Otford to Eynsford - 8.6 Miles

We proved how hardcore we were today. When we reached Otford Station, which is about 40 minutes out of London in Kent, it started to rain. We could have turned tail. We could have retreated to a pub and sulked. But noooooo, we shook our rain jackets out of our rucksacks and zipped ourselves up. We were walking and nothing from the heavens could stop us!

Otford dates back to the sixth century when the Anglo-Saxons called their settlement Ottanford. Out of the station, we started on the trail, nipped into Bartholomew's Church, and looked at the remains of Otford Palace. All that remains of the old Archbishop's Palace, which once rivalled Hampton Court in grandeur, were a few old walls and a tower.

We continued towards the pond, which is according the the guide book "is home to ducks that occasionally disrupt the traffic." Yes, they were here, all colours of the rainbow.



The path also took us past markers of the Otford Solar System, which claims to be the only scale model of its kind in the world. It shows the relative position of the sun and planets at the start of the new millenium.

Hence, "to go past the planet Pluto"...



We had to ascend a fairly steep hill, past fields and oast houses towards the woods. We descended the other side past a large chalk cross commemorating those who died in WWI.





We arrived in Shoreham, fairly sodden in body but still bubbly in mind. The pub was pretty crowded, it was amazing how many people turned up and flooded the pub from a little town. (It was the kind of town where across the street, there was a shop called the Honey Pot.)

After lunch, the walk took us towards the golf course. There were hardcore golfers out, carrying their huge parasols to their tees.





We crossed the course and down through the valley and up again, and then followed the River Darent.





We dropped by the Lullingstone Park Visitor Centre to dry out and warm up a little. Hot tea was prescribed.

Deer used to live in the park from the Middle Ages until World War II, until the park was used as a decoy airfield and the deer got so scared they ran away. Ancient hornbeam pollards, a tree species which deer do not eat, remain where they were planted centuries ago.

We ventured out into the rain again, and went past the first castle of the day - Lullingstone Castle, which is still residence to the same aristocratic family for centuries.



We were disappointed to learn that the Lullingstone Roman Villa was closed. It first occupied in 80AD by a rich Roman who practised pagan worship of the local water sprite in a room and later became a Christian temple.



We plodded on towards the 19th century railway viaduct. Johnny put on a brave face despite the rain.



The rain did lend some interesting macro shots.



It led us back towards the River Darent, and crossing a ford, we reached the town of Eynsford.





Whilst other cars took the prudent high groud, a BMW hatchback roared through the water. Show off!

The Church of St Martin of Tours, across the street, was where where Thomas a Becket was murdered. The town's very pictureque despite its bloody history.





Our last stop was the ruins of the 11th century Eynsford Castle. Only the walls remained but you could still work out where different rooms were. I kept thinking it'd make a cool set for a music promo.