Untitled Document

Allington to the Robin Hood pub and back

Maps - OS Landranger 178

12 miles

Start at car park for Allington Castle, Lock and Marina.

In Allington turn down Castle Road and park in the car park on the right after the railway bridge.Walk past St Laurence Lodge and turn left at Allington Castle gatehouse down the hill to Allington Lock. Cross the lock and the flood control sluices to the North bank of the Medway. Turn right (East) past the pub and moorings. On your right you will see Allington Castle. Opposite King's School Rochester boathouse turn left over boards (on muddy ground) then follow the path through the woods to playing fields at Dickens Road. Keep the play area on your right, climb up to the road and turn left then right to the top of the hill (Chatham Road) where you turn left towards a footbridge over the A229.

Cross the footbridge, go down the steps (not the ramp) turn right at the bottom onto a narow path between high fences. At the minor road cross, turn right then left though a gate into woods. Follow the path, at the fork bear left down the hill and again at the next fork. Ignore the turn on the right, but at the next fork bear right to cross a babbling brook and a stile into a field. Cross the field towards the house. At the house turn left, then right around the barn. Near the gate cross the rickety stile and turn left down the track. The noisy road on your right is the M20.

Pass the Yew Tree pub and turn right under the M20 where it is surprisingly quiet. Follow the minor road NE ignoring turns to the right and left. Pass Abbey Farm and Boarley Oast. Through the hedge to the right after Abbey Farm you can glimpse the remains of Oxley Abbey. After Boarley Oast the road bears right then left over the channel link. It then swings left to rejoin it's original route and climbs past Boarley Farm up to the Pilgrim's Way. At the way turn left.

Low route: -

Continue along the Pilgrim's Way to a petrol station on the A229. There is an underpass here, which in recent months has been flooded, so there is a diversion which takes you North on a track past a mobile home retailer, over the channel link again then to a minor road where you turn left and rejoin the high route.

High route: -

Shortly after turning left ono the Piligrim's Way there is a gate on your right. Go through this gate, there is a mound directly in front, either go over the mound or round it to the right. This will bring you to a steep narrow gulley which climbs up to the North Downs Way. Ignore the only fork to the left. Near the top there is a North Downs Way marker on your right, at the top is a post with an acorn. Turn left along the edge of the field. You are rewarded with a fine view Southwest towards Aylesford.

Where the field edge angles sharply left to the West a path strikes due North across the field to a minor road. Turn left on this road slightly South of West. Alternatively you can continue along the edge of the field ignoring where the North Downs Way drops left through the woods, coninue along the field edge to a gate on the minor road and turn left. Shortly the road turns left steeply downhill and is no longer metalled. Unfortunately this bit of track has suffered from fly tipping. It passes to the right of fields with views towards Ayelsford. As the road levels out it becomes metalled again. As you pass the Old Bellhouse the low route joins from the left.

Continue down the hill to a junction. Keep left and pass under the A229. Cross the road at the Lower Bell pub and go to the right up Old Chatham Road to pass Kit's Coty Brasserie. At the junction cross the road and continue to the right up the hill. Pass under the footbridge then turn left down Salisbury road. Turn right up Kingswood road which becomes a track. Turn right over the stile just before Kingswood House and climb the steep stepped path, cross the stile at the top and turn left down the North Downs Way.

Ignore the first left, take the second over a stile into some woods. This path brings you out onto Bluebell Hill Common. Cross the common, ignore the gate to the right and pass through the gate straight ahead. Now turn right through a gate onto Common road where you turn left. After about half a mile the road to the Robin Hood pub is on your right. This is a good place to stop for lunch.

Directly opposite the pub road there is a path leading SW and downhill through woods. Turn left as fields become visible through the hedge, keep Burham Down on your left. At the fork stay left on the slightly higher path as the right path is overgrown. At the T-junction do not turn right to Burham, turn left uphill. Turn right at the crossroads downhill following a track with, unusually, three ruts; then left onto a gravel path between two fields. This takes you down then up to another path where you turn right.

Turn left where the path meets a minor road then at the junction between Bull Lane and Pilgrim's Way cross to a stile where there is a path leading due South towards the outskirts of Eccles. The path is marked as the Centenerary Walk. The path crosses a few stiles between paddocks, passes to the right of a pylon and crosses to a stile in the middle of the hedge opposite. It then crosses the corner of a field to the end of a hedge which you then keep on your right after crossing another stile. The path then passes between Leylandii hedges before coming to a minor road where you turn left through the outskirts of Eccles.

At the end of the road turn right past the red bin. Continue due south on this path ignoring turns to the right and left, passing a pylon on your left, until you come to a sandpit directly ahead. At the sandpit turn left, after a short distance the path swings right between two hedges. At the minor road turn right then left up a one way street. At the High Street cross to the Little Gem pub and turn right. Shortly after the George Inn turn left to cross the Medway by the old bridge. At the junction on the other side of the bridge turn left then cross the road to find the path past the Waterfront flats just before the road crosses the Medway on the new bridge.

A short way after the flats cross the railway on your right. Immediately after crossing turn left on a path beside the track. The path swings right then left around a field. At a break in the hedgerow continue SE with the hedge on your left. Turn left through a gap in the hedge into the woods. At the junction with a track turn left then right over the M20. After the M20 turn left down into the woods above the railway. Turn left away from the Medway Valley walk to cross the railway again. Turn right through the boatyard then left at the fork. Shortly after bear left off the road down to the bank of the Medway and back to Allington lock. At the Lockkeeper's House turn right and return to the car park.

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