Walking in Kent. Kev Reynolds
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Название: Walking in Kent
Автор: Kev Reynolds
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о Путешествиях
isbn: 9781783625420
isbn:
Orchards above Hunton and Yalding on the fertile greensand hills (Walk 18)
INTRODUCTION
The diverse nature of its landforms makes Kent a wonderland to explore on foot, and with more than 4200 miles/6876km of footpaths, bridleways and byways criss-crossing the county, the walker is spoilt for choice. Every natural feature has its own particular charm, and every season its own brand of beauty.
Sunburst on a misty walk adds a touch of magic
The North Downs
The chalk ridge of the North Downs stretches right across the county in an extensive arc reaching from Westerham to Dover. Covering almost a quarter of the county, the Kent Downs region was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1968. Though one side of the ridge slopes gently to the Thames and Medway estuaries, or off to the Swale or low-lying Thanet, its ‘front’ makes an abrupt, steeply pitched wall that acts as a natural boundary to the Weald. Far-reaching vistas from the scarp edge provide a bonus to explorations, while secluded hamlets nestle in folds of the back-country to underline their apparent isolation. The chalk being overlaid in places with clay and flint makes this a fertile land, and in both the back-country and on the broad downland crest, large arable fields and sheep-grazed meadows act as springboards from which larks rise singing. Step lightly as you explore, for deer may be seen straying from cover; there are fox-runs and badger trails, and wildflowers that adorn meadow and woodland alike – especially the orchids and cowslips that are so characteristic of the Downs.
In early summer wildflowers bring colour to the meadows
For the long-distance walker, the North Downs Way keeps mostly to the scarp edge on its 130-mile/208km journey from Farnham in Surrey to Dover, with an alternative section that breaks away near Wye to visit Canterbury before curving round to the coast. The Pilgrims Way, however, traces a route along the base of the Downs, but as this is tarmac road for most of the way, it’s lost much of its appeal for walkers. Not so the broad crest, the scarp edge and the inner valleys where abundant opportunities exist for walks of varying lengths; delightful half-day rambles or full-day walks, some of which can be found in this book – from Lullingstone, Shoreham, Camer Country Park, Stansted and Trosley and Wye.
The greensand hills
The greensand hills act as an inner lining to the North Downs. But the ridge which shadows that downland wall is much narrower and more clearly defined than its better-known neighbour, and the views arguably even better from its crest. Overlooking the Weald, this ridge also stretches right across the county, entering Kent from Surrey a little south of Westerham, and making a long curve towards Hythe and the edge of Romney Marsh. Unlike the chalk downs, the greensand hills are, as their name suggests, sandy in places – although this is not evident everywhere. The vegetation is different, with bracken-covered heaths, stands of pine and birch and many handsome beechwoods. The hurricane winds of October 1987 flattened vast areas of woodland, but time has served to heal the landscape and, following programmes of replanting, large wooded sections have recovered well. One of the legacies of that hurricane is the welcome spread of bluebells, wood anemones and wood sorrel, so walking along the greensand hills in springtime can be truly spectacular.
A number of walks along the greensand hills go through orchards
While the North Downs wall is accompanied for much of its length by major roads, the ridge of greensand has been spared such company, and rewards with some of the finest, and most extensive uncluttered views, not only in Kent, but in all of southern England. With so many great vantage points to exploit, walks along the greensand hills count among the best of all. Westerham, Crockham Hill, Toys Hill, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks Weald, Shipbourne; all these give memorable days out. But so do Yalding and Linton, where the south-facing slopes are hung with orchards; and Ulcombe and Pluckley from whose footpaths you gaze across great open spaces. For the long-distance walker the Greensand Way traces a route along the ridge for 110 miles/177km between Haslemere in Surrey and Hamstreet, south of Ashford, and is a very fine route indeed. Recognising this, a few sections of that long trail are adopted by circular walks described in this book.
The Weald
In common with the North Downs and greensand hills, the Weald is not confined to Kent, but spreads beyond the county’s boundary into Surrey and Sussex. This vast region is contained by the North and South Downs and consists of a complex series of fertile hills and vales, among which are to be found the fields of soft fruit, the platts of cobnuts, the orchards, vineyards and hop farms that gave Kent the epithet the ‘Garden of England’. But there are also large areas of meadowland and extensive woods; and in Wealden hollows hammer ponds, now a haven of peace and tranquillity, recall a time when they were at the heart of England’s ‘black country’ as local iron ore was smelted then hammered into cannon. Centuries later heron stalk the margins of these ponds, whose outlet streams flow between banks bright with wildflowers. Fine houses built by the iron masters remain largely tucked away, but some are seen from walks included here. Elsewhere, several of Kent’s loveliest villages punctuate the Wealden landscape, their sturdy churches beckoning across the acres, their streets lined with black-and-white half-timbered houses and pubs.
Kent has more than 20,000 historic buildings
The Wealdway makes a roughly north–south crossing of 82 miles/131km from Gravesend on the Thames to Beachy Head and Eastbourne in Sussex; and the High Weald Walk follows nearly 28 miles/45km of footpaths on a circuit near Tunbridge Wells. However, within this collection of walks, those that begin in the far west of the county at Four Elms, Marsh Green, Cowden, Chiddingstone, Penshurst and Groombridge are full of variety, while routes that explore the Weald’s rolling hills around Brenchley and Tenterden are no less rewarding.
Coastline
Kent’s long coastline is forever changing. While the tides chew away at the coastal fringe in some places, in others land is reclaimed from the sea. Nothing illustrates this changing shape of the county more vividly than a walk along the Saxon Shore Way, from Gravesend to Hastings in Sussex. When the Romans arrived here they found a very different coastline from that which we would recognise today, for although some of it has disappeared beneath the waves, elsewhere we now walk on one-time sea-cliffs several miles inland!
St Margaret’s Bay, seen from the path leading back to Langdon Cliffs (Walk 40)
Separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent, the Swale is edged on both shores with mudflat and marshland loud with wildfowl, while the River Wantsum (which until the Middle Ages was as wide as the Swale and, linked with the Stour, helped make Thanet an island) is now a minor stream, beside which ploughs turn the soil where ships once sailed. The White Cliffs of Dover remain white because they’re crumbling; were they not they’d be green like the band of grassed-over cliffs at Stone-in-Oxney. Stone, of course, is now marooned from the sea by the expanse of Romney Marsh, but look at the map and allow imagination to roll back the centuries, and you’ll see how things once were. Some of the walks in this book can bring history alive if you understand the clues, and those that follow the coastline as it is now – near СКАЧАТЬ