[Posted on behalf of Kevin] 9 cloudy and dry A friendly group of nine on this seasonal outing. Six of us enjoyed a pleasant lunch in the Origins Restaurant at the Canterbury Chartham Garden Centre, while the other three sped on. A large portrait of Rudyard Kipling benignly watched over us, with a caption announcing that he was the ‘instigator of cake’. While he was the instigator of many and varied things, Kipling cakes were not among them. Service was fairly slow in a busy restaurant, but the food was good, with decent portions at reasonable prices. While it is important to support country pubs, it is also good to see a better rhyme between price and portion size. After lunch, two more walkers sped off, needing to get back to London. Between Chartham Hatch and Upper Harbledown, we passed an uprooted orchard and met some very friendly pigs, who enjoyed having their backs scratched. They multi-tasked by vigorously rooting around in the soil while following us as far as the wire allowed. Later, three lively young horses chaperoned us very closely indeed. At one point, they engaged in what could only be described as horseplay, jumping on each other and biting. Anxious to afford them some privacy, we moved on. We lost one lady at Upper Harbledown, as she was keen to explore a shortcut to Canterbury. Plenty of wood anemones were visible as we moved through Church Wood/Rough Common. As we approached Blean, one lady gave a poised and moving reading of a Seamus Heaney poem that often finds its way into UK schoolrooms. Shortly afterwards, the triplet became a couplet, and I opted for the prose of walking down Whitstable Road to Canterbury West, getting the 5.06. I hope that everybody else got home safely, and that the Peak District trippers on this walk enjoy their adventures next week. Thank you to branchline for organising what is, I think, an underrated walk.

6 on a day that was mostly sunny clouding later A pleasant walk with plenty flowers. Wood anemone, celandine, cuckoo flower, hesitant bluebells, wood spurge Hopes of an early stop in Chartham were dashed. The pub was fully booked (4 bookings). The majority decided to move on. No cider for Mr Tiger ‘sigh’ They moved on a bit fast and Mr Tiger was soon left in their slipstream. But don’t you worry readers, they caught him up eventually. “More haste, less speed”, he thought smugly. It was noted a bit further on, a garden centre boasted a “cafe / restaurant” that could serve as a lunch stop. Not that we tried it. There was a picnic stop later in a playground, Then on. No Mans Orchard was awash with cuckoo flower, (attractive to orange tips, one explained). The woods on the way to Blean are not the easiest to navigate and several confessed afterward to having gone slightly adrift. Luckily good old GPS, pulled us back on track, before the (invisible) bison could eat us. In Blean, a teensy diversion led to the Blean Hare. At last, drinkies. Then on through the university and into Canterbury. Here your correspondent found himself unexpectedly close to a relly’s house and disappeared from the group without so much as a goodbye..

One more missed train, walked independently, starting from Chartham. Makes 7

Just #6 on this pleasant walk including one from the local Ramblers who found nothing to suit on their website. The weather was as forecast # Rain more or less over by 11 and a sunny afternoon . The Stour was in full flow and we saw several cormorants by the lakes and in the trees plus a heron and some swans. Two of us had lunch at The Local in Chartham it's 800m off the route but served good pub food at reasonable prices and decent beer. Having eaten too much we took a short cut along the Stour into Canterbury. It was all looking very green in the sun with the willow trees coming into leaf. The others did the full route and atleast one did an extension to the RSBP reserve near Blean Wood and two of them visited the Cathedral. As always Canterbury was very busy with tourists but as every second shop is a bar or cafe there are plenty of places for refreshment. Very good cakes in the Snuggery just inside the West Gate. We caught the 16.37 back towards Charring Cross.

3 on a day that, after the early smirr cleared, was mostly cloudy occasionally sunny 2 sped ahead, but don’t worry readers, they soon caught up with Mr Tiger, after they went wrong. Some stretches were muddy - sock-wettingly squelchingly muddy. And slippy too, But it wasn’t all mud, there was some snowdrops too. There was sort of a half-hearted attempt to visit the Artichoke but in the end we just went straight on along the Stour. There was a brief picnic stop later, in the playground at Chartham Hatch, where a worrying notice informed us that someone called Bo Peep had lost her sheep. We kept our eyes open but no sign of them. Some areas in Blean Wood had been clear felled and hedged off. For the bison to graze, maybe? We kept our eyes open but no sign of them, either. https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/projects/wilder-blean By the time we reached Canterbury, just before 5, one had sped ahead and the remaining two split up, one to visit a relly’s new house and the other heading for the station. (Just what a new house needs - a mud-caked visitor). So no tea stop, no pub stop.

