25 March 2023 - The Kent Downs
Miles driven today = 36
Total Miles to date = 177
We decided to explore Sheppy a little more thoroughly before we left the island this morning so after a rather lazy start we drove through Minster and eastwards to Leysdown on Sea. Lisa was a bit concerned I was going to drop her off at one of the nearby campus of HM Prisons at first. Leysdown itself has something of a kiss-me-quick resort feel to it with vast expanses of static caravans set out in orderly rows but once we were past all that we drove into a wild and expansive landscape. If we had driven any further we would have been in the RSPB Nature Reserve.
I mentioned yesterday how huge the beaches are here at low tide. Well here's the evidence with people harvesting shellfish way out on the flats. I was also led to believe that vans are banned from overnighting here but there were no signs of prohibition and several of our travelling brethren had obviously been here at least since yesterday.
We retraced our steps back over the Swale and braved the Saturday morning Sittingbourne traffic to fill up on diesel and LPG at Morrisons. With a few chilly nights forecast we'll likely be burning through a bit more in the way of gas but with both 11kg tanks full to the brim we now have plenty to see us through this trip and well beyond.
We exited Sittingbourne and picked up the A2 through Teynham with its quintessentially Kentish oast houses and continued until we crossed the M2 at which point Google Maps had us following a succession of narrow and winding lanes to our destination at the Sunnyside Farm Caravan Park in Chilham, in the middle of the Kent Downs.
Having spent the first three nights of this trip off grid and planning to do likewise for at least the next couple of nights, we were looking for somewhere we could charge a few batteries. Lisa found this place, which fitted the bill perfectly, with hard standing pitches to prevent our 4 tonne bulk sinking into the soggy turf, all supplied with power and water. It's a little pricy at £26 given the toilet and shower block is currently closed for a refurb but it will suit us just fine for one night and we have a great view to enjoy from our windscreen.
Right next to the Caravan Park is a menagerie of rescue animals with Pot Belly Pigs, Shetland Ponies and even a couple of Rheas.
Once again we pulled on our walking boots to explore our surroundings. These converted oast houses are just down the hill from where we are staying.
The River Stour runs through the valley. It's spelt the same as the river which runs through my home town but I'm unsure whether they pronounce it "Stower" like we do in Suffolk or "Stoor" like they do on they Essex side.
They even have a Stour Valley Path here which made me feel even more at home. We followed it for a while.
We then diverted into a section of the extensive woodlands but the paths we chose turned out to be severly underused and often petered out entirely so we turned back rather than get ourselves totally lost.
But we did come across plenty of wild flowers to lift our spirits. Celandine, Wood Anenome, Viola, Cowslip, Primrose and even our first bluebells of the season. Spring has definitely sprung!
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