Description
An off-road route following the Darent Valley Path along the river to the pretty Chequers pub near Darenth and then footpaths across fields with glimpses of The Shard and Canary Wharf towers from the high ground especially near St Margarets Farm.
Takes the direct route from Dartford station to Central Park, past the theatre and the High St. Alternatively you could use the Darent Valley Path, from just east of the station (SwaDar 2 has the details).
Break points: There is a bus service at Hawley, and if you take a little detour south along the A225, there is a garden centre with a cafe, and a bakery (pub is now closed). A little further down the DV Path is the Chequers pub, which is the last eating option. This route deliberately avoids South Darenth, but if you want a shop, or to get to a mid-route train station (bus service is pretty limited and none on Sundays) then carry on along the DV Path, you can pick up SwaHar 3 to get to Longfield (aka Hartley) without (much) walking on Rabbit Rd, which has blind bends and pretty fast traffic for a single lane road
An off-road route following the Darent Valley Path along the river to the pretty Chequers pub near Darenth and then footpaths across fields with glimpses of The Shard and Canary Wharf towers from the high ground especially near St Margarets Farm.
Takes the direct route from Dartford station to Central Park, past the theatre and the High St. Alternatively you could use the Darent Valley Path, from just east of the station (SwaDar 2 has the details).
Break points: There is a bus service at Hawley, and if you take a little detour south along the A225, there is a garden centre with a cafe, and a bakery (pub is now closed). A little further down the DV Path is the Chequers pub, which is the last eating option. This route deliberately avoids South Darenth, but if you want a shop, or to get to a mid-route train station (bus service is pretty limited and none on Sundays) then carry on along the DV Path, you can pick up SwaHar 3 to get to Longfield (aka Hartley) without (much) walking on Rabbit Rd, which has blind bends and pretty fast traffic for a single lane road
Status
This route has been reviewed by 3 people.
There are no issues flagged.
Photos for Darhar two
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Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 3
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (3)
There are currently no problems reported with this route.
Downloads - 3
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Dartford
Grid Ref
TQ5428574340
Lat / Lon
51.44705° / 0.21884°
Easting / Northing
554,285E / 174,341N
What3Words
rails.term.dices
Hartley (Sevenoaks)
Grid Ref
TQ6012168869
Lat / Lon
51.39627° / 0.30029°
Easting / Northing
560,121E / 168,870N
What3Words
tile.sugars.plots
| Dartford | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | TQ5428574340 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.44705° / 0.21884° |
| Easting / Northing | 554,285E / 174,341N |
| What3Words | rails.term.dices |
| Hartley (Sevenoaks) | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | TQ6012168869 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.39627° / 0.30029° |
| Easting / Northing | 560,121E / 168,870N |
| What3Words | tile.sugars.plots |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Derick Rethans
26 Nov 2023I walked this on a cold and windy afternoon, from Longfield (I mean, Hartley) to Dartford. It had rained a little in the past week.
From Longfield there is a bit of a climb around a nursing home, before ending up in a woodland path for a little while (photo #1). At the end, the route goes towards the road, but on a long diagonal. It is much better to follow the edge of the field towards Fawkham Road, but it's not a PROW.
Once crossed the road, the route goes through another wood with a single (wobbly) style. There is then a long slog up a shallow hill (photo #2) across fields, with wide open views., and then across a field with crops still on (photo #3). After a little path through woods again (photo #4), you have to do some lane walking along Canada Farm Road and Rabbits Road (photo #5). Both with no verge. Luckily the traffic wasn't busy, and neither was it very long.
The field between Rabbits Road and Wilson Lane was recently ploughed (photo #6), and it was hard to see were the path was (I basically had to compass it myself). On the other side was a little more lane walking along Wilson Lane and Gills Road (photo #7), but these were not busy either.
After leaving Gills Road, the route continues along a ridge-y path (photo #8, #10) with great views of Darenth (photo #19). As it was fairly exposed, the wind was biting harshly though. After a short section along Roman Villa Road (photo #11), the route then crosses another field to end up at a church, from where the route starts following the Darent Valley Walk (photo #12, #14, #15) all the way into Dartford. The only annoying section was having to follow Hawley Road (photo #13) for a while to cross under the A2.
In Dartford, the route deviates from the DVW and makes a straighter route straight towards the station.
The lane walking makes this a 4 star route.
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Daisy C
13 Feb 2023The Darenth Valley Path was lovely to walk along, and pretty good signage too. The Chequers was very friendly with huge portions of Sunday roast. The hills to the east are mostly fairly gentle, with a few short, slightly steeper bits, including in and out of a small dell with a couple of chocolate box pretty cottages. Where the path comes out onto Fawkham Rd, just outside Longfield, there is a short, unofficial path along a field edge, which links the footpaths and avoids walking in the road.
I walked this in two parts, first as part of DarHar 1(up to the Chequers) and secondly when testing this and SwaHar route options to find a traffic-free way between South Darenth and Longfield. And that meant I missed out the footpaths between the Chequers and St Margarets Farm and a diagonal footpath between Wilson Rd and Rabbit Rd. That is the only reason I'm not giving 5 stars, as it was a very enjoyable walk.
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