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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 3 April 2016

Sunday Walk 2 – A short walk in the High Weald

Extra Walk 196 – Wadhurst to Tunbridge Wells
Length: 13¾ km (8.5 miles). Toughness: 4/10

09:55 Hastings train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 09:58, