Ferry Inn

Not far from Appledore was the Ferry Inn, curiously named as the river by the pub is now tiny. But this wasn’t always the case, and the ferry used to run across the River Rother to the Isle of Oxney.

Excellent beers, and we each had a steak burger wrapped in a toasted tortilla – a combination we’d not seen before:

As you can see, the burger was enormous, and perfectly cooked with the meat just pink in the middle.

After that we needed some exercise, so on with the walking boots along the “Reading Sewer”, the water that now flows past the pub:

Further on was a little hill with a nice path leading up it:

and nice views of the Isle of Oxney from the top:

From there, we walked on down and then round back to the pub – a very warm walk though there was a little breeze at the end.

Appledore

We decided to have a mooch around Appledore this morning.

There was a small road just off the High Street that lead to a footpath going to the Royal Military Canal:

and a very pleasant walk along the bank:

to the main bridge over the canal:

We then popped in to the church, which had an excellent tapestry depicting life in Appledore over the last 1000 years. Not easy to photograph though so here is a picture of the church instead:

College Wood

We walked through College Wood on Saturday, following the public footpath on the way to the River Rother. I’d planned to go the same way this morning, however, I spotted a notice welcoming walkers on a gate post near the barn with a path across the meadow heading to the same woods. So off we went on a wider explore of the woods.

In one corner was a surprisingly steep ravine, with a small river running through and a set of stone steps following the river down:

A hidden gem! Further on, there was a lot of wild garlic:

A lovely wood! My route back took me through past the village school just as all the children were arriving – quite a challenge feeding Rocco past the children on narrow pavements…

Woodchurch and Walks

Another glorious day here in the depths of Kent. First stop was Woodchurch Village Life Museum. Didn’t look much from the outside, but an excellently curated collection of local artifacts and tales of village life. Dog friendly too, not that Rocco got too excited by it. This is a carding machine:

From there, we went to Orlestone Forest Nature Reserve. Not sure we saw much nature, but Rocco could have a good run around and chased sticks:

After which, it was time for a drink, so we headed to the Woolpack Inn in Warehorne. A lovely pub in a nice quiet village; almost tempted to stay for lunch, but as it was Sunday, a Roast was the main offering:

We had a quick look at the village church and had intended to walk to the Royal Military Canal, but the 1st stile wasn’t dog friendly and the third field had cows and calves in, so we abandoned that and headed to Parkwood instead. This had a 1.5 mile “Oaks and Bluebells” trail with really nice paths and 8 geocaches to find:

Unfortunately, Rocco found a smelly pond, so we headed back to the barn and forced him to sit in the sunshine until he was dry. We then strolled back to the Wittersham Sports and Social club for excellent beer and a bit of a chat with the locals:

Another lovely day; let’s hope this nice weather continues through the week!

Wittersham Walk

Still a lovely day, so we went for a local walk this afternoon. After a bit of track, there’s a nice wood with paths through – very pleasant in the shade!

Then a field of sheep:

And after a few more paths, we reached the River Rother:

A bit further along the river, we headed inland and encountered a very overgrown path with lots of nettles – not good when you’re wearing shorts…

And further on, an orchard, which was lovely but impossible to find the actual path through so we had to detour around the edges:

This took us to the village, and we found the pub, which unfortunately closed a year ago.

After a quick topup in the village shop, we went to the Wittersham Sports and Social Club. Uninspiring from the outside, and we had to sign in, but enjoyed excellent beer (Tonbridge Coppernob on cask) and cider – and Rocco got some dog biscuits.

We then checked out the village war memorial and park – all very neat and tidy!

then weaved our merry way back:

A lovely walk, helped by a bit of breeze to keep us cool.

 

A Morning Walk in the sunshine

We’re staying in a large barn just outside Wittersham, near Tenterden;

It’s a dry and sunny morning, so Rocco and I walked from the barn to explore the area. The path took us through a field of sheep, so he had to be on the lead:

Unfortunately, after this, there was a stile I had to lift Rocco over, then a field of crops with no visible path through, so we had to detour along a tractor track:

Things got a bit better, but it was obvious that this path was little used. Looking back, you can see this land rising to the “Isle of Oxney”, on which Wittersham and a few other villages lie. This used to be an island many years ago before the various rivers changed their course.

The path improved a bit:

and eventually we reached the River Rother:

The Sussex Border Path follows the river, which made for much easier walking:

Quite a bit further on, we left the river and climbed back up towards Wittersham. There are a lot of vineyards in the area – made it seem more like France than England!

All in all, a lovely but tiring walk!

 

Paris (East)

A gentler day today. We walked down the St Martin canal then up to Parc de Belleville.

The canal disappears into a tunnel at this point, remerging by the Seine.

The park was constructed in the 60’s and is now starting to look a bit forlorn:

But the view of the Eiffel tower from the top was good:

There was a nice cafe at the top:

Then we wandered back down through the gardens:

From there, we walked back to the canal for a very pleasant beer:

And decided it was so nice, we’d have some Antipasti for lunch:

We then collected our bag from the hotel and walked to Gare du Nord to catch our train home:

Usual chaos with French passport control and security, but at least it isn’t 40C in the departure lounge like a previous occasion!

The rest of the journey home went reasonably smoothly. A good weekend.

Sunday Evening

We decided to return to the same place that we’d eaten on Friday night:

Friendly staff, excellent food and nice beer, together with ‘pub’ prices – what’s not to like!

We had an excellent Steak Tartare and a Norwegian Salad with prawn, salmon, avocado and soft boiled egg.

And good fries….

Paris (North)

Another lovely day, so it’s back on the Metro to explore more of Paris.

First stop was Gare de l’Est to “recharge” our tickets, then to Opera station and a walk to the Jardin des Tuileries:

From there, we walked past the Palais and Louvre to the Palais Royal metro station and got a train to Place Monge:

It was a short walk to the Grand Paris Mosque:



After all that culture, it was time for a coffee and another Metro to Parc Monceau:





An interesting park with many ‘structures’. Next was the Metro to St Denis, well north of Paris. All very suburban but had a nice pedestrian square where we stopped for a beer:

Right by was the Basilica, so we enjoyed that – particularly the stained glass windows that look far better in reality than in the photos:




After a bite to eat, we got a tram then a Metro eastwards to Porte de la Villette:

We walked through the Parc de la Villette, which turned out to be more of an expo centre and playground than a park:


Nice canal in the middle though:

From there, things were a bit greener, but very crowded:

 

Yet another Metro to Laumiere and time for another beer:

We then crossed the road to Parc des Buttes Chaumont, famed for the Temple de la Sibyll:

It was very crowded, and many of the paths were shut, so we didn’t see as much as we had intended:

From there, we got a final Metro back to Gare de l’Est and walked back to the hotel.

An exhausting but interesting day!