The A2026 is only a mile long.
But the other road of the year is a contrast in every way.
It's not an urban road, it runs 20 miles across open country.
It's not in Dartford, it crosses rural Kent and East Sussex.
It's the B2026 and it runs due south from Westerham.
No I have not walked it all.
It starts here.
This is the junction of the A25 and the B2026 in Westerham, otherwise known as Quebec Square. It's immediately outside Quebec House, the National Trust property I visited last month and the childhood home of Major-General James Wolfe. James was born here on 2nd January 1726, appropriately enough, although that's 1726 Old Style (back when the new year started in March) so actually only 299 years ago. The road sign in front of Quebec House additionally points towards the B2024 which begins on the other side of Westerham, a town which thus boasts two recent roads of the year.
The opening half mile of the B2026 climbs Hosey Hill, a gentle flank of the Greensand Ridge, to a hamlet of the same name. I did walk the first bit past several big houses and a chapel, there being a convenient pavement. One of the first houses has a blue plaque above the gate because it was the home of Catherine Victoria Hall, who I hadn't heard of but was apparently a 'philanthropist and co-founder of the RSPB'. The B2026 is already scoring big for famous names and one of the biggest lived just ahead, namely Sir Winston Churchill. His country seat at Chartwell is admittedly just off the main road, but it's the B2026 you follow right up to turning off up that impractically narrow woody lane.
Westerham → Hosey Hill → Crockham Hill → Edenbridge (4 miles)
Edenbridge is the westernmost town in Kent and strung out along an old Roman road, which for two miles is designated the B2026. Along the way it passes two stations on separate lines, namely Edenbridge and Edenbridge Town, these the only two railway stations along the entire B2026. And midway between the two, very close to the new health centre, is a particularly exciting T-junction because it's the start of the B2027. It's ten miles long and passes nowhere very interesting on its way to the outskirts of Tonbridge so I don't think I'll bother blogging it next year, but how exciting that the B2027 starts on the B2026.
The B2026 used to pass through the historic town centre until 2006 when a short bypass was built. They named it Mount St Aignan Way after Edenbridge's twin town, and added two sets of traffic lights making it notionally quicker to carry on driving through the middle. The bypassed section is really interesting with quaint shops, a museum and a narrow bit where an old building intrudes near the church. And that's why I blogged about this section three weeks ago under the banner A Nice Walk because I knew I couldn't officially write about it today in 2026.
It gets better.
This is a sign by the bridge over the River Eden, the bridge which gives Edenbridge its name, and it introduces the B2028 into the mix. This also starts in Edenbridge and also runs for 20 miles, this time curving southwest towards Haywards Heath. However it doesn't start here, it starts three-quarters of a mile down the road at Den Cross, just past the former windmill and decanted hospital. I cannot work out why the B2028 gets a namecheck in the High Street because that particular direction round the bypass is (and always has been) the B2026. I therefore believe this sign is incorrect, it should be the B2026 both ways, but at least it saved me a half hour walk simply to take a photo for today's post.
Edenbridge → Hartfield → Ashdown Forest (9 miles)
The B2026 then does a brilliant job of going nowhere near even anything as small as a hamlet for miles and miles. Along the way it crosses from Kent into East Sussex and also crosses the River Medway before finally arriving at a proper village. Hartfield is probably best known for the Pooh Corner Tea Room, this because it's the closest settlement to A A Milne's house and the Poohsticks Bridge. And that's where I went in August 2024, you may remember, though alas not quite to the centre of Hartfield where the road signs are. I did however continue walking past the Hundred Acre Wood into Ashdown Forest, a huge and glorious expanse of open heathland, and that's where I bumped into the B2026 again.
Now that's a fingerpost. Not only does it name the B Road at the top but it gives distances to the nearest quarter mile. I particularly love the pointless accuracy of describing London as 36¾ miles away given that absolutely nobody is going to drive via the appointed route to Trafalgar Square. A small car park behind the post allows motorists to walk a short distance to the viewpoint at Gills Lap, otherwise known as 'The Enchanted Place', which formed the setting for the last elegiac chapter in the Winnie the Pooh books. AA Milne was right, it really is a lovely spot (and is perhaps even more so in what's now Pooh's centenary year). And then we carried on for another two miles across the heath before contriving to cross the B2026 again.
I'd like to apologise to my hiking partner for deviating to this particular road junction on Camp Hill just to grab more photos. We clomped through thick ferns to reach the road, passed signs warning of 'Animals on road DAY AND NIGHT' and dodged onto a verge to get a final picture of a fingerpost. We later found ourselves less than a mile from the end of the B2026 at the foot of Lampool Hill but it didn't feel diplomatic to trudge to the final roundabout on the A22, plus I was knackered by that point and focused on getting to Uckfield as quickly as possible.
All I want to point out is that I planned ahead carefully here, basing today's post on three visits I made in August 2024 and the middle of last month. Also I now have photos I can re-use this time next year and the year after that, because the road of the year isn't always as excellent as the B2026.
