Medway Valley Walk: Rochester to Maidstone

Around 11 am, I met some friends at the start of the walk, which is a the Western end of Rochester Bridge, after a quick coffee and taking time to buy a sandwich we set off, along the route which was next to the Medway River. We headed past the castle and though a small park, the river seemed to be at low tide and large mud flat were visible. The river was quite wide here and there were plenty of boats moored, continuing along we were soon near to the Medway Bridge. The actual route heads off uphill and joins the North Downs Way just before the bridges but as I had done the North Downs Way quite recently we kept along the river, heading under the bridges and though a small marina and along an embankment next to the river. After a hour or so of pleasant walking we reached the village the Wouldham where we stopped and had something to eat and drink, sitting under the shade of a tree. It was quite a warm day and the sky was sunny and clear of clouds, after eating we tried to get into the 11 century village church but it was closed. A little further south of the church we reached the point where the official route came down from the North Downs Way. We headed off along a road for a couple of kilometres joining the river again near Peters Village where a new complex of housing had been built.

Once back on the river we rejected the idea of taking a short cut to Burham Court and took the official route round a meander in the river to the church at Burham Court, which we were able to visit. We all ate an apple which one of my friends had taken from a tree at the side of the route. The church itself was pretty bare inside and obviously old, though I can’t find any information about it (after a brief search online). After leaving the church there was another period of road and track walking away from the river. There were good views of the chalk ridge which the North Downs Way traversed on its way to Blue Bell Hill, and after getting a little confused at a meeting of various paths we headed off through some woodlands, passing some semi-industrial works and solar farms. This was probably the least enjoyable part of the days walking, especially after walking pass a sewage works that smelt rather strongly. We eventually reached the lovely village of Aylesford, passing an old Carmelite monastery which despite getting caught up in Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries was reinstated as a religious foundation later in the 20th century.

Once back on the river we rejected the idea of taking a short cut to Burham Court and took the official route round a meander in the river to the church at Burham Court, which we were able to visit. We all ate an apple which one of my friends had taken from a tree at the side of the route. The church itself was pretty bare inside and obviously old, though I can’t find any information about it (after a brief search online). After leaving the church there was another period of road and track walking away from the river. There were good views of the chalk ridge which the North Downs Way traversed on its way to Blue Bell Hill, and after getting a little confused at a meeting of various paths we headed off through some woodlands, passing some semi-industrial works and solar farms. This was probably the least enjoyable part of the days walking, especially after walking pass a sewage works that smelt rather strongly. We eventually reached the lovely village of Aylesford, passing an old Carmelite monastery which despite getting caught up in Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries was reinstated as a religious foundation later in the 20th century.

We reached the river at Aylesford and crossed over to the other side of it’s multi-span medieval bridge, having existed since the 14th century in some form. We headed along the side of the river along a small footpath before crossing a train line and eventually heading over the M20 on a grubby bridge with lots of rubbish along it, before recrossing the train line and reaching a Allington Lock where we cross over to the North bank of the river again. The lock was quite busy with people enjoying the small cafe there, but our attention was caught by a crab that one of my friends notice scuttling along side the actual lock. I tried to take a picture of it but it went over the side of the lock and dropped into the water. I’d never seen a crab inland before but it seems that it was a member of an invasive species called a Chinese Mitten crab, which I only discovered after looking it up after the end of the day.

From the lock it was 4 or 5 kilometres to Maidstone, along a path, there were plenty of nice looking boats along this stretch and the walking was very pleasant. The path was well maintained and tree lined, soon after the lock we passed the restored Allington Castle which is now a private residence. One of my friends was suffering with a painful foot but soldiered on and was pleasantly surprised some time later to find that we were near the end of the days walk. The OS maps app indicating that we were quite near to the centre of Maidstone, though there were no houses near the river to show we were near the end of the days walk. The end came pretty suddenly we reached a busy road and suddenly we were near the centre of Maidstone, a town I’d never been too. We found our way to the centre of town and settled down for a few well deserved drinks.