14 Walks: Walk #3....

Apples are a regular feature throughout the walk. (We never scrumped any officer!)

There are some open stretches across windswept fields

The Tonbridge Civic Society very thoughtfully published a book called 14 Walks some years back. Not surprisingly, as the title suggests, there are indeed 14 walks in the booklet. I say booklet but actually it's more of a plastic wallet with loose sheets inside. Each sheet has a walk with description and a small map to guide you throughout. Every so often these instructions need updating and this was the task which myself and Mrs. Tonbridgeblog had agreed to do. The walks range from about one mile to 8 miles. We chose walk number 3 because we thought, since we're relatively young and fit, we could handle a 7-mile stroll without too much sweat! I must say though that this walk seemed more like a 10 miler although that could just be that either we're out of practice or, more likely, that we had to keep stopping to annotate the walk guide instructions. This walk starts at Hartlake Bridge, takes you on through the orchards of Hadlow Place Farm, on to Steers Places, Style Place and along the Medway and back to the start point. Essentially you are walking in a big loop around Hadlow Tower, which is never far from view. Anyways, enough of all this spiel, here's some pictures to give you a flavour of the walk.



Hadlow tower is nearly always in sight and a good landmark

PS. You can buy 14 Walks from Mr. Books and it's only three quid. £3 for all 14 walks, come on this is a bargain. Alternatively, you can download the app for free. (Yeah right!)

Lots of Oast houses making typical Kent scenes

This is Bourne Mill which looks idyllic on a sunny day

You'll see plenty of these around Hadlow stables especially

Back at the river. East Lock on the Medway

Under Hartlake Bridge and back to where we started the walk

Ideally take an OS map with you though. Especially when the new edition comes out with all our garbled new instructions!