Backup Only

This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday 18 October 2015

Sunday Walk 2 – a short Wealden walk

Extra Walk 92b – Leigh to Penshurst
Length: 13½ km (8.4 miles). Toughness: 3/10

There are two ways of getting to Leigh (on the Redhill-Tonbridge line), and the trains arrive within two minutes of each other. Take either:

1. The 09:40 Ashford train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 09:43, Orpington 10:05) and change at Tonbridge (arr 10:23, dep 10:29) for the Redhill train from Platform 1, arriving Leigh at 10:33. On this route, buy a day return to Penshurst.

2. The 09:32 Brighton train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:38, East Croydon 09:54) and change at Redhill (arr 10:05, dep 10:10) for the Tonbridge train from Platform 1A, arriving Leigh at 10:35. On this route, buy a day return to Leigh (Kent).

Note that on both routes you have to change platforms and there's only 5 or 6 minutes to make the connection, so be brisk.

You can travel back from Penshurst station in either direction and again the hourly trains arrive at similar times: 32 minutes past to Tonbridge, 37 minutes past to Redhill.

I've chosen the shortish “Reverse Walk” starting at Leigh (option b) to cater for any rugby fans who want to finish in time to watch the 4pm quarter-final, but anyone wanting a longer walk can switch in mid-afternoon to the 18 km Leigh Circular (option c): see the walk document for details.

Extra Walk 92 covers Wealden territory which you may recognise from two of the Book 1 walks: the initial section through Penshurst Park is taken from Walk 15 and the stretch through Chiddingstone village from Walk 19. The normal lunch stop is the Rock Inn at Hoath Corner, although this can only provide ‘lite bites’ at present as its kitchen is being refurbished. If you'd prefer something more substantial you could carry on to the Castle Inn at Chiddingstone, but I'd be inclined to take what the Rock has to offer and save room for tea'n'cake in this picture-postcard village, where there's a tough choice between the Victorian Tea Room in the grounds of Chiddingstone Castle and the equally good Tulip Tree in Burghesh Court. [On the Circular Walk the tea places in Penshurst village won't disappoint either.]

Note that both villages are some way from the end of each walk option, but there are pubs near both stations if you misjudge or aren't in a rush to get back.

You'll need to print the directions from the Extra Walk 92 page. Clicking "Other" in the Walk Options heading line will hide the directions for the variations starting at Penshurst station.
T=swc.92.b

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As another tea option, there's a really nice pub right opposite Penshurst station.

Barbara said...

I'm planning to do the longer, circular walk ending in Leigh.

Chris L said...

Also planning to do longer walk

Chris L said...

n=7 (possibly 8)w=cloudy_then_sunny.
Six started the walk at Leigh and ate at the Rock Inn which provided excellent ploughman's lunches. All continued to Chiddingstone to stroll round the castle grounds and partake of an early tea at its café. Two then headed for Penshurst station, while the other four took a longer route to complete the circuit back to Leigh. On the way they met up with a seventh walker who had started an hour late and who reported that another SWC walker did likewise but had not been seen thereafter. All five stopped at the refurbished Fleur de Lis pub in Leigh for refreshment before catching the 5:33 train back.