River Medway - Kent

A walk in Europe is never boring if you know (or look for)  a little history or natural history. Today Jacqui and Tom took us to Tonbridge in Kent--famous for it's oast houses (no pic unfortunately) for a purposeful walk for two hours or more, by the river Medway which runs out at Rochester.

The countryside is very flat, with many fine specimens of oak trees.

The occasional concrete 'pill box' - a reminder of the threat of invasion in WWII.

We must have found Harry Potter's 'Walloping Willow', or oak, judging by the sign!

All throughout our time here we have picked blackberries to eat raw or make into desserts. Here in Kent was the proof that this County is the 'garden of England' - thanks in part to the Hugenots of the 15/16/17th centuries.The bushes were laden with berries.

There are locks on the river--much more substantial and recent  than smaller canal locks.

We finished with a pub meal (what else?) where Roast Beef HAD to be the dish of choice for our last full day here - together with local beer, of course. A taxi took us back to our car.

The pub was another ancient feature --if only those beams  could talk. One side of the Medway -men are 'Kentish Men' and the other they are 'Men of Kent'. It goes back to 1066 and which men fought more bravely against William the Conquerer --it was the latter group who fought more bravely--still remembered today.

Note Mary's concentration on the food!