The number was 10 The weather was cold dry cloudy We paused near Gunpowder Pond because a local had seen a kingfisher. We couldn’t, though. Then we were off round Oare Marsh, Mr Tiger’s legs going as fast as they could and just about keeping up. There were some birds and people with ‘bins’ and a herd of ponies. Luddenham church was open (it is at weekends), a first for one seasoned old-timer. There’s not much inside, though, and the pews needed dusting. The churchyard was a picture with daffs and those things that look like Lily of the valley but aren’t. Then lunch at the Mariners. Mr Tiger splashed out and had ‘rosemary fries’ (Rosemary must have had the day off, though). Other had more lavish fare. Eagle-eyed Mr Tiger tried not to stare but couldn’t help noticing a famous local sitting in a corner.

After lunch we split. Two heading straight to Faversham, two for Ham marsh, and others taking a detour to Oare church first. Apparently it was interesting.

Faversham might be the home of Shepherds Neame but it seems impossible to get anything other than their weakest offering, Master Brew, in the pubs. Grumpy old Mr Tiger finally stopped complaining and tried some and said it was “all right”. Most of the group reconvened at the station for a busy train home.

9 walkers in initially lightly overcast, mainly sunny weather. The 'leader' chose to add the two in-walk extensions to the route, so everyone (not sure about the picknicker though) walked the 19.5 km version. With high tide at the start, we could not quite spot the sunken Thames barge remnants in Conyer Creek, before embarking on the long stretch along The Swale, with the outgoing tide then revealing a bit more of the mudbanks, sandbanks and gravel beds. The birdlife was numerous, as were the twitchers. The wind was fresh but came from the right behind, so a bit of a non-event. The rain kept off apart from a few minutes of squall off one dark cloud.

I had booked a table for 4 at the perenially fully-booked Three Mariners, which was sub-optimal insofar as 8 out of the 9 wanted a place. The fastest 4 got a seat, the other 4 were allocated some space in the bar area upon arrival, and were indeed 'allowed' to order from the starter menu later on. English Tapas, so to speak.

With a 14.00 hours booking, my hope had been that the pressure on the kitchen would have subsided by then and that food delivery would be quick. That wasn't the case, unfortunately, as we spent almost 100 minutes inside (and that's w/o starters or desserts). Food: very good. Staff: very friendly. No regrets.

Two things came from that long lunch break, one good one bad: A - we were certain to walk at least 20-30 minutes in the dark which not everyone seemed all that comfortable with; B - we missed the hard rain that came down while inside the pub - and all of it, and the rest of the walk was dry indeed.

The seawall-top path for the remainder of the route into Faversham was then surprisingly muddy and slithery compared to the previous bits, and we got to the town centre only at 17.30. Some headed for the 17.37 to Victoria, others explored the town or the taproom near the station to pass time before the 18.00 to St. Pancras. overcast with some blue sky and dry

8 from Victoria, 3 from Kings Cross makes 12 (if we include the maverick who started at Teynham). We set off on a tour of Oare Marsh on a walk written by the local council. Plenty of wild carrot on show. Quite pretty. There was butterflies and dragonflies. There must have been some birds too or what else were the people with binoculars looking at? A freezing cold day, those without coats had to huddle together for warmth. Only joking – it was HOT HOT HOT a bit breezy near the coast but mostly hot. Hotter than Venus hot. The seven mile circuit brought us back to Oare for about 2-2.30. (Some were faster than others).

The pingdemic put paid to a booking in the 3 Mariners so it was the Castle for lunch A pleasant soujourn, inside or out. The plat du jour was Scampi aux pommes frittes. Other options were available. Some gorged themselves on cherries from a local stall. Myself I just went for un petit soupcon du cidre. Froid, s’il vous plait.

After lunch some went home – it was hot, OK? and we’d done the walk. Those remaining, a hardy bunch of sidewinders, scorpions and horny toads, set off on another foray into the marshes, on the tail end of Teynham to Faversham main walk. This was accomplished and towards the end, they even managed to shake off your correspondent, who had to fend for himself. I didn’t know where they went for refreshments, but the finish had just took me right past Shepherds Neame brewery, so there was only one place for my ‘tea’. Faversham’s oldest pub, the Bear, and another soupcon, of Le Doigt de L'évêque this time, lovingly poured into a plastic glass.

