LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I parked in Lamberhurst Main Street outside Chequers Inn by the entrance to the car park. Having recently having the Ford Focus broken into at Silverstone, I decided not to leave the car in the small car park because I knew it would be dusk when I returned. There was no stile at '2', just a huge playing field and adjacent golf course. Just before '3' was a huge scar across the landscape where the top soil had been removed for a by-pass around the village. The wood on the hillside between '3' and '4' still exists, and the road/track still exists near '3' to '16'. I made a slight detour at '4' but signposts were good. I spoke to a farmer on a quad bike with three sheep dogs in a rear wooden tray near '5'. A hot air balloon floated by near '6'. It was a steep ascent in Kilndown Wood and difficult to road map in the wood at dusk. I was surprised to see a newly painted white gate at '12', but I frightened an unusual bird after passing through the gate. I met the farmer on the quad bike again after '12' and he stopped for a natter. I explained that I was following a walk that was written over 30 years ago and that I was amazed that the white gate was still there. He explained that three white gates had been replaced three months before, brand new, because walkers were asking “where are the white gates?” We heard the cry of the bird again and the farmer said it was a green woodpecker. He described the best location for viewing the castle so I made a short detour but I was losing light. Care was required after '13' to bear slightly right, not left, to the fence and road at the top of the field, without being drawn to the house and car park. There was a path from the road at steps '14' into the wood marked 'woodland walk' and a new road to a pass in the valley between '16' and '17'. It was almost dark when I returned to the car.

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk
Start & Finish: at Lamberhurst

Hilly sections. Could be muddy after rain