On Sunday 12 April, join us in Medway, Kent, for a 15 mile / 24 km walk along part of the North Downs Way past some of the oldest neolithic monuments in Britain.
Route: Medway Megaliths on OS Maps (.gpx available)
Non members are also welcome to sign up via the Eventbrite page.
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THE WALK
Meeting at Rochester station, we’ll walk past the 11th century cathedral and through the town, following the Medway valley south.
We’ll climb Blue Bell Hill to visit the eastern cluster of the Medway Megaliths which date back to c.3800–3400 BCE, making them among the oldest monuments in Britain (a thousand years older than Stonehenge). The monuments - Kit's Coty House, its three massive uprights still supporting a capstone, and the scattered ruins of Little Kit's Coty nearby - were burial and ritual sites for a Neolithic community moving from hunter-gathering to settled farming. People tie clooties (coloured ribbons) to the trees nearby to make wishes or ask for healing.
We’ll then come to the White Horse Stones, linked (inaccurately) with the fifth-century Anglo-Saxon warriors Hengest and Horsa, plus contemporary paganism, and walk southeast along the ridge of the Downs, looking out across the Weald. It should be glorious: bluebells in the woodland, cowslips on chalk grassland, blackthorn and hawthorn blossom in the hedges, plus various birds I can’t identify.
Finally the flint ruins of Thurnham Castle, a 12th-century motte-and-bailey, before descending to Bearsted station (via the pub).
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
We will meet at 10:20 at Rochester station to start the walk. For those that want to travel together, we’ll meet at 09:00 at London Victoria.
Please note the return is from Bearsted, which is on a different line. To do the journey cheaply, you can get a return ticket from London Victoria to Rochester and a single ticket from Bearsted to Swanley (around £22 total). It is also possible to travel out to Rochester from London St Pancras.
Trains out:
09:12 London Victoria, arr. Rochester 10:11
09:20 St Pancras, arr. Rochester 09:57
Timings:
Depart Rochester station 10:20
6 hours walking (2.5 mph / 4 kmh)
2 hours pubs, looking at rocks, general faff
Return: 18:21 Bearstead → London Victoria (one train per hour)