This outing is really a tale of two walks - the first, a dynamic visual and olfactory sensation as we crossed a number of riotously yellow oil seed rape fields and wandered through various blossoming fruit orchards, emitting their individual aromas and,the second, a soothing meander along the swale and through marshes. As most had done the walk before, we tried a few of the alternate routes across the marshes and visited a rather remote and lonely church. All picnicked along the swale and we enjoyed late afternoon drinks in the garden of the atmospheric pub on the marsh before the final push to Faversham. I guess the forecast must have put people off as only a select 4 enjoyed this fine day out in initially sunny and breezy conditions with both cloud and wind increasing in the afternoon .

Tempted to do walk solo based on your report. What fruit types did you see? Thank you.

I was in the Guildford area on Sunday and there were oodles of ripe damsons (wild plums): so I would say foraging opportunities on this walk will be good

Just for the benefit of doubt: I am discouraging the picking of fruit or berries in active, commercial orchards or farms or in private gardens, plenty of which we will be walking through or past. But there are more than enough opportunities to pick from trees and bushes on public ground (roadside and pathside) as well as in some clearly disused orchards. Just saying...

17 on the platform, 2 others on the overbridge across the tracks (by car from 7oaks), plus 1 early starter subsumed into the group during the morning stretch, i.e. 20 in sunny with some clouds weather. Perfect temperatures, I thought, for this walk, feeling a touch warmer than the proclaimed 17 deg, and with the finest of breezes as well. The clouds made for great skies in the pm along the flat marshlands and the creeks of The Swale.

Apples and pears, plums and damsons were in great condition, the also plentiful sloes need a few more weeks. The commercial orchards and fruit farms gave a great picture as most of the fruits are still on the trees, very colurful indeed. There were good pickings to be had along roads and in old orchards, plus the odd fallen fruit to harvest. Most seem to have walked the main walk version, although a few threw in the sly Cellarhill shortcut into the equasion. About 10 ate at The Ship in Conyer, mostly at outside tables. Pub classics I'd say about the menu, but very good quality at that. We then hit The Swale at low tide getting lower, so there were plenty of waders at work, and also plenty of twitchers about with their slightly scary looking massive telescopes.

About 10 walkers could later be seen in the garden of The Shipwright's Arms in Hollowshore, before the final leg into Faversham, where a few others had a convivial one in one of the many establishments in town. 18.37 train for my group and a few others.

Thanks Thomas - and apart from thanking you for posting - and informally leading - such a lovely walk, may I again add my thanks to you and Karen for making such a supreme effort to turn up for the walk after your adventures the day before in Wiltshire. Whilst most would have stayed in bed and had a lie-in after your respective awful journeys home, the two of you made that extra effort to come on your posted walk. The other eighteen of us on the walk much appreciated this - and like me, they all had a great day.

Delicious damsons, too !

3 of us took the Road short cut to the station and had tea and drinks before catching the 6pm train to Victoria.

9 off the posted train, 2 an hour behind (1 had missed the train, the other always planned to walk just the morning (long, I think) version to lunch, then back to Teynham station along one of the shortcut routes, as he had walked most of the rest of the route a few weeks back on the very short mid-week version of this walk). 11

We lost 3 of the group to a lower tempo early on (not sure what version of the walk they did), and only 1 of the rest walked the morning extension. Harvest time it wasn't quite yet (bolshy walk posting found out, for once, must be the lack of a good summer...) but certainly blackberries, apples, plums and damsons were in good condition for foraging, while the pears were deemed too hard for all but one of us. Kind of delayed by the foraging we got to The Ship Inn at 1 and had almost free choice of tables, settling for one on the first floor with views of marina and creek. The food and service were very good, as was the ale. We reunited with the picnickers and the late starter on the seawall for the second half of the walk: tidal estuary, mudflats, boats, reed beds, birds etc. The tide was close to high, so we saw no mud beds initially and no wading birds either. We spotted egret, kormorant and assorted smaller birds of unknown (to this author) provenance though. The twitchers with their mighty telescopes we got talking to around the bird reserve reported an Osprey (over The Swale), a Marsh Harrier and a Cuckoo (in a tree) plus a rare American Gull (whose name I forgot). By then we had seen 2 sheep having a fair old stramash (head-to-head stare-out then head-to-head clash, lasting quite a few minutes). Later on, in the garden of the brilliantly located tea stop The Shipwright's Arms in Hollowshore, unfortunately we also saw the pub's cat kill and eat a songbird (as they do, as much as cat lovers deny it).

