Swadar two

Verified Slow Way

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I walked this on a mostly overcast Saturday morning, from Dartford to Swanley. It had been bone dry in the last few weeks.

From Dartford station, the route starts with almost immediately following the Darenth Valley Way (photo #1), and goes through Central Park, and along the Brooklands Lakes (photo #3). The path was easy going here, with some asphalt, gravel (photo #2) and dirt. After crossing the A2 there is a section along Hawley Road, which was not too pleasant (photo #5) with fast cars. I left crossing to the west side until Mill Road, where it seemed a bit easier.

Going through Hawley along Shirehall Road was a little annoying, as there is mostly no pavement (photo #6), and on this Saturday morning the traffic was not light. I couldn't find a footpath on the south side of it, along the edge of the field, but I think that *could* be doable.

Between Hawley and Swanley Village, I made a few changes. The first section of footpaths was great (photo #7, #, #9), but where the route goes towards "Clement Street" (the village, not the road), there were horses and farmers in the field. I avoided those and continued towards Goss Hill, and then back to where the route went. Not far south, the route directed me through a field full of medium tall grass (photo #10), with no discernable path. I decided to walk further south, around Holts Farm to pick the route back up as close as I could near School Lane. I should really just have pushed through the field with grass, as the paths around Holts Farm were overgrown with very badly maintained stiles. The path along St Paul's Church and Swanley Village Green was nice (photo #11).

From Swanley the route goes over farmland, and then follows the railway for a bit along farm tracks (photo #12). It was pretty easy going. After using the level crossing to get around the Chatham Main Line, the route went through a field of wheat (photo #13). There was a discernable path here, but the wheat things stuck all over my socks, which I had to pluck when I got to Chrischurch village. It seems that instead of the level crossing, you can cross the railway at a bridge first, before going through the same wheat field, but I didn't not see a path there.

Once you get to Christchurch, the rest is along residential roads and a High Street (photo #14) to Swanley station.

This is a nice route, following field paths up and along a broad ridge from Swanley Village to Hawley and then close beside the River Darent (no H!) along the Darenth (with an H!) Valley Way. The two pubs in Swanley Village have promising writeups for a meal, although it is barely mid-route.

The noise of the A2 and M25 is pretty pervasive around Hawley but it fades away more quickly along the river.

The route overlaps with Dartford-Longfield/Hartley and I walked that part in Nov 2022. It's very good. It uses the marked Darenth Valley trail alongside the river and through Brooklands Lakes to within spitting distance of Dartford Station. For some reason I added a unhelpful but brief diversion off the D V Way just north of Central Park. With a building site at one end and gates at the other. Please ignore it. Either stay on the D V Way or the way in the first review for food, shops etc.

I walked from Hawley to Swanley yesterday, looking out for the points raised in the earlier review. I did a loop to check out the alternate suggestion near Gildenhill Rd / Goss Hill as well. Both have upsides, depending on the season, and probably the crop. But if I went back next week I'd use the original.

Coming from Hawley the original way had interesting plants in the top paddocks which swayed me, but also 5 stiles rather than 3. Electric fencing seems safe though and I like how there are blue plastic barrels or piping by the stiles which you can see from afar. One stile had a single, pretty high step plus a gate immediately below it, not ideal but usuable. Elsewhere on the route are several more stiles, a few flights of steps, gates and a bit on the DVW where the path edge = riverbank was crumbling away.

The alternate way crossed a meadow (between Goss Hill and Lower Rd). No cleared path, grass waist then chest height, looked like only one or two people had walked through it. That sometimes hid low thistles and brambles. Not great where it was pretty steep. Or without long sleeves and in shorts. If the grass is short then it's probably better but follow John's map, don't waste time on the short cut E-W path SD75A onto Goss Hill, from the road end there's no way up the steep bank or through the thick hedge.

At the other split point (route Vs alt) things hadn't improved since John's review. No trace of the farmer marking either path across the crop. GPS on the phone was helpful to take a bearing, but there was also a worn path along the south eastern corner between (quiet) Gildenhill Rd and the gap in the hedge. The crop was linseed but it seemed stunted, I mostly couldn't even see where I had just walked. No trodden soil either. Some flower buds were already showing, the farmer must be cursing this dry spell.

That field, and those southward towards St Paul's Church, have many interlocking paths shown on OS maps but on the ground thing are different. The boundary points which are important for us do roughly match, but the others, and the path lines, not so much. I used an OSM map (like the Slow Ways site) to draw the route and those fit reality better. The farmer reinstating the path as legally required would be better still. And maybe the council putting fingerposts when 4 or more paths meet. This makes me grumpy, but you should be fine if you have a map. I'd still use the level crossing near Swanley because of the sight lines on Beechenlea Lane.

The second half of this route pleasantly follows the Darent Valley path into Dartford alongside the river. There are one or two problems on the other half! Coming out of West View Road, Swanley the route goes across a field to cross the railway. Although sight lines are good the crossing can be avoided by taking the right hand path across the field and using Beechenlea Lane to cross a bridge. In Swanley Village there's a short section of road without a pavement. After St. Peter's Church the footpaths across the fields are not well signposted (you need to bear left across the second field). The next field is ploughed and it's only just possible to see the path across to Gildenhill Road (although following the clearer path left to Lower Road is possible and avoids the next problem - see map). The next section of path goes through a paddock with several stiles and an electric fence. Shirehall Road in Hawley has pavement for about half its length although it's fairly quiet. A diversion to the Garden Centre is possible here but the café seems to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. There's a café and toilets in Central Park but only open at weekends in the winter. The route through Dartford Town Centre is easy - straight on past the library down Market Place, left into the High Street, right into Bull's Head Yard and soon you'll see steps that lead to the station.

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