3 Men on a walk 2017: East Malling dash to beat the rain

East Malling 7.5 mile Loop

We had hoped to kick off our start of walking the Meridian Way from the south Coast up to London but the forecast was not good. It showed high winds and rain across the middle of the day and so we decided to do a quick 7 mile loop around the Kent Fruit Farms hoping that we would complete it before the worst of the weather hit us. The plan worked well as the rain delayed itself for an hour or so and we were back in the pub for lunch before it hit us!

We had not walked in this sector before and started from the pretty village of East Malling. The path took us through the famous Malling Research Centre where fruit growing trials are conducted and new fruit varieties developed. We then walked through the Kent Coppice woods to the village of Barming (ignoring the stop at "The Bull" which we might have used if the rain came early!) and then looping back over the hill and back to East Malling where lunch awaited us at "The King & Queen". This was a new hostelry for us and very nice it was too.