Day 5 – Closing in, Boughton Lees to Chilham

Hiking is pain. I say this not as a complaint, or to seek sympathy, but to allow those who have not attempted to hike 60 miles or more in 10 days or less to understand an aspect of through hiking that is not often discussed.

On this day my heel is still hurting and I have somehow hurt my back but I have always been a “play hurt” kind of guy so one grits one’s teeth, take a couple of ibuprofen (not much help honestly) and move on.

The day started like the last finished rainy, windy and gray but since the inn was right on the path, no trouble getting back on the trail. A little way along we ran into a gentleman walking his dog, a not uncommon occurrence as folks in the southern UK love their dogs. This gentleman, Neil Lamont, was unique in that his claim to fame is in films. He was an assistant art director/sculptor on most of the Harry Potter, Star Wars and a couple of Bond movies. Really nice guy. BTW the next installment of the Fantastic Beasts movies series is due in theatres next spring as they had just wrapped up post production. You heard it here first!

As we moved along we came to All Saints church where ostensibly another passport stamp could be obtained. Alas the church was locked and it began to rain in earnest.

This day as we moved along the gps indicated that to avoid a large hill we should cut across a field and hike along the road. Really bad idea as the traffic was moving at highway speeds. So we found a break in a hedge row and got out of harms way.

Unfortunately that meant that for a while we were going to have to make our own path. Fortunately, other than one creek we had to semi jump across (thank God for trekking poles and my AllTrails app) we soon came across another path that carried us to the edge of town and the road we were supposed to be on except now we had a sidewalk to travel on.

I do not have a photo but in rural England where there are sidewalks they are often no more than 3’ wide so often we were up close and personal with the traffic hurtling in our direction. When it was a big rig you just turned so your backpack took most of the mist a blow. Again, I’m not complaining just explaining that there are some days where one’s sole goal is simply getting from point to point.

Shortly after crossing next to the bridge above we got off the road.

As we got back on the path we moved into a small college a pasture and Bill and Rich made a new friend.

It started raining again as we slogged along through a field.

But eventually we caught site of Chillham castle and our day was done and we were at the Woolpack Inn

Tomorrow on to Canterbury!