RAMBLINGS FROM DARES

(this month Phil!)

WELCOME TO THE NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

I pleased to say that this is a special edition of out team rag, sorry newsletter. In this edition I am going to concentrate on how we get to Dares. Travelling is an important part of our little community. Afterall it is what starts and finishes each and every visit. Maybe the journey is actually part of the visit, just as much as a walk into the woods or down the lane whilst we are at the site.

Active travel is when we contribute to the journey, it can be walking all or part, cycling all or part. Maybe other forms are possible but for the moment we will concentrate on walking and cycling (including e bikes).

SO WHAT HAVE WE GOT FOR YOU

WHY ACTIVE TRAVEL

WALKING TO DARES INTRODUCTION

• The Vanguard Way the way North and South
• Route from Sevenoaks
• Routes from Local Stations

CYCLING TO DARES INTRODUCTION

• Route from London
• Route from Redill Station
• Route from Tonbridge
• Routes from Local Stations

SOME NEWSY STUFF

This is I hope a work in progress, all the routes mentioned will be available to download on a few mapping tools. I am not putting the links here but they can be forwarded. Of course it would be great to have more routes and maybe at walks based on Dares to nowhere in particular.

WHY ACTIVE TRAVEL

There is no easy way to put this, but for an community whose main aim is to facilitate a fundamental change in the world we livin, we are fairly highly dependent on the death cult fossil fuel capitalism for our transport and travel. Perhaps we can do better? So let's start with active transport, by active I mean participatory rather than received or purchased. A hierarchy of needs here as in anything do we view travel as a thing? In the reduce, re-use or recycle kind of way.
Maybe essential vs important is a thing here:

• Is the journey essential? Not many are, but things like school run, medical, work etc
• If not essential, is it important? A wellbeing issue, of benefit to my community or a reason of beauty? Many many journeys come int this bracket - shopping visiting friends, etc

But many don’t and can be done away with. As for those that we need, how do we travel by re-using or recycle?

This is active travel. We use and re-use what we have already (legs) or re-use the equipment (bike) we have with minimum or no inputs. This is walking and cycling, when we choose active transport we are acting on our core principles.

I intend to keep this as a ‘live’ document and add more useful stuff as we go [HERE]

• More routes
• Refreshment points
• Any useful tips

WALKING TO DARES

A note on walking to Dares:

The following are a few possible routes we can use to walk to Dares, it is only a sample and the plan is to have a library of routes that you can download if we give you the link. None of the will go to Dares, most will end at Hever Station to maintain location security, such as it is.

a. THE VANGUARD WAY - THE WAY NORTH TO LONDON AND SOUTH TO THE COAST
(8 hrs walk to East Croydon)

There is a major North - South route from London to the South Coast, it is well marked along its route and passes very close to Dares. It is called the Vangaurd Way and is by far the best route to and from London. It starts at East Croydon and goes to the west of Edenbridge and Dares. It is by far the best way of walking to Dares from the north or south.

There is a hugely impressive website and downloadable guide to the route, here:

​https://www.vanguardway.org.uk/index.htm​

Here is the overall route. When you get to Roman Road near Edenbridge ask for directions to Dares if you don’t know:

From the chart below you can see that Dares is about 20 miles from East Croydon, a good days walk.

These are the signs that you find every few hundred metres along the root:

b. ROUTE FROM SEVENOAKS (6 hrs walk)

This is a useful route for anyone coming from or to the east of London, it connects with the Pilgrims Way, Greensand Way and Eden Valley Walk:

c. ROUTE FROM LOCAL STATIONS

Walking routes are available from Hever (allow 45 mins), Cowden (allow x mins) and Edenbridge ( allow 1hr 15 mins).

We can send you directions if you wish to walk from any of these stations, just get in touch.

CYCLING TO DARES

Cycling to Dares has always been a thing, bikes to the Station, the school run etc. But it can be more of a thing. We have to face facts, the High weald is not flat, the North downs are not flat. Cycling to Dares is not for everyone.

But some more info on routes might make it more doable, so here are 3 of many possibilities:

a. ROUTE FROM LONDON (2 hrs)

Starting or ending at East Croydon its a bit lumpy but very doable. An electric bike will help here.

b. ROUTE FROM HORLEY STATION (1 hr 20 mins)

c. ROUTE FROM TONBRIDGE (1 hr 15 mins)

d. ROUTES FROM LOCAL STATIONS

SOME NEWSY STUFF

The big news story of the month is the project to redevelop the Chicken Hut. Community funded and built by a very strong team of builders, they even drink builders tea, makes them strong.

I'll get my coat.

Phil

If you wish to visit or learn more about what we do at DARES, get involved with any project or ask a question, please email oakhavencollective@gmail.com​

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