Day 7 of North Downs Way from Bearsted (Maidstone) to Charing (near Ashford). After days of unremitting grey, with one glorious exception, it was good to get a day with the Sun making an appearance from time to time. The first half was along the edge of the ridge and lots of climbing up and down.
The route in the second half then follows the Pilgrims Way, which is much flatter. We stopped at this halfway point for a quick half in the sun at the interestingly named ‘Dirty Habit’. The second half was much easier and we just about outran the incoming weather, just getting a bit of rain for the last 30 minutes arriving to Charing, where sadly nothing was open so we had to sit in the station until our train finally arrived.
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