"about" 20, I'm told

Yes, at 20 on this walk in w_fine_spring_sunshine. At least 3 went for an early lunch in the Artichoke. Along the way, there were superb displays of Anemones and Bluebells which seemed to be slightly ahead of areas further north. The Apple orchards were just opening their buds and a wood ants nest was discovered in Blean woods.

I will leave the "walk numbers" and "weather" fields blank, in case a Good Friday walker wishes to post a report on their walk. My Saturday version of the walk was superb - glorious sunny weather, warm to hot with a cooling breeze. There were lambs in the fields early in the walk. In the woods between the two railway lines before the village of Chartham Hatch, there was one full-on bluebell wood just to the right of the footpath, on the hill slope - a picturesque sea of blue. By contrast, the bluebells in the woods above Canterbury Cathedral were circa 65 % out - they too should be full-on later this week. The Blean Woods Nature Reserve is a bit of a desert and a blank when it comes to flowers and anything interesting for most of the year - but today there were lots of "wooden M's" particularly in the northern part of the woods, fully open in the sunshine. Likewise, in the woods en route to and just below the University building, there were lots more wood anemones, and patches of bluebells. The feel-good factor all day was enhanced by clumps of primroses and loads of Spring flowers - and butterflies. The descent from the University to the City down below was as enjoyable as always. The Goods Shed market hall and restaurant next to Canterbury West railway station was busy, but I managed to find a stall to serve me a pint of beer, both refreshing after a warm day's walking - and pure nectar after a period of Lentern abstinence. I hope the Good Friday walkers had an equally enjoyable day.

About 17 or 18 people plus one dog at Chilham. lovely sunny and hot weather, some discombobulation about lack of lunchtime pub with about 3 ? people going to the very early one in walk. one largish group ate sandwiches next to a child's outdoor play area, some reindeers and donkeys came to greet us shortly after behind an adjacent fence...what a treat, may have been an animal sanctuary or someone's private collection.. Nice countryside and orchards with blossom just starting to sprout. woodland walks where bluebells could be seen, although not at their peak yet. At least a couple of train crossings where no-one stopped, looked and listened 😱 unfortunately quite of lot of tarmac walking, tough going in the heat and also proved too much for some walkers who caught buses for the last section; Blean into Canterbury. some walkers went to evensong in the cathedral. Blean woods nature reserve was lovely and quiet with a variety of trees, you could tell it was very old woodland. walk a bit marred by a fair bit of road walking but you can't have everything! good one 😃

warm and sunny 17

I mentioned some years ago a vineyard started by a co-volunteer at the RA in Kent. It’s now up and running and you can taste & buy excellent English wines. (Tattinger has bought a large plot 3 m away, the ground is so good for wine production). I suggest to contact them on 01233 813709 or 07905 911186 or infoboo[at]charthamvineyard.co.uk beforehand if you want that because they are quite small and I would think it needs pre-booking. I went on 2 July with the RA (with lunch, you can try!) and it’s a great place, right between Chilham and Canterbury. ça vaut a petit detour.

8 walkers in hot and sunny weather with some respite from the sun early afternoon due to some light clouds and then from long stretches of walking through woods. All visited The Artichoke pub for a drink, although only 2 ordered food. Some ate their sandwiches in the pub garden (now, now!), others moved on after a drink to eat at the next best picnic spot. The 3 fast walkers turned right to the station upon reaching Canterbury, foregoing the route through the ancient centre and popped into The Goods Shed, right next to the station, a rather glorious licensed indoor farmer's market. We met most of the rest of the group on the platform in time for the 16.41. Memo to walk author: the Chartham Hatch pub is still closed, with the pub sign taken down, but with signs of being lived in. It may never come back as a pub, despite some apparent local campaigning for it to open again as one.

beware the goats!

