The North Downs Way Pilgrimage: Day Eighteen Stage 7 Cuxton to Thurnham

Day Eighteen Tuesday June 16

I GET IT!

All this time I've been wondering why we werent walking on the Pilgrims Way. We do sometimes, but most of the time we're on a parallel course. Why are we way the heck up here when the Pilgrims Way is down there? Its because the Pilgrims Way has been paved over. Its gone. Ok so I'm slow.
Like the Roman roads, like any road in any country thats been used by generations of people going the same way, its been used and modernized. Not like they kept it unpaved just for ME. They needed it, it was the most direct route then as it is now. So to walk on it would be boring and unsafe. This realization came later this afternoon as I climbed above the road and saw its straight line across the valley below. So we walk the next best thing, side by side.

The AH HA Moment

I met a man ("As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives") on the trail who said England has all 4 seasons in one day. Its true. Today was Spring, late Winter and dead of Summer, then late Spring.
Linda met a man walking in support hose. His name is Jack Denness and he's doing the Badwater Ultramarathon, being held in Arizona this summer. Its labeled the "Worlds Toughest Footrace". He's 80 years old!

I need to take a moment to absorb this beauty. After a while I might stop seeing it, when there are miles to cover and I start to think of my toes or my burning muscles. I seem to have a 10 mile ( or so) wall. I can tell the miles by the stiff muscles and burning toes. The sheep wool in the sock really helps. When I stop and turn around and see where I've come from I feel proud. When I look at the map and see the distance I'm amazed.

There is a nature preserve dedicated to the British wildflowers - Ranscombe Farm Preserve. Field after field of them seeded and allowed to spread on their own. I couldnt stop looking. The more I looked the more I saw. We all need to help our disappearing flowers and grasses. Check it out:

Wildflowers

The twin bridges over the River Medway. We had to cross it. Spell with me... T-E-D-I-O-U-S... and loud. I was getting dizzy walking and looking over the side. Glad thats over. Sometimes theres a lot of pavement walking, too much. Pavement is tough . I wont be wearing these shoes after this trip.

This was a sight to behold. Its the stealth bomber of trains. You dont hear it coming, it flies by like a spaceship on air silent wheels. A great invention of man.

Good Advice. Keep it Simple.

Lunch.... usually pilfered from the buffet breakfast: bread, mustard, bacon and ham. nuts, chocolate, water. Today I added some Walkers salt and vinegar chips.

KITS COTY on Blue Bell Hill is a Neolithic Burial Chamber. The site is traditionally known as the burial site of Catigern. 'Kit' for Catigern, 'Coty' means 'house'. Catigern, together with his brother Vortimer, fought Hengist and his brother Horsa here around 455AD in a battle for England. Listen closely, there will be a test. Spelling counts.

Both Horsa and Catigern were killed. We don't know who won, but Catigern was supposedly buried here. To top things off, I should say that the place is haunted; ghostly re-enactments of a (this?) battle are said to have taken place . Another tradition is that at full moon you may place a personal object on the capstone, walk around the dolmen three times, after which the object will have disappeared.
No guarantees, though.

1875 Grafitti

How the heck did they get that huge stone on there?

Onwards on the Pilgrims Way, Unpaved, YAY!

The White Horse Stone

Gæþa wyrd swa hio scel
(Goeth fate where it will)

Another burial chamber. The stone is said to be a monument to Horsa, the great warrior and King of Kent who supposedly died near the stone in the battle mentioned above. The white horse was Horsa's standard and the symbol of Kent. Today there are those among the British who honor these early kindred as an expression of Englands heathen past and present. Members of The Odinic Rite decided to formalize their reverent activities and Guardians of the White Horse Stone became an official part of the Odinic Rite. This group meets at the stone every 6 months to clear litter . Horsa approves.

Someone left an offering to Horsa

"Sleep Well My Love Sweet Dreams"

Walkers With a Sense of Humor

Can we really have gone 80 miles? I'll have to add this up. It looks like we've turned a corner, the end is getting closer. Farnham is so yesterday.

This is interesting - sitting in the middle of nowhere, a Tudor arch. And the door is blocked off. I wish I had some of this stuff.

Whoa!

Long day. We reached our new hotel, the Thurnham Keep B&B in Thurnham. No taxi today, walking to the door which is a new experience. I was given lemonade and a scone and directed to the village pub, the Black Horse. Not the White Horse?