Re: Kent meet - November
Todays walk consisted of DaveH, Walkinginsunshine (Siobhan), Crazee Maz and hubby Steve, Amanda, Purrfecttune (Steve) and myself, for a nice sized group of 7. Somebody did mention the 'Magnificent 7' but we wont go into that.....
After a bit of a delay with a failed Satnav (sorry Amanda 
) we finally got going. It wasn't long before the familiar squelching of mud was to join us as we crossed our first field. The path on the whole was very slippery, proving the importance of decent boots. Everybody certainly seemed to be bearing up well including Steve's sore foot which was a bonus. I knew the real 'fun' would probably start at the climb up to the Greensand ridge - as in a recce a few weeks ago this was a nothign short of a quagmire and it proved to so today. So a good chorus of glorious mud squelching was heard as we negotiated our 1 in 3 ascent (well it was quite steep !) to the top of the ridge.
From here it was pretty much plain sailing through to Knole Park and our pre-arranged rendevous with the park's most famous attraction, the deer. Not everybody in the group had been to Knole before, so it was nice experience to get intimate with the large male fallows, who were keen to proudly show off their impressive antlers. All this was a ruse no doubt to lighten us of our carrotts we were trying to smuggle through the park. The deer were simply too clever and within minutes our 'bait' was sniffed out and all evidence eaten!
Lunch beckoned and a pleasant visit to the, wait for it, the BUCKS HEAD pub (had to be !) followed. Unfortunately I later realised poor old Catherine who had initially intented to join us but then couldn't, had then tried to meet us for lunch and the remainder of the walk. Our paths did not cross due to a combination of us starting a little late today and me not hearing my mobile ringing in my backpack (sorry Catherine - hopefully next time). Opting for a lighter lunch and just the one pint was a good move and the remaining 4 miles went very easily and smoothly. The general descent from the high ground took us past the ever impressive Ightham Mote before our return to Shipbourne common.
The day was quite changeable and the clould held for the most part with the sun struggling to break through, but at least the rain gods kept quite today making for a very pleasent 10.8 miles underfoot. Luckily Amanda's missing purse was retrieved after being handed in to the pub proving that us walkers really are an honest bunch.....
Thanks to everybody that manged to join us today (magnificent 7, lol) and also to those that nearly made it !!! I hope to see you for another installment soon. I've some photos which I will try to add, fingers crossed.
Rich. 