Road to Home 2022 Day 27: Aylesford - Charing

30 km

This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,

And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro.

― Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Finally on an acknowledged route, ornamented with the signs and symbols of pilgrimage! 

Fortified by a hearty breakfast in the Pilgrims' Hall at Aylesford Priory, I set off to regain St Bernard's Way / the Pilgrims' Way / the North Downs Way - whichever one, I wasn't fussy as long as they took me closer to Canterbury! These routes mostly coincide, as they appeared in my gps tracks and in the signage on the ground, where present, with some minor differences of opinion as to the best route here and there. The North Downs Way is well-signposted, and sometimes takes a longer way around to avoid walking on paved roads. Whereas Pilgrims' Way is perfectly straight, taking on various forms from minor road open to traffic to bicycle path, bridleway and footpath among the trees. A bit monotonous at times.... Like walking the Camino de Santiago, but without all the people! 

Sights along the way included the White Horse Stone, a megalith most likely associated with the "long-barrow" civilisation of the early neolithic age. The stone has been adopted by modern-day pagan revival groups as a sacred spot for the performance of their rites. 

White Horse Stone 

I must not be very spiritually sensitive, because it just looked like a big rock to me! 

Call me materialistic, but the landmark of greatest interest to me was Detling Community Shop & Post Office, where I purchased some chilled Kentish apple juice and a banana, as well as a savoury pastry and a packet of crisps to eat later on. 

The shop was just across a pedestrian overpass built to allow people to cross a four-lane highway safely, after a grandmother and her granddaughter were killed crossing the road on their way to school. And even then only after a collection of donations had been taken up among the community to pay for its construction! How terrible that no authority should have bothered to construct a pedestrian crossing for a high-traffic, high-speed road that runs right through a village, between children's homes and their schools, and also intersects a major hiking path and pilgrimage route - even when the number of pedestrians killed crossing the road had risen to four! I have crossed many busy roads on this trip without a pedestrian overpass, underpass or even a marked zebra crossing, often not even a warning sign for the traffic to slow down. I had been under the impression that Britain was criss-crossed with zebra stripes, but in actual fact this is a mistaken impression (perhaps attributable to the Abbey Road record cover 😅?): crosswalks are found practically only in London. Likewise, I thought the English drove more sedately than the Italians, and stopped to allow pedestrians to cross the road: they do not, on either count! 

Daily rant against motorists and motor vehicles over! I can now get on with describing the rest of the walk. 

The Pilgrim’s Way hugs the side of a low chalk ridge, so that, whenever there are no trees in the way, you have a broad view over the plains to the southwest, while the land rises towards the top of the ridge to the northeast. It is very near straight, as I have said, wide and mostly flat, like the Camino de Santiago paths. The Kentish countryside is very green and, at this time of year, all the roses and the wildflowers are in bloom. Here and there an oast house, originally a construction for drying hops to make beer but now converted into a home, gives the landscape a fairy-tale flavour, while vineyards create an almost Mediterranean feel. 

Mural paintings at a pub called "The Dirty Habit" 😂

After what seemed like a very long time of walking in a straight line, I finally took a shortcut on a footpath across a "racetrack" that looked more like a neglected field of long grass to reach the village of Charing. Here I stocked up on dinner supplies and then took a bus to reach my airbnb, two kilometres off route. The owner is away, and her son was there to meet me but then went out for the evening, leaving me the run of the house! I put my clothes into the washing machine, ate my supper... And here I am, writing this account for you! 

Charing

Everyone in Charing seems to have a vintage car! 

This will do nicely for tonight! 

My roommate for the evening