From Down & Out to Up and Above

At the start of the walk we find a Blue Plaque to George Orwell author of 1984, and A Down and Out in London and Paris. He stayed here in the nearby workhouse on his way back from Paris. Directly above his Blue Plaque is a security camera, a fitting memorial.

Walking towards the town of West Malling we will pass a small waterfall at the side of the road, the artist JMW Turner painted "The Cascade" in 1791.

Shortly afterwards we'll see Malling Abbey built by Bishop Gundulf in 1090, Bishop Gundulf was the architect of the White Tower of the Tower of London, JMW Turner painted the abbey in 1798.

Just before we reach town we'll turn right in Police Station Road, this will lead us cross country allowing us the first view of the North Downs in the distance. We'll cross the A20 London Road and continue cross country until we see Leybourne Castle a 13th century castle, combined with a Tudor farmhouse. The view from this footpath is far better than that from the road we are about to join.

A little way along the road we'll come to the Church of St Peter and St Paul Leybourne. Originally a Saxon church built in 941 it would originally have looked like Dode Church (in the plague village up the Downs) but was modified over the centuries although the tower collapsed in the C19th and burned down in the 1960's.

We'll find a footpath beside the nearby Premier Inn that will take us to the M20 which we'll have to cross using the Lundsford Lane bridge. Lundsford Lane will take us to Larkfield Lakes, flooded gravel pits now forming a nature reserve and country park, the mobile food van is rather convenient and produces tasty snacks.

At Ham Hill south of Snodland we'll take the road to the big Tesco Depot and follow the footpath around it and head west for Horn Street, Footpaths will take us to Birling Church, which was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. We'll head North West from Birling until we reach the Pilgrim's Way. Some of the footpaths around here have recently been plowed out by the local farmer who is keen on "Private Keep Out" signs.  The Pilgrim's Way is an ancient track going from Canterbury to Winchester although we'll only be following a small part of it. I always enjoy following bits of the Pilgrim's Way and the North Downs Way (another ancient track further up the Downs).

We'll leave the Pilgrim's Way where it meets the Weald Way and head south to the Cauldron Long Burrow. This Neolithic burial site was built at the same time as Stonehenge and the pyramids in Egypt. There is thought to be a relationship between this site and Kit's Coty above Aylesford.

We'll continue south until we came to the village of Addington, known for it's pub, the Angel. Beside the pub is a footpath that will take us across the golf course and on to Ryarsh Church once the property of Bishop Odo. I saw a wild deer as I passed this area on recon while looking for the stream to follow that would take me back to the A20 and West Malling. We'll walk through West Malling on the way back to the station, one of the restuarants held the reserve fighter command control room in the event the main one in West Malling air base was bombed in World War 2.