The 'leaders' then led everyone on the long finish into Faversham, where we got to the train station just in time for the 17.58/18.02 trains to St. P and Vic.

The wind, as it was, came mostly from the right behind, the sun was out, and it was pleasantly warm. mostly sunny with some clouds

Napoleon’s gull from North America, probably. It was there a few weeks ago. Cherry orchards on the morning extension have all been picked but not picked clean, so provided a delicious feast.

The common name of the Bonaparte’s Gull honours Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte who made important contributions to American ornithology while an active member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia during the 1820s.

Arriving at Faversham on the 11.31 High Speed train.

Perhaps those arriving on the service from Victoria could wait the few minutes for the Pancreatics to arrive.

Alas - I will not be with you on this lovely, short coastal walk and a favourite of mine: I picked up a nasty bout of bronchitis after the recent Woburn walk and it will be a few days more before I can venture forth on a walk.

For those of you wishing to dine at lunchtime, I do recommend the Three Mariners in Oare. I hope they can fit you in.

Enjoy !

Hope you will soon be feeling better Marcus.

Always enjoy walking with you.

Get well soon, Marcus. Kindly consider a semi-wooded walk for Wednesday 31st of July, which I hope will mark your return.

5 in very hot sunshine 3 from Victoria and 2 from the high speed train.

The blisteringly hot weather was somewhat ameliorated by a fairly stiff breeze.

The marshes were busy with twitchers looking for an arrival from the US prairies. Their high powered lenses did not deter one of our number from taking a swim in the sea.

A wrong turn at the artesian well on the sea wall meant that we found ourselves back in Oare not long after we left it. One valiant walker retraced his steps and completed the route in full. A very very long lunch for four at the Three Mariners left everyone full of praise for the fine food and modest prices.

3 returned by road to Faversham, while one brave soul took the Saxon Shore route, even without any directions!

Highlights of the day were an abundance of Tayberries (google it) overflowing from an allotment and warm luscious Blackberries en route.

The council leaflet which we downloaded is difficult to follow. Too late, on the train home, I discovered that the councils route is fully covered by a GPX track on the SWC website. It's a variation on the Teynham to Faversham walk called the Luddenham inland route.

And yes: I am aware that this is a strike day. As of Friday, the National Rail website will/should be showing which trains will run, and if this walk is not possible, I will replace it with one that is. So if you are thinking of staying overnight in the area and combine this walk with Sunday's Stargazer posting, book accomodation with free cancellation...

As for a replacement walk, if the strike does affect this posting: it is actually not easy to find a walk that's not dependent on SWT, not affected by track works (South Downs), different to what's already been posted for this weekend and beyond, minimum 20 km and right for the season. But this one is: SWC 299 Teynham to Faversham, The Fruit Bowl of England...

11 on the platform, one of which immediately 'turned left' to walk one of the shortcuts. The rest split 5 each into walking the morning extension or the main walk. The orchards were about a third harvested, so still loaded with apples, pears & plums, while the hedges and trees on public land offered plenty of delicious fruit themselves: there was even a hedge made from plum trees, or so it seemed!

The three arable field crossings were good to walk, the weather dry and warmish and Heritage Open Day meant that a couple of the usually locked churches (Lynsted and Lewson Street) were open, with St. Peter & St. Paul, Lynsted having a remarkable collection of monuments to the local Laird's family.

Lunch was taken at The Ship Inn, Conyer, where the two groups met again, plus one late starter (having managed to miss both the 9.10 and the 10.10!).

