Since I have been walking a lot lately, it seemed sensible to extend my normal ‘pavement pounding near home’ and actually see a bit more of Kent. It annoys me that I have seen so little of it, so the prospect of combining walking and photography will hopefully convince me to finally explore this (for the most part) beautiful county.

I have never wandered about and chosen to follow any ‘Public Footpath’ signs – the reason for this is not clear to me. After today I have decided that these should indeed be followed as they open up a whole new world, or at least a whole new Kent. To aid me on this quest I bought a book… the handily titled ‘50 Walks in Kent‘. It is a great little book – pocket sized(ish) with clear instructions of the route and things to look out for. My other half is accompanying me on these walks which makes the whole thing a lot more enjoyable.

Thankfully today the stiles were quite manageable, despite warnings in the book to the contrary. Today we completed Walk 31 ‘A Herbal High Around Goudhurst’ – difficulty rating 1 (of 3) and 3.5 miles. A very good introductory walk… though we were both pretty tired by the end of it.

I have bit of a thing for Oast Houses, so to see one as a pub was both amusing and appealing… not that we stopped for a drink as this was right at the start. Must pop back there at some point.

Apparently these were dumped by Gypsies according to the well-to-do lady that parked near these to walk her dogs. No other evidence of refuse could be found, so I can only conclude that they were relatively tidy Gypsies.

You can’t beat an old abandoned shed for photo opportunities, but we were on a schedule, so no real time to spend the hours here that I would have liked.

So, one walk down, 49 to go… am looking forward to it.