Walk 35 : Cuxton to Sole Street

This is another exploration of the very pretty and little known area of the North Downs just to the east of the Medway Towns that is covered by the Snodland to Sole Street walk. Apart from using its tea pub as its lunch pub, as well as the short but pretty section from Luddesdown to that pub, this walk has a completely different route from that walk, however, though it does reverse a section of the Sole Street start.

The morning is nicely contrasted, with a mix of open views and woodland, then a longer wooded ridge which has extensive bluebell woods in late April or early May. Finally, the path emerges to cross open fields and downs to the lunch pub. This section – around the village of Luddesdown, crosses a large organic farm, which consequently is rich in wild flowers in spring and summer - particularly poppies in early June - and you get a fine view of the village from across the valley that you do not see on the Snodland to Sole Street walk In the afternoon, a loop of the walk takes you up to the pretty village of Cobham, where you can stop at The Leather Bottle, a pub that featured in Charles Dicken’s Pickwick Papers and seems little changed since. A relatively short afternoon (which itself can be cut out if you wish) makes this a perfectly possible walk to do in even in the depths of winter. You can also use the early part of this walk as an alternative start to the Snodland to Sole Street walk – it has the virtue of getting out of the Medway Towns much quicker, with fine views from early on in the walk. Finally, the afternoon of the walk could be used as an 6km (4 mile) evening extension to Snodland to Sole Street. For details of all these options, see the next section

The most obvious walk option is that the afternoon loop from the Cock Inn to Cobham can be cut out altogether: simply fast forward to the point where the afternoon walk passes the Cock Inn for a second time and follow the directions to Sole Street station, which is just under 1km away.

Other options include the following (directions, where relevant, are given at the end of the main walk text):

• A SHORTER START is possible which cuts 2.3km (1.5 miles) off the main route. The start of this is beautiful: a lovely climb up a hill behind a church with fine views of the Medway Valley. In May, this climb is a riot of wildflowers. The route then plunges you into woodland, and a gentle climb up a ridge, saving you several of the steeper ups and downs of the main walk route. On the downside, you then remain in thick woodland for some 4km (2.5 miles), which is a little bit unvaried. The main route joins the ridge later, and offers more of a mix of scenery, as well as some grand views of the Medway Valley of its own
• You can also use the early part of these directions as an ALTERNATIVE START TO THE SNODLAND TO SOLE STREET WALK. Simply follow the directions to point [3] and then refer to the special instructions at the end of the main walk directions. This lengthens the Snodland to Sole Street walk to 16.9km (10.7 miles), with 10.6 km (6.6 miles) of it before lunch at the Amazon and Tiger pub in Harvel. Using the Shorter Start outlined above shaves 2.3km (1.5 miles) off both these distances.
• To use the afternoon loop of this walk to EXTEND THE SNODLAND TO SOLE STREET WALK, follow the book two directions to the recommended tea stop, the Cock Inn, and then pick up these directions from point [4]. This adds an extra 5.6km (3.5 miles) to the Snodland walk, making it 18.7km (11.6 miles).
• For those who don’t like looping back to the lunch pub in the afternoon, there is an ALTERNATIVE ROUTE FROM COBHAM TO SOLE STREET STATION, but this is not as picturesque as the recommended route. It may improve once an enormous Forestry Commission project at Jeskyn’s Farm is complete: woodland and meadows are being planted here to create a huge park to the west of Cobham. But at the moment, there are only a few young trees and lots of bare open space. This route is also a bit affected by traffic noise from the A2, but otherwise has a pretty last mile into Sole Street. This option is only around 800 metres longer than the main walk ending.

Start: Cuxton Station is near : ME2 1AB. [gmap]

Finish: Sole Street Station is near : DA13 0XY. [gmap]

London to Cuxton | Sole Street to London

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