Clear skies and unseasonably warm temperatures awaited us for our latest adventure, as we set off from the centre of Hadlow at around quarter to ten into what promised to be a perfect autumnal morning. We had chosen ‘The Hadlow Hop Tour’, which claimed to be about eight miles, although when we mapped it out was more like seven, and was one we hadn’t done before. We made our way up through the village along the main road where I enjoyed a dollop of nostalgia from my college years, until the day’s first footpath appeared on the right and swept us out into the countryside.
We emerged from a short alleyway into a sun flooded field with thousands of glistening cobwebs amongst the grass, which was still damp with the morning dew. The Hadlow Foley stood impressively ahead of us, superimposed against the background of brilliant blue behind. Any hint of a chill in the air quickly vanished as we got into our stride, and we began to question our outfit choices for the day. After making our way between a pair of orchards, we emerged onto our first road section, where Beth relayed some hop-related facts which were nestled amongst the instructions. At the end of Cemetery Lane we turned left, and whilst we did continue along the road for a while, its lining of tall hedges did provided some blessed shade. Fortunately the road itself was also quite quiet, and after turning right onto another shady lane, we found ourselves walking through the middle of a set of pretty houses, after which we were back on a footpath. This soon swung left past a small reservoir, where one path seemed to lead up to the water’s edge, and another ran parallel in the dip below. Beth, being the sensible one, decided to play it safe and walk through the slightly overgrown path at the foot of the bank. However, hoping that maybe the path was meant to go along the water’s edge, climbed up to take in the reservoir with my own eyes. It was very blue, reflecting the day above, and had a couple of ducks bobbing about, so conceptually, I feel I made the better choice. However, as I made my way back down to reunite with Beth, I did pass a sign that said ‘No public right of way’, so really Beth was correct overall (in my defence, there was no sign coming from the other direction!).
We continued across farmland, crossed a wooden bridge over the small River Bourne and emerged back onto another road after one more ploughed field on the other side. The next path was less than fifty yards to the right on the opposite side of the lane, which took us past a farmyard and ran along the edge of a large sheep field. The flock were chilling out together in a shady corner, with a few birds sitting comfortably on their woolly backs. A few minutes further and we found ourselves crossing another river. On this occasion it was the Medway, and we were both surprised at just how wide it was at this point – it was a proper river, and running quite fast too. We began to walk along the opposite bank, the glistening water to our right reflecting the autumnal colours of its lining trees, and a bright field full of grazing sheep to our left – an excellent lunch spot, if it were later in the day. We crossed back over not long after, using one of the river’s locks, and carried on beside the Medway, admiring a few spiders gliding their webs downstream on the gentle breeze.
Following this idyllic stretch, we then emerged back onto another section of road. This was the day’s longest stretch of road walking, and it was quite a fast one too, requiring lots of concentration and switching of sides to stay safe and make sure no one crashed because of us. Happily, we made it safely to the small village of Golden Green and soon picked up another footpath on its opposite side, where we enjoyed our final stretch of river walking of the day, along the much smaller Bourne. It was then a simple case of following a series of field edge paths all the way back to Hadlow itself. We admired a couple more flocks of sheep, as the Foley, which had been visible for most of the day, suddenly seemed to loom above, marking our imminent return. Finally, we made our way back past a few houses and the old church and into the village centre, arriving back at the car a little under three hours later.
This was a nice and easy little walk, with the only challenges being a little mud and the extended road sections. We will likely revisit this one, although may also look to extend it a little, in order to avoid the worst of the road walking. I suspect this will be easily done, as there were a couple of likely looking footpaths which would take us in the right direction.
Full instructions available at https://hadlowpc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/HPC_HopTour.pdf
Matthew G. Huggins 