Length: 31.9 km (19.8 mi) [much shorter walks possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent: 453/532m
Net Walking Time: ca. 7 ½ hours
Toughness: 8 out of 10
Take the 09.20 service from Victoria to East Grinstead
(CJ 09.27, EC 09.40), arriving 10.20.
From LBG, take a train to East Croydon for a connection, no
later than the 09.19 Horsham service.
Return trains from Wivelsfield: xx.11 (Victoria),
xx.14 (Thameslink), xx.26 (Victoria, change Burgess Hill), xx.41
(Victoria) and xx.44 (Thameslink), xx.56 (Victoria, change
Burgess Hill).
Buy an East Grinstead return, you then
will have to buy an additional single from Wivelsfield to East Croydon, if you
want to stay honest.
This route in the East/West Sussex boundary lands descends from East
Grinstead into the Upper Medway Valley and past Weir Wood Reservoir and
then meanders through an undulating landscape of hills, streams, ponds,
heaths and mixed woodland, rich in bluebells and wood anemones in season.
For the most part, it largely shadows the course of The Bluebell
Line steam railway, and lunch is either in tranquil Horsted
Keynes or in Scaynes Hill, near the (Sussex) Ouse River. Later you pass through
several parts of the large Chailey Common heathlands and continue
westbound through flatter ground – mostly pastures with fine South Downs
Views – to Burgess Hill (for Wivelsfield station).
An Alternative Finish at Sheffield Park, the
terminus of the Bluebell Line, is possible if a little expensive (in money,
travel time or kilometrage): the 121 bus is running at 14.06, 15.21
and 16.36 to Cookbridge and Lewes Stations, or you
could take the steam train back to East Grinstead (at 14.15 or at
15.30), but only pricey day tickets are available, or you could
walk out-and-back to the interesting station (adds 5.0 km).
Shorter Walks, enabled by bus connections: Start at Forest Row/Brambletye (i.e.: opposite The Chequers
Inn, route from there described in the pdf, cuts 3.6 km) or even Horsted
Keynes/Lewes Road (right on the route, cuts 13.7 km): Bus line 270 either
from East Grinstead (09.11, then xx.05) or from Wivelsfield (10.01, 11.03, then
xx.04) or from Haywards Heath/Perrymount Road – by the station (09.21, 10.21,
11.23 then xx.24).
Lunch: The Green Man (Greene King, food to 15.00) or
The
Crown Inn (food all day) in Horsted Keynes (13.7 km/8.5
mi); The Sloop
Inn in Scaynes Hill (19.2 km/11.9 mi, food to 14.30).
Tea all walk options: The Sloop Inn (as above).
Tea Wivelsfield ending: The
Watermill Inn, right by the station.
For summary, walk directions, map,
height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.27
1 comment:
n=5 off the train, plus about 100 female juveniles with large backpacks also alighting, either returning from a school trip or going on to a long-ish DofE walk. 2 of our 5 were there mainly because of the length of the walk (and the LDWA offerings for the day not appealing to them).
We quickly got going, if only to get away from the hubub, and were full of suspense regarding the muddiness of the inital descent out of Grinstead. This can be soul-destroying, especially since a lot of the r-o-w have been fenced-in in the last years, but was just about navigable today.
The rewards were swathes of wild garlic in flower along the streams in the valley bottom, assisted by the first of enormous amounts of bluebells. The first 3/4 of the route are lined with woods full of bluebells, some with some, many with loads, a lot with bluebells everywhere. They're also on road verges, earth banks, in woodland clearings and gardens. Some magnificent displays amongst those places, none better though in my opinion than the very long earth bank/road verge enwrapped by bluebells en route to Broadhurst Manor.
Else we saw one last small stand of wood anemones (roadside), loads of greater stitchwort, cowslips, garlic mustard in flower, forget-me-nots galore, a few rape oil seed fields in mild yellow, geraniums, azaleas and rhododendrons in colour (including the brightest neon pink azalea I have ever seen), a couple of deer 40m off path (staring at us, staring at them), pheasants, partridges, lambs, very young calves.
We did not see the steam train along the Bluebell Line, but we heard its whistle numerous times. Missed it by about 5 minutes when we crossed the line just before the Sloop Inn, I reckon.
1 of the walkers is notorious to fall back deliberately right from the start so he can walk on his own, and he did just that. The 4 of us stayed together to Horsted Keynes (where we passed a wedding party at the church, just as bride and groom were walking out), where 2 lunched at The Crown (a nice piece of venison was had), and 2 picnicked. Walker 5 went into The Green Man, we learned later.
On to the Sloop Inn, where we paused for hot drinks. Walker 5 was spotted walking past and we soon caught him and finished the walk together, apart from 1 walker who further along had a lie-down in a field in the sun to rest his back.
Fine views of the South Downs on the finishing stretch, with the late afternoon sun producing some fine shadows on the spines of them. At World's End (which is what the part of Burgess Hill is called that Wivelsfield station is in), we just missed the 18.11/.14 trains, so had time for a quick drink at The Watermill before the 18.41/.44 trains to Victoria/London Bridge respectively. 19.11 for the guy lieing down in the field. Mud: not too bad (for the area). Bluebells and other flowers: magnificent. Weather: w=sunny-with-a-cold-wind
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