I was delighted to find there were 19 of us assembling for this adventure in Kent. We got a fast train from London Bridge to Tonbridge and then had to wait for a local train which took us the one stop onwards to Leigh. The village name is pronounced ‘Lie’ locally by the way.
Passing through the churchyard we were soon in the midst of fields and saw the first of several oasthouses built for drying hops in times now past. The weather was overcast and it looked like rain but happily the rain held off except for the odd spattering of raindrops every now and then.
This walk does have a fair bit of minor road walking and in spite of doing several walkovers I still took us down the wrong road at one point until Geoffrey realised my mistake (thanks Geoffrey!) and alerted me. We also had a rather tricky crossing of a busy road approaching our lunch stop near Hildenborough but we all got across safely. Lunch was in a small paddock before a large field which normally has horses in it. There were no horses to begin with but by the time we had finished our lunch a posse of them arrived!
We crossed this field and then negotiated several more all with horses in abundance. There is a large riding school here. We left the fields passing a barn with one horse looking forelornly out of a stable. I wondered why it was being kept indoors. Then after a little more minor road walking we were back in the fields and woodland again. The countryside around here is lovely. At one point we passed through a field where I had been briefly chased by a black dog on a walkover and I could hear it barking from within the grounds of a large house!
We arrived about 3pm at the White Rock pub in Underriver and had a refreshing drink. One of our party took a taxi to Sevenoaks after that. We then embarked on a rather steep path up the wooded hill that takes us near to Knole. There are beautiful views from the top of this hill across the valley. We passed through a wood and then crossed a minor road to enter Knole Park through a deer-proof gate. The park is proper deer country, with lots of ferns and dotted with ancient oak trees extending across a wide landscape. At one point we disturbed a white stag which broke cover and ran away from us into yet more ferns! A beautiful sight.
In half an hour or so we passed the impressive mid-15th Century Knole house. We felt we would like to have visited it but that would have to be a day trip for another time. It was gone 4pm so we were too late for tea there and we pressed on to the old town of Sevenoaks which is up another steep hill!
A few went for tea in the town and the rest of us headed for the station passing a large Ferrari dealership on the way.
It was about 5pm when we arrived at the station just in time for a train heading back to London. Everyone seemed happy and said it had been a great day out which made me happy too.
Chris
Photos by Ida and Joyanna
