Rochester to Canterbury - Augustine Camino or Pilgrims Way?

[BarbaraW]

I am hoping to walk from Rochester to Canterbury this autumn with my 10 year old grand-daughter and her mother. We are all interested in history and like walking. My grand-daughter has followed my caminos to Santiago with great interest. I hope it will be the first part of a Camino Ingles for me. We'd be looking at 10-12 mile days and know that we will need to get taxis off-route for accommodation. We chose the area for proximity to home.

Is anyone familiar with these routes and can advise on pros and cons of each, please.

 

[Hertsseasider]

Hi

We have walked the entire North Downs Way in Kent albeit in several stages. We followed the Pilgrims Way which more or less follows the train route from London to Canterbury via Maidstone and Ashford. On this route you are never too far away from a station - Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, Lenham, Charing, Wye and Chilham. This made it handy to walk a stage and then return home (Bearsted) by train.
May be worth considering for you ?

Enjoy the walk, Kent has some fabulous scenary.

 

[mazzarina]

I am hoping to walk from Rochester to Canterbury this autumn with my 10 year old grand-daughter and her mother. We are all interested in history and like walking. My grand-daughter has followed my caminos to Santiago with great interest. I hope it will be the first part of a Camino Ingles for me. We'd be looking at 10-12 mile days and know that we will need to get taxis off-route for accommodation. We chose the area for proximity to home.

Is anyone familiar with these routes and can advise on pros and cons of each, please.

Hello Barbara, what a wonderful thing to do with your granddaughter and her mother! I can only advise on the Augustine Camino because I haven't walked the Pilgrims' Way. I thought the AC was absolutely beautiful. Aylesford Priory was a real highlight for me and definitely worth staying at - breakfast in the 13th-century Pilgrims' Hall is unforgettable. And you'll get a warm welcome there (it's worth booking in for dinner if you can; options in Aylesford are patchy, depending on the day). Faversham is also a lovely place to visit, with beautiful old houses and good for a wander. Here are a few pics from my Twitter account of my walk.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1657998852006264832

 

[Leaderene]

Hi

We have walked the entire North Downs Way in Kent albeit in several stages. We followed the Pilgrims Way which more or less follows the train route from London to Canterbury via Maidstone and Ashford. On this route you are never too far away from a station - Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, Lenham, Charing, Wye and Chilham. This made it handy to walk a stage and then return home (Bearsted) by train.
May be worth considering for you ?

Enjoy the walk, Kent has some fabulous scenary.

Just echoing your comments here. I did the same and it made it very easy. Also as the train stations were in small towns and villages most of the time, there may be accommodation too if you want it. Good luck, it's a great walk.

 

[dougfitz]

I am hoping to walk from Rochester to Canterbury this autumn with my 10 year old grand-daughter and her mother. We are all interested in history and like walking. My grand-daughter has followed my caminos to Santiago with great interest. I hope it will be the first part of a Camino Ingles for me. We'd be looking at 10-12 mile days and know that we will need to get taxis off-route for accommodation. We chose the area for proximity to home.

Is anyone familiar with these routes and can advise on pros and cons of each, please.

I walked the Augustine Camino in Dec 2019. I suspect the average distances were about what you are contemplating, but used the services of Gerald Kelly, the author of the guidebook I was using, to book accommodation. Everywhere I stayed was on or very close to the route - certainly walking distance. I cannot provide much detail of the stages right now as I am travelling, but I will look those up when I get home later this week.

The information I do have easy access to is that it was five days walking to Canterbury, and another two to Ramsgate, so spot on 10 miles / day on average, but I don't recall the spread of distances.

I haven't walked the Pilgrims Way, so I cannot compare the routes.

 

[Bella2017]

Aylesbury priory is lovely and an uplifting place to visit, we had a wander round and tea and cake.
We did part of the Augustine camino and also enjoyed the evensong at Canterbury cathedral and visiting ramsgate