Day 6 – Aylesford to Kennington
Another 4:30am start, and I first stopped at the nearby garage collecting sandwiches for my breakfast sometime later.
The PW passes the White Horse Stone, which is thought to have possibly come from an ancient Long Barrow, but the truth is uncertain.
Then it was crossing HS1, the rail link to France. The PW then continues along the base of the escarpment, whilst the NDW takes a much higher track.
Again a lot of the walking today was on road, albeit quiet.
I also came across a notice warning that the footpath was soon to be closed for a few weeks whilst overhead power lines for the National Grid were replaced. It was unclear what pilgrims were supposed to do instead as there didn’t seem to be any particular diversion proposed.
The route moved down into the field and I spent some time walking through vineyards and passed one of many PW markers, this one near Broad Street.
I diverged off route slightly to pass through Lenham, where I had brunch at the popular fish & chip shop in the village centre.
Back on track, I passed the Lenham Cross, a huge chalk memorial, cut in 1922 into the hillside. It is in memory of the men of Lenham parish who died in WW1, and subsequently also, WW2. There were a couple of cyclists there, one of whom offered to take the photo.
I stopped at the churches in Charing and Westwell and then diverged off track towards Ashford, to stay at the Conningbrook Hotel, Kennington which I reached around 2:30pm. I ate in the hotel that night as there wasn’t much else on offer locally. I’d tried to book at the Flying Horse Inn in Boughton Lees, as it was on the PW, but it was full.
