Walking the Darent Valley Path from The Chequers to Dartford

Here's a little known fact about me: I get inordinately excited when planning walks and adventures. It makes sense, because I subsist on the memories of those adventures for days afterwards until I can start planning the next one. I was very busy with work in the week before we walked the Darent Valley Path from The Chequers pub back to Dartford, but dreaming of my upcoming walk got me through the week.

This sunny, late winter day is still making my heart sing.

We began by catching a taxi to The Chequers pub in Darenth. They were extremely busy inside with the Sunday lunch rush but we took a seat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed some shandies while soaking up the sunshine.

On leaving the pub, we turned left and walked a short way until we saw the signs for the Darenth Valley path. Once on the path, we followed the river Darent for a while. The path is well-kept but certainly wild.

We suddenly encountered a very boggy field with a well-worn path leading to the M25 underpass. We found we had to take a fainter route farther from the Darent to avoid the mud. Thankfully, my hiking boots survived the ordeal.

The underpass was one of my favourite parts of the journey. I loved the imaginative and bold murals decorating what would otherwise be a grey space.

I have no idea what Helch refers to but I'm sure it's of great importance.

Just before the path lead us back onto Hawley Road, we walked through this pretty little arch. I imagine it is quite beautiful in summer.

Once on Hawley Road, you turn right and need to walk under the A2 before joining the path again. Luckily it is well-signposted.

We really did pick a good day for it and wide open spaces like this make my heart soar.

There were distinctive Darent Valley Path signs along the way.

Soon we were walking alongside the Darent river again, with all its walkways and charm.

We finally arrived at Brooklands Lake, one of my favourite places in Dartford and where I take my walks and runs. (More walks now since I gave up running for Peloton training).

We met a pair of Canada Geese. These types of geese are very common after being introduced to the UK about 300 years ago.

We took the long path up from the lake to the main road. By this stage, the only thing keeping Stephen going was the promise of a pint at the end of the walk.

We stopped by the Ivy Leaf; this is such a lovely, friendly pub and is very dog friendly. We then stopped at The Rose on Overy Street. Sadly, their beautiful rose garden was still one week away from its spring opening. We sat on the patio, looking out over the beer garden, and enjoyed our drink while patrons inside enjoyed their Sunday lunch.

After 2.5 miles, we were back home, just in time to enjoy the stew I’d left bubbling away in the oven. I do love a longer walk, but if I want Stephen to join me next time, I’ll need to find a route with more pubs along the way. Here's hoping spring decides to show up for our next adventure!

If you're looking for a GPX file of the full 19 mile stretch of the Darent Valley Path from the bank of the River Thames at Dartford to Sevenoaks, I can recommend the Walking Englishman who has uploaded a file on his Darent Valley Path page. I downloaded and then saved the file to Garmin Connect - Training & Planning - Courses and can then use it for future walks along different stretches of the route.