Saturday 31st Jan 2015, a loop out from Biddenden via Sissinghurst, Kent.
Parking at the car park in Biddenden village we headed out south on the A262, Tenterden Road, at the junction with Benenden Road, on the left is the entrance to the first byway, it looks like a gravel drive (which it is, at first), but leads onto a hard packed trail. It's a flat pull through to Fosten Lane.
At the end of the trail turn right and head south, we are going towards Hemsted Forest so follow the lane to Cranbrook Road, and turn right here. This is a fairly busy road, watch out for traffic, they had a tendency to overtake. Turn left on to Mockbeggar Lane, follow this all the way to the junction and then onto Benenden Road again, still heading south.
This leads onto Goddards Green Road, but the bridleway is tucked away on the right this is the start of the run through Hemsted Forest (Forestry Commission land).
Its a good bridleway, hard packed in places with some muddy sections, some of the signage is a bit suspect, so we ended up missing the path and heading through the woods on other trails, this is a good area, with some interesting looking trails to each side, we will return.
At the end of the woods the path ends on the Cranbrook Road, turning left here we're heading west towards Cranbrook, about 500-600 yards along here is the entrance to a footpath, this was a cheeky cut through to keep things less "road", it heads north up through some woods (a tight squeeze in places, over a small bridge, some more woodland and onto the Sissinghurst Road (A262).
We're now heading west again and towards the entrance to Sissinghurst Castle, take the road on the right and follow the driveway up to the castle, the bridleway follows through the yard and out around the grounds, there is a view of the towers and in the summer I can imaging a good quick ride, in January, however, its a muddy drag, with a small slippery climb up to the road.
This is Bigdog lane, our loop comes back this way later, turn left here, and follow this down to the houses on the left. Here is the second bridleway its muddy and slippery and has a short tough climb out to the road.
The intention here was to head up the A229 north, to ride the restricted byway at Brewers Wood, this again caused us some issues, and we ended up on a footpath and past a large chicken farm....
So that will be left for another trip.
Out onto the A229 and a shortcut via a footpath to the Frittenden road, this is a twisty path with a number of stiles and fallen trees to contend with, to be honest if you were walking it would be fine, but we were using it as a shortcut and we paid the price!!
Now we are heading back to Biddenden via Bigdog Lane it should be very simple, but we had an issue with a sign post.... and went the long way back!!
