Small steps along the North Downs Way

So, in England at least, some of the so-called "lock-down" restrictions have been eased and citizens are once again allowed to do what they have done for centuries, which is leave their own homes and enjoy the great outdoors.

It’s only for exercise mind, and there’s no point in travelling too far, as hotels and guest houses remain firmly shut, but it’s still a small step in the right direction. “Small steps” is what I believe our glorious leader Mr Bumble described these changes as, so determined to take full advantage of them, I sat down to plan out the next, eagerly anticipated stages of my walk along the North Down’s Way (NDW).

Regular followers of this blog will know I’ve been attempting to complete this long-distance trail, which runs right across southern England, from Farnham in Surrey to Canterbury in Kent, for some time. It’s been quite a journey, beset by various setbacks not least of which is Covid-19.

With overnight accommodation out of the equation, until July at the earliest, there will be no three-day stints of glorious back to back walking for the time being.  Instead, and of necessity, all stretches contemplated will need to start and finish from home. This unfortunately means journey times to both the starting and end points must be taken into consideration.

Letting the train take the strain seemed the obvious answer, but I’d reckoned without the tenacity of Mrs PBT’s to keep me and, by extension, the whole family safe. “I’m not having you travelling on a virus-laden train,” was her stern warning, and despite assurances that I’d wear a facemask and would only be travelling at off peak times, the answer was still a very firm “no.”

Our hapless government haven’t exactly helped here, as by sending out mixed signals as to what is and what isn’t permitted, they have totally confused the situation. “Go back to work,” they say, but “avoid public transport, wherever possible.” Small wonder I’ve been prohibited from travelling by train!
 

As luck would have it, a chance for a spot of NDW walking showed itself on Sunday. Son Matthew is at home at the moment, furloughed by his company and unable to meet up with his friends. The terms of his firm's furlough arrangment also prevent him from taking any alternative employment. In short, he’s bored out of his brain and in serious danger of risking the ire of Mrs PBT’s by getting under her feet.

He mentioned going out for a drive, followed by a walk, so I suggested taking a short drive to Otford, a large village just the other side of Sevenoaks. The NDW happens to pass through this picturesque settlement, which nestles in the Darenth Valley, so where better than to combine a drive plus a walk, whilst at the same time knocking off another small section of this long-distance trail.

Otford also represents the most westerly point I have reached on the NDW, so a walk a short distance west from there ticked several boxes.  Matthew drove us, and I’m pleased to report his driving is much improved since I last sat in a car with him. On the way, and for curiosity’s sake, we took a drive through the really upmarket part of Sevenoaks; an area known as Kippington. It was Matthew’s idea, and showed the town in a different light, especially if you want to see how the other half live.

Although it does have areas of more affordable social housing. Otford is chiefly a rather upmarket particularly in the village centre. It’s rail links north towards London Victoria, and south-east towards Maidstone and Ashford International, make the village a popular residence for commuters; a factor which again has an upwards influence on house prices.

The village is centred on a large duck pond, which also acts as the intersection of three roads. We left the car in the large municipal carpark, just off the village centre, and headed off in a westerly direction, before turning off towards the south. At first the route led through a housing estate, before eventually becoming open countryside.  

This section of the NDW is shared with the Darenth Valley Way. Shortly after we crossed the main Sevenoaks-Charing Cross rail-line before heading through a field planted with broad beans. There were quite a few other walkers out enjoying the sunshine, but not as many as there were milling around in Otford.

We walked as far as the road leading down to Dunton Green, and this will form a convenient joining point from the local station, once Mrs PBT’s sanctions that travelling by train is once again safe. The path came out adjacent to the large and quite impressive Donnington Manor Hotel, closed at present to visitors and looking rather sad and forlorn.

We then had to turn around and retrace our steps back to Otford. There was a road alternative, but it was unclear from the map whether the road had a pavement, so we stuck to the path and enjoyed the views of the surrounding downland from a different perspective.

This is the maddening thing about linear walking, as unless there is either a transport option at the end, or somewhere to stay for the night, there is no alternative but to return the way one came.

We’d walked just under two miles in each direction, and if that homeward walk could have been added to the outbound section, we would have reached the downland settlement of Knockholt Pound. 

Never mind, we both enjoyed the walk and it afforded a good opportunity for a father and son talk. Kept away from his job and his friends, Matthew has been feeling rather isolated during this lock-down period, so it was good to see him enjoying just being out in the open countryside, taking in the scenery and the fresh air.

We had a quick stroll around Otford, once we arrived back the village centre.  A few years ago, the village could boast four pubs, but now only two remain. The Bull is a Chef & Brewer establishment, which I've never returned to, after we received extremely poor service one Mother’s Day, around 10 years ago. The Woodman, on the other side of the duckpond, is a much more down to earth village local, but it's many a year since I last set foot inside there.

Both pubs were closed, of course, but sandwiched in between is the former Crown, an attractive 17^th Century building, overlooking the duckpond. In my view it was easily the best pub in Otford, and I really don’t know why it closed. The Crown has now been turned into a fitness centre for all those yummy mummies aspiring to be gym bunnies; a sad fate for a once thriving village pub.


The fourth pub in Otford. was the Horns; a place that was always much more of restaurant. It had a good reputation for food, so it was a surprise when it closed in 2014, and was turned into another private house. Whether the village's remaining two pubs emerge unscathed from this current, government-enforced closure, remains to be seen.