On to the seawall along The Swale, past disused brickworks, jetties and ruined Thames barges. Low tide meant plenty of wading birds, there was a breeze in the reed beds and we had far views. We were met/overtaken by a 13th walker, who has also missed the 10.10 but taken the 10.40 to Sittingbourne and started from there, so 13 in total.

A drink at The Corner Tap, Whitstable Brewery's tap room, followed for about 7 of the group.

Just 2 of us off the posted train at Faversham. Another four possible walkers were seen waiting on the platform, but as they had three massive Alsatian dogs with them, the two of us sped past them, to exit the station post-haste, without a backward glance - well, you know me and dogs.............

Fortunately, we were not followed, as we set out on the Council's Wildside walk, on a dull and overcast morning which morphed into glorious sunshine after lunch .

After the suburban start to the walk we were soon walking through the marshes and nature reserve beside Oare creek before heading along the coast, with a strong breeze driving us along. An inward leg then, through more marshes then farmland, then back to Oare, in time to stop for lunch at the excellent Three Mariners pub. We dined from their Walkers menu, and very good too, washed down with a few alcoholic drinks each.

Suitably refreshed, we switched to SWC Walk 299 for the leg back to Faversham via the long coastline loop that is the Saxon Shore Way. As it was approaching 5pm by the time we were back in town, we headed straight for the railway station for a service back to Victoria.

The Council's Wildside walk is a little gem and when coupled to our SWC walk, it makes for a most enjoyable, relaxing, perambulation along the coast.

Recommended for those who could not join us today. No further sign of dem Alsatian dogs............

I will do this using the 09.07 train but do not expect to do the full 15.4 miles

I expect to do about 10 miles and looking at the map

https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/teynham-to-faversham/map.html

it seems to be that if you leave the station and walk straight north to Conyer on the red route and then stick to the green route after that it will be around 10 ish miles.

The draw back is that this leaves The Three Mariners at Oare for lunch ( all the others are too soon ) This is something like 7 or so miles into the walk

Others are welcome to join me if they wish

Stephen

Intend going.

A new coastal route - thank you - great instructions. I went north from Teynham on shortcut II, stayed close to Conyer Creek to see the old Thames barges, continued on the Main walk along the shore to Oare, and then the dull but direct pavement walk to Faversham. Disappointing lack of birds as tide so very low, but repeated small flocks of twenty or so chaffinches flying, presumably from Scandinavia, into the westerly which I had enjoyed behind me. The Caravan on the raft ???? A local birdwatcher told me it was an elderly couple's compromise when one wanted a caravan and one wanted a boat ! Unfortunately the police have recently visited it after an apparent break-in and today net curtains were sadly blowing out from the window.

I didn't see any other walkers - but I did catch the 8.07 to ensure a solitary walk.

ramblinros https://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinros/albums/72157689930771856

29 walkers off the train, 7 of which peeled away immediately onto the shortest of short options (and had a rather long lunch experience, apparently), 7 others walked the long version, the remainder presumably did the normal/main walk. 1 other on the 08.07 train, so 30. Plus a dog, part of a family, one member of which unfortunately 'did his ankle in', so they eventually took a bus from Oare to cut out the last kilometres. The weather was as forecast: dry and sunny with quite a breeze (from behind).

Despite the fact that the walk came probably a month or two too late to see the orchards at their best/full of fruits, it seemed to please all comers, the first half being dominated by said orchards plus a handful of arable fields and plenty of pastures and paddocks, the remainder by creeks and marshes, long views and plenty of birds. 13 lunched at The Ship Inn at Conyer to general approval (it's a nicely run pub). Also 13, although not exactly the same 13, later found themselves in the Shipwrights at Hollowshore, an amazingly atmospheric pub right on the creek, and 7 visited The Corner Tap near the end for a last few bevvies before boarding the train.

Due to all those breaks during the walk, the tailenders/long walkers only approached Faversham at sunset, which was quite dramatic today, what with lots of clouds turning orangey. This, after a sizeable murmuration had criss-crossed our path, made it a perfect end to a very nice day out.

Judging by the preceding comments, all of the many options, apart from the Luddenham route, were walked today by one or other person, which is quite satisfying for the walk author.

This should be an especially good walk during tree blossom and all through the summer.