Thank you so much to all who sponsored me. This is a report of my walk.

 

 

 

RECORD OF FRIENDS OF KENT CHURCHES  WALK – REV SIMON TILLOTSON

On 14 September I attempted to walk from the other side of Herne Bay, Beltinge, to Faversham hoping to visit 26 of the churches in Herne Bay, Whitstable and Faversham en route. I regret I did not fully succeed as I had wished, but I do hope I did enough to make those who have sponsored me feel their money was not given in vain. I promise I tried my best but there were a number of factors which I list below which clarify why I did not succeed completely as I had hoped and why I accepted the offer of a lift over the marshlands between Whitstable and Faversham.

 

The main reason I did not succeed in totality was probably due to lack of planning and also underestimating how long it would take to visit all the churches in Whitstable and Herne Bay. There was a lot of zig zagging which I did not take into account when calculating the distance. I thought it was an 18 mile route but I think in all it would have been well over 20 miles.

 

I did manage to walk 13.8 miles and visited 21 churches so I do have a fair sense of achievement. I did walk as fast as I could till I became very tired at the Faversham stage.

 

As you will see below, I accepted the offer of a lift at one point when it was clear I would not make it back to Whitstable for an important appointment. I do not believe I have cheated by doing this as I am telling you now. Sponsored events are usually based on "so much" "per mile" and sponsored participants are not always able to complete what they set out to. I think it would only be cheating if I did not tell you I took a lift for some of the way between Whitstable and Faversham, for the reasons I set out below. It was the right decision as my only other realistic option would have been to turn back at Seasalter and never get to Faversham.

 

I am grateful to all of you who sponsored me and if you feel you are unable to commit in view of the fact that I did not fully complete the task, I will understand.

 

Below are the distances walked and then my comments follow – thank you to all who sponsored. Sorry I was not able to successfully complete all I planned to do but I promise I did my very best!

 

Also you will see a scanned copy of the “route card”. Not all churches had manned people at them so this was not completed at all the churches.

I have also included some photos of the route.

It was fun, but the weather was not great and I was under a fair amount of pressure to get to Faversham for 4.30pm where a lift awaited me to get back to Whitstable for an important 5pm appointment. But it was worth it as I did manage to raise quite a lot of money.

 

The route was as follows: Beltinge Methodist Church CT6 6QL to Beltinge Baptist Church CT6 6LQ  0.8 miles

Beltinge Baptist Church CT6 6LQ to St Bartolph’s Herne Bay CT6 6EB 0.4 miles

St Bartolph’s Herne Bay to Christ Church Herne Bay and the United Church Mortimer Street Herne Bay CT6 5ER 1.1 miles

Christ Church Herne Bay and the United Church Herne Bay to the Beacon Church Herne Bay CT6 8QE  0.9 miles

Beacon Church to St Andrews Church Hampton  CT6 8DY 0.9 miles

St Andrews Hampton to St Johns Swalecliffe along sea front   2.5 miles

St Johns Swalecliffe to Swalecliffe Baptist church 0.3 miles

Swalecliffe Baptist Church to All Saints Whitstable  1.4 miles

All Saints Whitstable to Our Lady Immaculate 0.5 miles

Our Lady Immaculate to St Peters Whitstable CT5 1EL  0.7 miles

St Peters to Whitstable Baptist Church via Harbour Street Fellowship CT5 1BJ 0.4 miles

Whitstable Baptist Church to St Johns Methodist Church via St Alphege Whitstable 0.2 miles

St Johns Methodist Church to Seasalter Old Church CT5 4BB  1.8 miles

 

Total to this point

I arrived at Seasalter Old Church at 2.15pm having left at 10am from Beltinge.

Total distance covered = 11.9 miles. This included breaks in the various churches where I had to sign in

At 2.30pm I was approached by two members of St Peters and we had a conversation. I realised I would not get to Faversham before 4.30pm which was the latest I could arrive there as I had a Pantomime rehearsal at 5pm at the Vicarage. I had drastically miscalculated how long it would take me to get to Seasalter Old Church.

They therefore offered me a lift to Graveney Church as they were going there anyway and eventually dropped me off at the outskirts of Faversham at postcode ME13 8BJ. Thank you so much to Pat and Reg Spillett! Due to you I was able to visit some of the Faversham churches too!

 

The remainder of the route was as follows;

Faversham ME13 8BJ to Faversham Baptist Church ME13 8EH 0.7 miles

Faversham Baptist church to St Mary of Charity Church Street 0.4 miles

ST Mary of Charity Church Street to St Catherine’s Church Preston Lane Faversham 0.6 miles

St Catherine’s Church back to Faversham railway station 0.2 miles where my final visit was to the United Church of Faversham

Total within Faversham = 1.9 miles

 

From Faversham Railway Station I got my lift home to Whitstable. I was too tired to visit any other churches in Faversham.

 

CONCLUSION: I only walked 13.8 miles but it was all on concrete which gave me blisters and I visited 21 churches.

Had I been able to start earlier in the morning I may well have made the whole route but this was impossible as the church’s were not open till 10am due to the organisation rules for the day.

Each stop at a church held me up by approximately 5 minutes, queueing sometimes to sign the form etc.

 

I must say I found it very hard work in the drizzle and on the concrete so I believe I have earned a lot of the sponsorship for the Friends of Kent Church and All Saints Whitstable. However, if people do feel that I have not succeeded and want their money back, or decide not to sponsor me after all, I will accept that graciously. It was obvious to me at 2.30pm that I would not have been able to make it to Faversham on foot without cancelling the Pantomime rehearsal, which was a practical impossibility as I did not know who was planning to attend as it was an open invitation.  However, it may be a blessing in disguise that I was unable to complete the trip as I was very footsore in the last few miles and clearly not very fit.I wonder if I would still be somewhere on the Graveney marshes if I had not accepted the kind offer of a lift (I am writing this the same day at 8.45pm).

 

Thank you so much to all of you for sponsoring me. It was tough going but I enjoyed the experience and I am very grateful to all of your generosity!

Next time I promise to plan more accurately. I did walk at a fast pace but it clearly was not fast enough. There were far more zig zags than I realised too! And the weather was pretty dreadful too but at least the rain kept me cool!

Photos below

Thank you again

Rev Simon Tillotson

All Saints Whitstable – 01227 272308  - tillotsons@gmail.com