Some good news tonight, the PM is out of Intensive Care but remains in hospital. Hopefully all will be well with him.
What a beautiful day weatherise. Unbroken clear blue skies and no sign of an aircraft until the evening when about 3 left from London. Top temperature was 23 degrees so after doing some morning housework Sue and I set off to do the walk I had promised to find the source of the River Loose.
In my post of 4th April I had run from Tovil where the stream meets the Medway but I could get no further on the public footpath half a mile or so from Brishing Lane. So today we walked around the private land and met the stream once more, this time at Brishing Road. Fortunately, there was a footpath by the stream so off we went into virgin country in the hope of finding the mysterious Langley Loch. Eventually we came across the first pond and following the path over a wide open field we came to the Loch.
It was just what I had hoped for a large expanse of water hidden between Brishing Rd and the A274 at Langley. At this we point we left the signposted path and took the clockwise track. At this end of the lake there were a few teenagers diving in and making a bit of noise with the help of a few drinks. Keeping out social distance we passed by and followed the loch on the north side. We were soon confronted by two, we assume anglers, who told us we were on private land and shouldn’t be on this side as the public path was on the other side. I apologised and told them about our quest and we set off. No doubt they were on their way to remove the teenagers. I am glad we continued on that side of the lake as we had the best views of the water.
We followed the stream towards Langley Church and we thought we must be nearing the source by now.
Looking back we could see just how close the new housing development has got coming out of Maidstone. It is clear from all we saw along our journey that developments would eventually reach right down to what is still our beautiful valley.
From there we soon met Langley village by the old school and church. We thought we had found the end of the stream as we were met by the gardens of houses but Sue spotted a culvert heading towards the main road. I thought I knew the village well particularly as I used to clean the windows of several of the houses there. Intrigued we crossed the road and there we found a footpath and the stream running through the garden of a house where I once cleaned windows, Mrs Underwood I believe it was, large bungalow 12s 6d in the mid 60’s.
From it’s source to the River Medway the River Loose is roughly 6 miles. So is it a River or Stream? well this is the definition that confirms that it is a river as it follows a valley, that’s good enough for me!
“A river is a natural flow of running water that follows a well-defined, permanent path, usually within a valley. A stream (also called a brook or a creek) is a natural flow of water that follows a more temporary path that is usually not in a valley. … The origin of a river or stream is called its source.”
Our walk back home took a loop back to the A274 where soon after we found a path leading back to the River. However the the path bisected the construction area and from there we could see how the far it would eventually go into Langley.
I know homes are needed but this end of our hidden valley is fast disappearing.
In his book, The Enchanted Road, Donald Maxwell, the well known travel writer of the 1920s, describes what is known to be the Loose Valley as “The Valley of Dreams” and his poem “ A Riddle of Kent” conjures it up. To quote the first verse:
“I know of a valley enchanted, a valley of crystalline streams, a valley of Kent in a mountain – I call it a Valley of Dreams.”
We followed the path home via the public footpath on the south side of the Loch, the views of the water were limited because of trees but none themes pretty.
We reached Brishing Road just after returning to our first pond. Our walk of over 3 hrs along 9 miles had steered our minds for a while from the current Corona Virus crisis. We were abruptly reminded as we reached the pond. There were at least a dozen or so children and adults playing in the water, which, incidentally is the stagnant run off from the development workings and not part of our lovely river. The Government rules forbid groups of more than two people and permits just exercise walks, cycling or running. If they don’t catch the virus there are plenty of other germs lurking in that pond. When will people learn and do as they are told.