Section 3 (Out)
Hawkinge To Etchinghill
Walk Details
| Map | OS Explorer 138 (Dover, Folkestone & Hythe) |
|---|---|
| Distance/Time | 5 Miles (2.5 Hours) |
| Start | The ‘White Horse’ pub. There is a village car park further into the village by shops. |
| Comment | There is much new building in Hawkinge and the cemetery is a little tricky to navigate but thereafter the route is in quiet countryside. In the final section there are excellent views. There are stiles. |
Walk Instructions
With the White Horse Inn on the left, walk forward into the village, soon passing shops on the left. Cross Aerodrome Road going off left and soon reach a narrow road also going off to the left. There is a bungalow up on a bank (no. 145) and signs indicating ‘no through road’, and, ‘cycle route’. Turn up this lane and keep on to the very top passing building work on the right. At the top emerge onto a road by a new roundabout.
Bear right around the roundabout ignoring the new road going off right to take the next road. Almost immediately reach the stone entrance pillars of Hawkinge Cemetery gates. Go through and pass a lodge on the left.
The roadway swings left and soon reaches a junction of three ways. Keep to the extreme left turning by a lawn on the left. In about 30m take a very straight track on the right between grave stones. This heads away, slightly uphill, to the far side of the cemetery.
On reaching the very edge of the cemetery, go straight ahead into a rough pasture with a hedge on the right. This is a very feint path. Where the hedge stops, keep ahead, slightly left downhill, to a group of trees in the far bottom corner. Go through the trees and pass two broken stiles to enter a field.
Keep in the same direction across the field passing another disused stile on the left to continue across a further field heading towards the roof of a house concealed in trees. In the far corner of the field there is another stile and a fieldgate. Go through this onto a farm track between hedges by Redsole Farm.
Go forward to cross a metalled road to a stile ahead.
Cross and continue forward to a second stile. Keep on towards a painted house ahead. The path emerges onto a road in front of the painted house. Turn left and walk uphill. Ignore a bridlepath going off right and continue on up to a road junction (the Cat and Custard Pot pub is just down on the left).
Here turn right on the road (signed Etchinghill) and follow the road with great care for some distance, downhill, to another T-junction.
Go straight ahead across a stile into a field (ignore a stile in fence on right). Climb the slope with a hedge on the right. Where the hedge ends keep on across a very large field towards a distant farm. Eventually cross a stile in a wire fence and keep forward, just right of farm buildings, to reach another stile under a tree. Go on up to a road. Cross the road to another footpath leading into a grassy paddock.
At the far side is a further stile (good distant views out to sea). Cross and turn right away from the sea across the corner of the field with a village in the valley below, to a stile leading into a thicket. Go through this to a wooden fence and look for a stile down on the left. Cross into the field and bear left downhill towards distant houses and a stile in the bottom corner.
Across this turn right on a grassy track which swings around the top edge of a steep grassy valley. At the far side, just before a fieldgate, turn left and walk along with the hedge on the right and a steep drop on the left. Look carefully for a stile in the hedge on the right. Cross into a field.
Head straight across the field under power lines towards a large house part hidden behind a hedge. To the right of the house is a metal fieldgate and stile. Leave the field and emerge onto a road. Turn left down the road and follow it to a T-junction with a main road in Etchinghill. Turn right along the main road to soon reach the ‘New Inn’ and the end of the section.
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