I must confess to changing the route slightly: during my research on the best route to take from St Augustine’s Cross to Canterbury, I came across information suggesting that the landing place was more likely to have been at Richborough than at Ebbsfleet, and that the cross was erected by a Victorian gentleman interested in promoting his nearby hotel, so, in order to make a more straightforward walk, we set out from Sandwich to follow the Saxon Shore Way past Richborough up to Grove Ferry, and from there the Stour Valley Walk to Canterbury. The weather was kind, there was not too much mud, and only one field full of big scary cows (which we missed out and followed the Stodmarsh Road instead, which was probably more dangerous!)
According to my lovely new pedometer, we walked for 17.5 miles between Sandwich and Canterbury, which is the furthest I have ever walked in my life! I must say it was a very enjoyable day, the only painful bit was my left little toe, and up until the last couple of miles, which we did at more of a trot than a walk, as it was getting dark as we followed the path from Fordwich to Canterbury, it wasn’t too tiring at all. It was very strange to be in such solitude as we must have walked for at least the first 10 miles without passing another soul, apart from some student rowing teams. We got back home after 10 hours away, and I can’t remember much of Saturday evening at all!So a big thank you to all who have donated via this page, and offline, and helped me raise money for Canterbury Cathedral and Tagona. Please carry on sponsoring until I reach 100% of my target though!! (12/10/09)
Tony and I are going to do a 15 mile walk starting from Saint Augustine's Cross near Ramsgate, the site of Saint Augustine's landing in Kent in 597AD, and finishing at Canterbury Cathedral, the site of his original and first Cathedral in England. We hope to follow the Stour Valley walk for most of the way.
We will be doing this walk on Saturday 10th October and we are both hoping to be back at our desks on the Monday morning, although as it's been quite a while since we walked more than a mile or two, we might not be able to walk far from our desks! We are hoping to raise £400 which will be split between Save Canterbury Cathedral and Tagona Orphanage in Zimbabwe. You can read more about Canterbury Cathedral and the repairs needed to maintain it on the link on this page.
Tagona Orphange on the other hand, is a small, personally run organisation which was set up to support children orphaned by the aids/HIV pandemic in the Kadoma area of Zimbabwe. It started with one boy needing to sell some eggs to support himself and his brother, and has grown to around 50 children of all ages, some living together in the original house, with others being placed with foster families until such time as bigger premises can be built. These children are all in need of support in terms of food, clothing, school fees and medical costs. As you probably know the situation in Zimbabwe is still very hard, so all donations are very gratefully received. I have promised to raise enough money to buy some chicks for our "chicken project" in which we hope to enable the orphanage to run an egg-selling business - after all it's always better to help people become self-sufficient than to just keep on giving money. The story started with a handful of eggs, and I hope to complete the circle! I just need to raise £200 for Tagona.
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