ; starting from the Bishops Palace Charing ,and climbing to the North Downs way ,an overcast day but warm with the threat of rain.The going was good underfoot and we made good progress.
We popped into the grounds of the abandoned St Mary's church Eastwell,where the tomb of the base born son of Richard Plantaginet is interred.
("A Horse a horse ,my kingdom for a horse")
Richard III was the last English monarch to die on the field of battle,
and his son went into hiding on the Eastwell Manor estate of Sir Thomas Moyle.
After the church we climbed up towards Challock church (isolated by the plague)and met the Charing-Canterbury road,then turned into Dunn Street where it started to rain.
We were getting tired by this stage and luckily there were no decent hills on the way back.
At Dunn street we retraced our steps to Charing where we had the traditional pub lunch.
A very long non stop walk of at least 13 miles ,in order to test our capabilities.
Its actually a half-marathon and uses as many calories as if we had run the course!
One pair of boots have disintegrated, and we will all have a little nap to recover later.(seperately)

5th July White Cliffs of Dover Langdon Beach

IS THIS A MINE?
answer below##


LANGDON BEACH
If you look carefully(click to enlarge to hi-res)you can see the verical ladder to the beach,which is accessed by a path that zig-zags down the cliff face .It's about 100 metres down from the lowest point on the white cliffs ,and not for the faint hearted.The beach has two old WW2 searchlights and an underground gallery carved into the chalk.The beach has few visitors owing to the very steep and scary climb.There are several ship wrecks on the beach (as mentioned in the book Calamity Corner)
During our visit in Dec 2005 we decided to look for this almost secret path and said we would return one day (see Weblog archive)
We drove to Dover and parked at the National Trust car park,and set off for the top of the path.
We did not know for sure where the access path down to the beach started and used our instinct to guide us.After about 2 Km we found the top of the path and started to descend.
It was a little dodgy and we finally came to the ladder on to the beach.It wa s a hot and sunny/misty day and the sea breeze was most welcome.The ferries kept emerging suddenly from the mist in a ghost- like manner.
The beach was full of interesting artefacts ,including a rusty object that looked just like a landmine.It was thought to be a sensible idea to hurl rocks at it,to see if it would go bang.
After an hour or so on the beach we headed back up the track (non-stop)and finally made the top where we flopped down on the grass to enjoy the view.
We retired to the SWINGATE INN up the road to a really excellent,inexpensive lunch served by cheerful and attractive young ladies.

## An evening visit from a retired TA Bomb Disposal Officer put my mind at rest