Film

Wind River

Part of the joy of seeing at least one film a month is that I end up seeing things I wouldn't otherwise watch. Rather than select a specific movie this month I went along to our local Odeon's Screen Unseen preview night. The deal is that for £5 you get to see a film, but you don't know what it is until the BBFC certificate appears.

Tonight's film was Wind River, a slow-burning drama set in the wintery hills of Wyoming. It's all culture clash, unchecked testosterone and an out-of-depth outsider.

Ultimately it was a good film, but rather too violent for me. The title card says it's "based on actual events", and there's a closing card that suggests the purpose of the film was to highlight a particular issue. I don't think it did that well, but it was an interesting telling of a story that left me scratching my head once again at American gun law while also recognising how little I know of native Indian reservations.

North Downs Way

Dover → Boughton Aleph

Distance: 25.91 miles
Ascent: 938 metres
Duration: 7 hours 38 minutes

Coda
« Folkestone | Not walked »

"Hold on," you're thinking, "didn't you finish the North Downs Way last week? How can you be back for more?"

At its eastern end, the North Downs Way presents two options for getting to Dover. We took two days over the northern option last week, which goes via Canterbury. The southern option is more direct, continuing the line of the Downs to Folkestone before turning to Dover. It's a bit tricky to split the southern route into two sections so I've come back for a mammoth final leg, walking from Dover back to where the routes split just outside Boughton Aleph.

I'd done much of the first half before — but in the opposite direction — on the coastwalk almost fifteen years ago. Things have changed though: it's great to see the new England Coast Path waymarks.

Something else I didn't see last time was the Channel Tunnel terminal. It's huge — and noisy! Although operational for almost 25 years I've still not used it myself, so I found it fascinating looking down at this, our new frontier with Europe.

Once past the tunnel I turned inland, gained the crest of the downs, got my head down and walked. Ultimately today was a trudge, a "ticking-off" exercise in the warm sunshing. When I finally got home I'd walked over thirty miles, the most I've ever done in a day. These National Trail codas are getting to be a dangerous habit.

North Downs Way

Canterbury → Dover

Distance: 20.48 miles
Ascent: 468 metres
Duration: 6 hours 47 minutes

The pilgrimage continues
« Not walked | Deal »

We were surprised to see that the path out of Canterbury was still called "Pilgrims' Way," and that it was accompanied by small waymarks of a yellow person carrying a bag. These indicate the route of the Via Francigena, a thousand kilometre route from Canterbury to Rome. If we didn't have any other walking projects on at the moment it would be tempting to follow along.

The route through the last twenty miles of Kent is relatively unremarkable. It's much of the same: wide open fields, chalk downland, oast houses, villages and parkland.

Dover itself came as a bit of a shock. After all this countryside, being thrust into the town was a jarring experience, especially as the town is defended by a busy dual carriageway road to the port. The town seems to be generally bypassed by most people — it's not interesting enough to stop in, on the way in or out of the country, but it's significantly influenced by its proximity to mainland Europe. On the seafront only a Banksy mural begins to wonder what will change here in the next few years.

So that's it: the North Downs Way is complete. Whilst we're tempted to walk on to Rome, we're instead getting on the train home to plan our next National Trail.

North Downs Way

Charing → Canterbury

Distance: 18.61 miles
Ascent: 440 metres
Duration: 6 hours 12 minutes

Even pilgrims pay
« Not walked | Not walked »

It was clear from early on today that we were approaching somewhere significant: the path grew wider and busier.

We passed through fields of wheat being harvested, endured another thunderstorm (is this a regular "Saturday thing" on the North Downs?), saw orchards full of minibuses and chalets for migrant workers. There are dozens of sermons here waiting to be written.

After a long walk, we two pilgrims finally arrived in Canterbury. Delighted to reach the cathedral before it closed, we paid the admission fee (walking The Pilgrims' Way wasn't listed as a qualifier for free entry) and sat in the vast, quiet space.

Back out in the cloisters two Dutch women approached. They'd seen us earlier on the walk, where their tour coach had stopped for lunch. I'm sure we missed some of the historical detail by not having a tour guide with us, but I much preferred arriving this way.