What a difference a year makes

Mrs PBT’s been sitting downstairs watching Eurovision, or the virtual, socially distanced version of what passes for the contest this year! This served to remind me that today is the anniversary of my trip, last year, to the People’s Republic of China.  

The association with Eurovision arose because whilst waiting in the departure lounge at Doha airport in Qatar, for my connecting flight to Guangzhou, I remember the news-feed on my phone displaying the results of the song contest, as they came in, country by country. 

I wasn’t overly bothered about the overall winner, but it did provide a connection with home from a location thousands of miles away, and thinking about that trip today, brought home the reality of what a difference a year makes. 

Thinking forward, I was also reminded that, had things been normal, and this nasty little virus not raised its ugly head, son Matthew and I would be flying out to Prague tomorrow morning, to join up with a group of fellow beer enthusiasts from Maidstone,  to spend a few days in the city of Pilsen, in western Bohemia.

The trip’s been postponed until next year, but whether things are back to normal by then, remains to be seen. In the meantime, it’s null points for Coronavirus, and for our lack of preparedness in dealing with a pandemic which history, and more recent events, told us was long overdue.

Blogging makes a comeback

One of the upsides of the lock-down is that several writers, who were once ardent bloggers, have returned to blogging, resurrecting blogs that were long moribund, or even deceased. With opportunities for travel severely restricted, and new beer launches either on hold, or carried out virtually, there hasn’t been much in the way of new stuff to report on.

Consequently, we have seen the welcome return to beer blogging, of writers such as Adrian Tierney-Jones, and pub landlord extraordinaire Jeff Bell aka, “Stonch.” After some fervent activity to begin with, Jeff has again gone a bit quiet, bunkered down in his lovely old pub, the Ypres Castle, in the equally lovely town of Rye. 

I can’t think of many better places to be confined to, than this ancient Cinque Port, with its vantage points looking out across Romney Marsh, as well as out to sea, and even with the pubs all closed, there are some lovely walks in the vicinity. In addition, if you’ve got a pub of your own, you can at least get stuck into some of the stock, as it would be a shame to see all that lovely beer going to waste.

Adrian, on the other hand, has been rather prolific in posting on his blog, Called to the Bar. I really like his slightly off-beat, style of writing which really shows the passion he has for beer and pubs. Recent topics have included a pub in the Vale of the White Horse, plus reviews of beers from St Austell (Proper Job), Augustiner (Helles) and Westmalle (Tripel).

Veteran bloggers, Boak and Bailey have described the latter as one of their top world beers; it’s just a pity I haven’t been able to track any down for myself. Waitrose stock Westmalle Dubel – which is a dark beer, but the brewery’s Tripel seems very elusive.

Veteran blogger Tandleman, whose output of late had been somewhat sporadic, has also made a welcome return, with posts covering a number of beer and pub-related topics. His article about beers from the past, that he particularly misses, attracted over 60 comments from correspondents, including me, all suggesting their favourite beers that are no longer available.

Kirsty Walker, who blogs as ladysinksthebooze, has written a lengthy piece entitled, The Public House That Roared. The article explores the concept of the perfect pub, as laid out by George Orwell in his well-known piece about the fictional Moon Under Water, but seen from her own perspective against the backdrop of a now closed Warrington pub she remembers with fondness from her youth.

Also resurfaced are Pivini Filosof, a translator and writer originally from Argentina, who has lived and worked in Prague since 2002. His latest piece is a series of interviews from several Prague bar owners, about how they coped with the lock-down, and their plans now that the Czech government is allowing pubs to reopen – albeit with certain restrictions.  

The above are just some of the returning bloggers who have caught my eye, but I’m sure there must be several more. Welcome back lads and lassies, it’s good to see your return to the fold. I have included links to several of the posts mentioned above, so why not check out some of these fine writers for yourselves, and see what they have to say.

Of course, we shouldn't forget all those bloggers who never stopped posting articles to keep us entertained, both pre-pandemic as well as during the current crisis. Their number is quite large, so rather than list them all out, take a look at the entrants on my blog list, on the left hand side bar of this blog. Thank-you all for keeping me both entertained and informed, especially during these troubled times.

I’ve been meaning to post some comments of my own on these blogs but haven’t had as much spare time as I thought I would. Writing this blog takes up quite a chunk of my time and there are a couple of garden projects I am working on, that take up even more.

I’ve also been back at work full-time for the best part of a month now - in a responsible and socially distanced way of course. I’m not one of those able to work from home, as much of my job involves testing or inspecting items, manually filling in paperwork and releasing finished products for sale, all of which require my physical presence. We are operating at present with less than a third of our usual staffing levels, which does mean distances of 2 metres between people, are quite easily maintained.

Yesterday (Wednesday), was supposed to be the day of the Prime Minister’s much-vaunted, "great return to work," but there wasn’t that much extra traffic on my journey into work that morning. My eight-mile drive takes me along mainly rural roads, so perhaps this wasn’t surprising, although I did notice a lot more commercial vehicles about, whilst out for my walk at lunchtime.  

We’ll have to wait and see how things unfold, but whilst the situation might be different in the big cities, here in rural Kent it’s pretty quiet. It’s really a matter of carrying on as best one can, by keeping one’s head down, not taking any unnecessary risks or putting others in danger. All pandemics eventually come to an end, as they either burn themselves out naturally, or vaccines, designed to stop their spread, are developed.

In the meantime, we will all just have to remain patient.