For our third walk of the season, we headed out into the High Weald for a brand new 7.5-mile route from Benenden to Rolvenden and back again, and the colours of autumn were in full, dazzling display! The sun was shining and the skies were blue, promising a beautiful day ahead with temperatures expected to top out around 12°C. We were however braced for muddy conditions, following a lot of heavy rain over the previous week.
We parked up on the village green and headed off just before eleven o’clock along the road, which was nice and quiet and provided lots to look at as we headed out into the countryside in pursuit of our first footpath. This arrived after approximately half a mile, with the instructions guiding us into a farmer’s field. As we negotiated the non-existent stile, we found ourselves at the top of an already water-logged land, without any indication as to which way the path went. This turned out not to matter, as on inspection, whichever way we chose would ultimately have been blocked by a very much live electric fence, and as we turned back past a dilapidated barn, we spotted large graffiti reading ‘Trespassers Will Be Shot’ – it may be fair to conclude that this particular farmer wasn’t a fan of paths crossing their land.
Thankfully, the writers of the route had anticipated such an issue and provided an alternate route a few hundred yards further down the road, and the replacement path took us through a patch of beautiful woodland with a stream rushing through the middle. Here the sun shone down through the branches highlighting the treasure chest of colours above our heads, which was much more preferable to a grumpy farmer’s electrified field and the promise of death! The route was muddy in patches but perfectly manageable, as we encountered a Labrador puppy and a particularly impressive toadstool, before emerging from the trees onto a wide, open track running between fields.
And oh boy, was this next section a challenge. Whilst the path was perfectly clear, the surface ranged from muddy, to waterlogged, to out-right flooded, and negotiating a way through which would allow our socks to remain dry took up all our concentration. At its most challenging, this required us to cling on to the hedgerows and carefully, step by cautious step, edge our way around the larger of the water-related obstacles. Thankfully, there were no major problems in the end and whilst this was fun, we were both glad that it didn’t go on for any longer than it did.
The track eventually ended as it brought us out onto a farmyard, where our efforts were immediately rewarded by a small barn full of young and inquisitive cattle, who were keen to approach the gate for a curious sniff and a scratch on the nose. This may well have been my favourite bit, although was less so for Beth, who remained concerned about being shouted at by a grumpy farmer.
A few yards further down the road, the next footpath appeared on the right, and this section again did nothing to disprove the ‘Grumpy Farmer Theory’. Over the next few fields, we had to clamber over a large metal gate hanging by only one hinge and in the middle of a big muddy puddle, a fallen way marker about to be swallowed by the grass, and a footpath that was not visible to the naked eye (it was only thanks to the instructions that we knew it was there at all!). Thankfully this only took about five minutes before we reached a stream at the bottom of the last field and crossed a wooden bridge, away from the farm. The enjoyment of this section really comes down to your personality; I quite enjoyed the challenge, however Beth remained unsettled throughout, fearing the ringing sounds of gunshots.
We soon found ourselves climbing out of the next field, across a small road, up a track where we passed some excellent, shiny toadstools, and right onto a footpath taking us past a small orchard. Unfortunately, Beth’s anxiety was still bubbling away in the background, and this next section did not help. We must have gone wrong somewhere around here, as we were meant to go through the orchard but somehow managed to completely pass it by, which was followed quickly by a stand of young Christmas trees which had interrupted the path, meaning we had to find our own way through to the other side.
What we (Beth) needed now, was some nice, easy and successful steps in the instructions – and thankfully, that’s exactly what we got! This user-friendly section took us down across a couple of small bridges, up along the edge of a sloping field and through another farmyard. We were then soon, over the next field, down through a small patch of woods (where we encountered an excitable fox which turned out to be a spaniel) and up out across another rising field. Here we found a bench with good views for a well-deserved rest – section completed with no issues, nice and calmly; thank goodness! Added bonus, at the bench was an information board about the local volunteers during WW2, meaning my history nerd was once again fully enjoying herself.
The footpath soon led us quickly into Rolvenden, where we looked for a lunch spot. We were hoping to find a bench in the churchyard but failed (admittedly we didn’t look that hard) so carried on along the route which took us across the school’s small playing field. Conveniently, here we found some picnic benches and seeing as it was the weekend, figured they wouldn’t mind us using them. After eating the Christmas versions of our favourite Co-op sandwiches, and concluding that whilst they were nice, they weren’t an improvement on the originals, we located a gap in the hedge marked by an ever-helpful way marker and were back underway!
We soon emerged into comfortable feeling fields, where the footpath was clear and the stiles maintained. We felt much more welcome here, and fortunately, the worst of the mud seemed to have been at the very start of the day. The big highlight of this part of the walk were the many sheep we encountered, including one particularly brave individual who stomped his hoof at us as we passed. Message received.
I’m afraid that at this point the walk took an unfortunate turn, and we were somewhat distracted from here on. I suddenly noticed that my watch, which is normally on my left wrist, was missing. The watch itself had never worked, yet as it had come from my late Grandad, it was very important to me. We froze in the middle of the sheep, working out what to do, ultimately concluding that it could have fallen off anywhere over the last five miles and that we were extremely unlikely to find it again. Knowing the only real option was to go forward, we set off, trying to enjoy the rest of the walk, but both distracted with thoughts of the missing watch.
As such, we perhaps didn’t appreciate the last leg of the walk as much as we normally would have. However I can tell you that the autumn sun turned everything golden as we walked through a sweeping vineyard and passed some kind of Roman water feature which I can’t remember the name of nor exactly what it did. We then walked up a rather long and slippery field and past a horse who came trotting over to the fence, unsure whether it wanted a scratch on the nose or to bite us. We finally found ourselves walking back into Benenden and sadly passed The Bull pub, where we had always stopped for a drink previously, knowing that this time we would be distracted by Grandad’s watch.
We arrived back at the car around half two and half an hour later, were walking back through the front door, where I ran upstairs to my bedside table. As I opened the drawer, I immediately saw the watch winking back up at me. Rather than somehow losing it in the mud somewhere, I had simply forgotten to put it on that morning. A fuss over nothing – doh! – but at least we still had Grandad’s watch.
This drama aside, I actually really enjoyed this route, which took us about three and a half hours. There were a few sections where the route and the instructions didn’t quite match up, but there was a nice variation in scenery along the way and the small amount of road walking was quiet and peaceful. The muddy conditions did provide a slight challenge and we found our hips and knees aching by the end – we’re so old! It’s fair to say that we owe this route a second go, so that we can fully enjoy the last section and round it off with a couple of well-earned pints.
Original route was provided by Kent Ramblers, with full instructions and map available at https://www.kentramblers.org.uk/KentWalks/public/walk_125.htm?fbclid=IwAR12Ox8XzvePHWCkPo4_kB9mtXBIz8Te4Pkc1qKBeZUVAKVik-aYn_BEukc
Matthew G. Huggins 