Walks you can reach from Dartford by train

Recommended: Really beautiful woodland segments and occasional idyllic countryside vistas. The first segment, closest to Faversham, isn't great due to a busy road, but very quiet beyond that. Quiet and isolated.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Faversham: Very picturesque medieval market town with many interesting shops and historic sites.

Canterbury Cathedral (5h in)

Canterbury (5h in)

Time: 7h (5h walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Lunch: No lunch venues en route. There's a playground with picnic tables at Chartham Hatch that makes a good stop for a packed lunch.

7 end-of-walk rewards: the Black Griffin, the Lady Luck, the Old Weaver Restaurant, Marlowe's, the Drapers Arms, the Old Buttermarket, or the Shakespeare

Source: Trains2Green.

Similar walk: Slow Ways.

Flat marshland, creek embankments, farm fields, quiet country lanes, woodland and tidal waterways.

Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat estuary landscape, gravel tracks, grassy paths, marshes, open water, mud flats, RSPB reserve, industrial heritage and big skies.

Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Leafy Georgian avenues, open heath, parkland, Royal Observatory hill, riverside Thames Path, Docklands waterfront and financial district.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Urban London, genteel residential streets, Georgian and Victorian estates, large open heathland, well-kept parks, river valleys, Victorian cemeteries and green hilltops with panoramic city views.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Dickensian Kent and the Medway: Rochester's cathedral and castle, then Ranscombe Farm and Cobham Park to Sole Street.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Cobham Wood and Mausoleum (National Trust; 3h in)

The Rochester Cathedral: England's second-oldest cathedral, founded in 604, in the heart of Rochester.

The Rochester Castle: A Norman castle beside the Medway with one of the tallest surviving keeps in England.

The Ranscombe Farm Reserve: A nature reserve near Rochester protecting rare arable wildflowers on the Kent downs.

The Cobham Park: A landscaped Repton parkland surrounding Cobham Hall, with the Darnley Mausoleum.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Flat orchards and fruit farms, tidal river seawall, coastal creeks, mudflats, salt marshes, drainage ditches, dykes, windswept grazing marshes and historic market town streets.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Faversham is beautiful, and Whitstable nice enough, but the intervening coastal stretch is an extremely monotonous and exposed trudge between an estuary shoreline and a solar power plant. If it were one segment it'd be fine but for 16 km it's gruelling. Quiet and isolated.

Coastal: three quarters along the coast.

Faversham: Very picturesque medieval market town with many interesting shops and historic sites (15m in).

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

2 lunch spots: Secret Garden Tea Room (15m in), or the Sportsman (2h30 in; reservations recommended)

Source: Trains2Green.

Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club, Railwalks (inc. GPX) and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Recommended: A route of two halves: a quiet way through Gravesend on residential streets, small parks and a green lane, then around 70% off-road through wide open fields and woodland and small lanes towards Sole Street. Easy-going paths; a steep lane in places. Around 70% off-road overall. Almost follows the Weald Way long-distance route between the petrol station and Sole Street. Passes alongside the Cyclopark, a linear country park. Bluebells in the small woodlands in season.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: A Morrisons with a cafe and toilets at the edge of Gravesend, plus a small petrol station; a pub and a tiny shop at Sole Street.

Warnings: White Post Lane requires a 20m stretch of road walking; take care.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: Gorgeous. A gorgeous, very off-road and quiet route following the River Medway along the Medway Valley Walk, then the North Downs Way and the Augustine Camino before rejoining the river. Well signed throughout and with only a few short bits crossing or going under motorways. Follows the Medway Valley Walk, the North Downs Way and the Augustine Camino. No public transport in the central section, though Aylesford station is about a mile from the village.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: Lovely views out over the marshes. A lovely, varied route through woods, fields, gentle hills, orchards and a river estuary, with small sections of mostly safe road walking. The first half is farmland over very gentle hills; the second follows the Medway estuary on the England Coast Trail, with lovely views over the marshes and mudflats. Quite a lot of tarmac and with some muddy parts and slanted cycle gates. The estuary section is on the England Coast Trail. Optional detour along a causeway to 'Horrid Hill'. Break points at Borden, Newington, Rainham, Riverside Country Park and the Strand leisure area.

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: Break points with pubs/shops at Borden, Newington and Rainham; cafes and toilets at Riverside Country Park and the Strand.

Warnings: Steps, stiles and gates throughout, plus slanted cycle gates along the estuary. A field path beyond Newington was not reinstated across crops. Care crossing main roads.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: A flat walk along the Medway Estuary.

Coastal: three quarters along the coast.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Railwalks.