39 on this walk, possibly a couple more. A nice surprise was that it was fairly sunny in the morning though cloudier later . Another nice surprise was that the apple blossom was full out, and so was one bluebell wood before lunch, which had a really intense carpet of flowers. A couple of other bluebell woods in the afternoon were rather less advanced however and the many wood anemones on this walk (it would be a great WA walk) were on the way out. The pub coped well with around half the group stopping for lunch. We had phoned ahead, which they appreciated. Alas they had made up a table for us inside, so only the sandwich eaters having their post-prandial drinks got to enjoy the lovely garden out back with a view of the orchards. I found the walk less scenic in the afternoon. The attraction of apple orchards began to fail when we got lost in one vast tract of them. And apart from lots of lily in the valley in one spot - not a flower I ever see growing wild otherwise - the supposed charm of Blean Woods eluded me. But the last descent into Canterbury is always nice. Someone found a charming tea spot - the Boho Cafe? - which is oppposite the Patisserie Valerie. A good number of walkers then surprised me by rushing off to Evensong in the Cathedral. Six of us stopped for dinner at a pub called the Parrot and caught the 8.25 train back to St P. What a surprise to get home after a Saturday Walk and find that it is Saturday tomorrow and we can do it all over again.

Many thanks to Marcus for posting such a great walk and to all of the walkers who helped with the map reading. A most enjoyable day. Happy Easter to all 🐣.

This is a fantastic walk and the reviews of this pub at Chartham Hatch on trip adviser are great but the best thing are the views from the Terrace over the orchards if the weather is kind. Remembering this from 20 years ago when doing this walk with Kensington and chelsea ramblers you will definitely need to book and I hope to join you if I'm not working.

14 on this walk on a day of warm sun . There were fearsome clouds always to the west, and as we approached Canterbury to the north also, but only while at tea did it rain. It clouded up during lunch on the idyllic garden terrace of the Chapter Arms but these dissipated afterwards. After weeks of fully booked pubs, this one was mysteriously empty. I can't imagine why as it is a lovely place with beautiful orchard views and nice food. They huffed and puffed a bit about serving us food in the garden but managed it. All seemed very springlike. I saw one swallow, several butterflies including three orange tips, and there were lots of wood anemones. But why is this considered a bluebell walk? Only a few very small patches in Blean Woods and a nice area of bluebell and stitchwort in the grounds of the University of Kent. Just before this we also found a perfect little bluebell wood but this was off piste, a little way to the left of the walk route. Otherwise zilch The apple blossom was also not out but at least one could see lots of orchards where it soon would be. One could forgive everythingvin the lovely sunshine, however - everything except the 300 metres of mud hell as you exit Blean Woods - truly the worst mud experience on any SWC walk and this when the rest of the route was baked dry and hard. What this ghastly quagmire is like in winter God knows. As it is one of our party sank in up to her knees and nearly lost a boot. A blot on an otherwise very pleasant day.

Further to above report the boot was actually lost to the mud and had to be retrieved manually. In order not to repeat the terrifying experience 2 walkers tried a detour viz a wooded copse where they encountered a pair of mating goats. The male full of testosterone tried to attack and was only held off by holding its horns rodeo style wedged between a tree and the legs of our brave pair. No amount of thrashing with a branch and shouting deterred it until distracted by the bootless walker on the other side of the barbed wire it attempted to chge the fence lifting it's posts.

Will take the bus from the university to Canterbury (point 60 in directions) and go to Choral evensong at the Cathedral 17.30 to 18.15,then have a Pizza in Pizza Express [ 4 Best Lane] at 6.30, which is in an old foundry which made many of the leaded windows in the town and has many interesting features including 14th century fireplaces, a view on to the river Stour, and a garden. Print offers/vouchers from Pizza express website. Please note that only one offer per table! Any interest? Direct rains take one hour 19.25 and 20.25.

13 on this walk weather was Cloudy with some sunny breaks and quite humid . The high speeders got to share a train packed with clergy off to see the consecration of a new Bishop Rachael Treweek at Canterbury. A pleasant walk through orchards and hop fields with lunch at the Chapter Arms. Happy Birthday to one walker, who, with her partner diligently checked out the other pubs on the walk. The tired folk caught the 5:25 HST back to London and others set off to check out Canterbury and the Cathedral ....

On this walking day jane from Kew recently back from her 4oo kilometre St James da compostella walking trip as far as Moissac was priveleged to witness the procession at Canterbury Cathedral in respect of the consacration of the two new women Bishops. An historic and interesting event.