Phew, what a scorcher!
My wife spent a day in Dymchurch today and, although I was a bit apprehensive about how hot the day was forecast to be, I decided to go with her and do a walk to visit some Romney Marsh villages. Much as I love the area, Romney Marsh offers almost nothing in the way of shade, so I knew it would be a sweaty walk - and it was!
On the other hand, Romney Marsh is as flat as it's possible for a place to be, and the roads away from the coast are mostly extremely quiet single-track lanes. Come to think of it... it's the perfect place for a bike ride. But, for me, walking is as much about exercise as it is about sightseeing...

I took a wrong turn leaving Dymchurch and passed the train station, so I had a quick look and took a photo. It's very quaint. I took another photo from the level crossing as I headed out of town - on the right road!

I'd noticed 'Ruined Church' on the map on the way to Newchurch and I found it tucked behind some bushes a little way from the road:

All of the villages I visited were very attractive, but I think Newchurch was probably the most picturesque of them all:

I took this photo on the way to Ivychurch, although it could be almost anywhere from my walk because this is absolutely typical of the lanes I travelled. The fields are mostly arable, with wheat, oats and barley being the main crops, and the lanes are usually edged by drainage ditches which are full of rushes and reeds:

The pub and church at Ivychurch:

It can be seen from my map that I had to make a special effort to visit Old Romney - I couldn't easily add it into the loop, but I wanted to have a look. I'm glad I did, because from the church I could see a roadside café (in the distance on the right) and I bought an extra couple of bottles of drink (I drank a lot on the walk!). I returned to the church and ate a sandwich on a bench in the shade before retracing my steps and heading for St Mary in the Marsh.

Like most of the villages on Romney Marsh, St Mary in the Marsh has a church, a pub and some dwellings...

And that would have been it for photos, except that on the way back to Dymchurch I passed this wonderful piece of recycled agricultural machinery.

The walk was a bit over 18 miles and, since it was all on tarmac, I'd recommend the route for cycling (or even driving) as well as for walking. But I don't think I'd recommend walking it on a day as hot as today's been!