North Downs Way: Canterbury to Boughton Lees

I took the first high speed train to Canterbury around 9 am, arriving at around 10 am and headed through the backstreets towards the Cathedral where I had finished last week. I had arranged to meet a friend there and he was going to walk the final stretch of the North Downs Way with me. It was a pleasant trip down memory lane wandering though the small alleys and streets, a lot had changed since I’d lived in Canterbury but I was reminded of pleasant times and places. The sun was out and it promised to be another glorious winters day, I grabbed a coffee just before reaching the Cathedral and just as I finished my friend arrived accompanied by another friend who I also knew very well. She was going to come along for the first few miles before returning home.

We set off down the main high street, chatting about places we’d been to together (in Canterbury) and soon were heading out of the city past the old west gate and the train station, continuing on to St Dunstans where a left turn towards the West took us out of Canterbury. Heading across a large roundabout it was a short walk through the Canterbury suburbs to react Harbledown where there were fine views over Rough Common. Heading briefly downhill, we reached a crossroads of paths where my one of my friends left and we continued on, though hop fields before crossing a road and heading along a path at the bottom of small ridge. This area is known as Bigbury Camp after an ancient Iron Age hill fort which was possibly stormed by Julius Caesar in 55BC. There was a information board which we stopped to read while we had something to eat, before heading on to No Mans Orchard Nature Reserve. This a protected traditional orchard, its name due to the fact that it is between two parish boundaries, there are a number of very old apple trees here along with some younger ones, along with a number of wooden sculptures including a snake.

From the orchard it was a short walk to the small village of Chartham Hatch, which we walked through on minor roads, heading downhill to reach a very large farm, passing through a number of farm buildings. The farm was mainly concerned with apples and other fruit trees, which Kent is very famous for, my friend told me how some farms had to leave their fruit to rot as they could not get pickers. The usual people who would pick them were unable to come due to a combination of Brexit and Covid. When I had walked through this farm previously there were plenty of tents being used by the fruit pickers, but now there were dedicated mobile style homes for them, presumably with showers and other facilities. The farm seemed to go on for a long time, we heading under a railway and continued up and over a small hill where we stopped again for a small break. The day was pleasantly warm and another walker approaching us was puffing as he struggled up the hill, we briefly chatted with him before heading on.

It was a short way to the village of Old Wives Lees, which heralded the start of a period of road walking, though the village, where we ignored the temptations of the village pub and then downhill, along a road with quite a few people walking dogs. Heading briefly uphill and crossing the A252 we arrived at the village of Chilham, the path going through the villages church. Chilham is a well preserved Medieval village and has been used in various films and television productions. We spent a few minutes admiring the square before heading off down Mountain Street, from where we could get good views of Chilham castle, and also a medieval keep next to it, the actual castle dating from around 1630, while the Normal keep dates from 1174.

A kilometres or so along Mountain Street, we headed uphill to chalk ridge and the 1500 acres of Kings Wood, which was said to the popular with robber gangs during Medieval times so pilgrims on the way to Canterbury would band together and travel through the woods as a group for protection. We had no such problems, though friend told me of a run he had competed in through the woods a few months again. The day was getting cooler as we had not rushing but we stopped for a bite to eat, it was not far to Boughton Lees where we would finish for the day and I would complete the North Downs Way. At the far end of Kings Wood we descended steeply and after seeing a hare running though some fields past the church at Boughton Aluph, from where is was a short walk to Boughton Lees. We headed for The Flying Horse pub on the village green and had a drink while waiting for my friends wife to come and pick us up.