We couldn’t believe it had been two months since our last walk following the route of the Royal Military Canal, but our busy summer weekends meant that we just hadn’t had the chance to get back to the walks. Today though we were setting off to another area completely new to us, and today we started our walk from the delightful village of Appledore.

As with all of the walks we have done along the canal today’s was be a circular one and the first feature we came across just outside the village of Appledore was Mill Mound, which was just that: a tiny grassy mound which looked almost out of place in the flat landscape of the Romney Marsh. What was curious though was once we came down off the mound the GPS showed we were several feet below sea level for a while. It’s hard to imagine but the River Rother once flowed past here on its way to the sea at Rye.

The first 4½ miles of the walk followed a succession of field boundaries, footpaths and bridleways but was also notable for passing two public houses. We made a stop at the first of these as today was a very hot day, so we had to keep our fluid intake up! The Ferry Inn was once a toll house and on the wall of the pub is a list of tolls that were paid to cross the river up until the 1930’s.

One place we walked through on today’s walk was the village of Stone-in-Oxney, where in 1935 the wife of the then MP for Ashford wanted to surprise him with some edible French frogs to put in the garden. Unfortunately French frogs weren’t available so she got some large Hungarian ones instead. These promptly escaped from their garden and bred rapidly and spread across the ditches and the marshes. These were in fact Marsh Frogs, and can often be heard with their loud giggling call. Nowadays they have spread much further than just the Romney Marsh and we regularly hear them in other areas of Kent as well. 
 

Having walked through Stone-in-Oxney we made our way through several more fields trying hard to follow the way-maker posts which are all too often hard to see in cultivated fields. As always we passed many sheep grazing the fields, which were now looking rather dry due to no significant rain for many weeks, but we eventually reached a point on the Isle of Oxney which allowed us extensive views. 

The Isle of Oxney was once surrounded by the tidal waters of the River Rother, which was something of a surprise to us not having visited this area before.  It is only 61 metres high but the views across the Romney Marshes are amazing, you really could see for miles. It’s hard to believe that much of the view would have been under water before the marshes were drained. To pay for the upkeep of the drainage systems on the Romney Marsh a tax known as a “scot” was levied on the inhabitants who benefitted directly from it.   Those who lived on the higher ground avoided paying the tax so got off “scot free”. It’s great when you realise where everyday sayings come from.

Walking down the incline we were once again on the marsh levels.  The next point of interest we wanted to find on this walk was Iden Lock, but to get there we had a bit of a walk and we would also cross the border between Kent and East Sussex for the first time.  When the canal was excavated the junction with the River Rother became vitally important as a source of water for the canal system. Iden Lock was opened in September 1808, linking the Canal with the River Rother and Rye Harbour.

After having a look at the lock gate and the views along the river we enjoyed a drink in the shade of some trees.  All that was left now was the three and half mile walk along the canal which doesn’t sound too bad but on this afternoon it was 28 degrees and with the sun beating down on us we really did feel the heat.  It was with some relief we crossed the bridge over the canal at Appledore and got back to the village where we had started the walk several hours earlier. The walk was almost ten miles in the end and had certainly been a very interesting one.

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