ROMNEY MARSH PILGRIMAGE WALK - 25 MILES

ABOUT THE WALK & MY STORY -

I knew Romney Marsh from the outside having walked all the coast and the Saxon Shore Way, but not what was in the middle! I was casting around on a Friday afternoon trying to work out where to go the following day. I knew it would have to be a bike ride as I hadn’t ridden much the last 3 months, and I had a 60 mile charity bike ride the following week. My gut feeling was to cycle the Viking Coast Trail from Margate; a delightful 32 mile ride that I had done two years ago. As I looked for the details I came across a walk/cycle guide to Kent. There was the Viking Trail but also a route round Romney Marsh. i opted for that and then a quick research and discovered a remote St. Thomas of Canterbury church. Now i knew I had to go and discover it.

So the following morning at 7am I was on the train to Charing Cross and onwards to Ashford and Appledore and the start of the 35 mile circuit. All I knew was that Romney Marsh according to “early geographers was referred to as the 5th. Continent”. Also St. Thomas Becket church has a legend being built by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the 12th. centuryhe was travelling through Romney Marsh, when he fell into waterlogged dyke and nearly drowned. Only by praying to St. Thomas that a miracle happened and a farmer appeared and pulled him out. As a thanksgiving for his life he built the church. I decided to go that church last as I made my way back to Appledore Station.

First I headed to lvychurch and was stunned by St. George’s church, the “Cathedral of Romney Marsh”. What had I stumbled upon, I wondered? I pressed on and after a No Through Road, which was shown as the route to the ride, but no way through, reached my next gem - St. Clement’s church, Old Romney. I decided to do the longer circuit and cycled to Lydd and another fine church, known as the “Cathedral of the Marsh”. Then onto the sea via Camber Sands to the stunning village of Rye. Here I picked up the Military Canal and followed it to Appledore, where I turned to follow a lane to the lost village of Fairfield, and St. Thomas Becket church surrounded by water-filled dykes and many grazing sheep. I secured the bike and walked along the path and crossed the bridges to the church and sat admiring the solitude and quietness. The church door was locked, but I hadn’t read the notice near the gate that a key was available from a house close-by. Sadly time was short, but I could see the box pews and timbered beams through the windows. I knew I would come back.

I pressed on along the lanes to Snargate and another fine church, St.
Dunstans, but I had to hurry onto Appledore Station and the train back to London; overall with travelling, it was a 13 hour day. I felt deeply connected to the flat landscape, with fields full of Romney sheep; I felt I had come home and reunited with somewhere unique and special. I knew I would be back in a few days, the ride had given me a special overview of this outstanding area. I sat down with the church notes and information I had collected on my ride and began working out a walk/pilgrimage route that started from Appledore, to encompass as many churches as possible within the constraints of a 20/25 mile walk. I couldn’t get over the fact that I had stumbled upon another St. Thomas Becket location, having walked to Canterbury more than ten times by various routes. More recently tracing one from his first living at Bramfield, near Hertford to Waltham Abbey, then to Pilgrim's Hatch and Brentwood - a ruined chapel there is dedicated to him - and onto the pilgrim ferry at
Tilbury to Gravesend and the onward walk to Canterbury.

So the following week I was back in Appledore to do a 23 mile walk, but met problems! Whilst there are footpath signs from the roads, there is nothing in-between. There are “stiles”, gates and many foot-bridges, but often no discernible path or yellow arrows, indicating the direction. It became a voyage of will and endeavour to discover the route of a path. In the end i had to give up for I couldn't find any exit in one field where the path, according to map, went. But it did have a happy ending for I discovered Johnson's Corner, the site of a WW2 bomber crash site.

I returned to the office and looked at the maps again. Keeping what was  workable and adjusted my walk plan and went back again to put it together. The result is this 25 mile walk which is both a day challenge and a pilgrimage walk around a fascinating area.

Set off and enjoy this absorbing area which deserves to be walked and explored. I am sure you will have a memorable day.

A LITTLE ABOUT ROMNEY MARSH -

A large low lying and thinly populated wetland area of Kent and East
Sussex, covering an area of approximately 100 square miles. The
Rector of St. Dunstan’s church, Snargate, (1817-1829) which you will
walk to, was Richard Harris Barham who wrote the “Ingoldsby
Legends”, under the pseudonym of Norman Ingoldsby. Romney
Marsh became known as the Fifth Continent, for he wrote - “The
world according to the best geographers is divided into Europe, Asia,
Africa, America and Romney Marsh.” (1837).

Today the marsh is full of dykes and sheep and the Romney Breed date from the I3th. century and known as “semi long wool” sheep. Today they are the best known sheep in the world for their stock
has helped create sheep farms all over the world, including Australia and New Zealand. In 1939 it is recorded that some 200,000 sheep were grazing here.

A5 Guide = placed in a wrap around plastic cover and siigned by John Merrill.

Special cloth badge and signed certificate available from John Merril for successful walkers/pilgrims.

Walkers added to my Walkers Roll of Honour page.