Snodland to Cuxton, NDW

We had a lovely walk on the N. Downs Way yesterday, thanks to Margaret Miles’ enterprise and map-reading skills (little aided by mine!). The weather was very pleasant and dry, the scenery lovely, hardly anyone else about except for lots of birds, the recognition of whose songs, learned on Wednesday thanks to Angus, was thoroughly reinforced. We found a good spot with a view for our picnic but, being greedy, I also enjoyed carrot cake with a scoop of ice-cream and a mug of tea at a pub, while the others sat boringly waiting on the platform of the railway station (she said smugly).
Many thanks to our leaderene!
Joy

Date: 
Friday, 3 May 2019 - 10:15am
Walk Leaders: 
All on these unrecced walks
Meeting Point: 
Meeting Point and Time Snodland Station 10.15
Distance: 
10 miles
Maps: 
OS Explorer 148
Travel: 

Train Out: St Pancras International, 9.25, Stratford International 9.32 arrives Snodland 10.15 (Change at Strood)

Back: regular trains from Cuxton

Route: 

We will orienteer from Snodland Station to the North Downs way, picking it up at Holly Hill House, or Great Buckland. We will then follow it Eastwards through Rochester Forest with a feeling of remoteness and then “some lovely open walking” on the NDW before arriving at Cuxton Station.

Lunch: 

Please bring picnic

Notes: 

This walk includes a long stretch of the North downs Way. As you can see the train leaves St P before the 9.30 watershed for the seniors, but can be picked up at Stratford, on the Central line, at 9.32. There do not seem to be any suitable pubs so I think we will have to bring picnics, and pray for good weather. If the weather is vile we can cut the walk short and try the pubs in Halling, where there are some pubs, and a station half way between Snodland and Cuxton. But to do this as part of the full walk would add 3-4 miles. A decision will be made depending on the weather forecasts a few days before we set out.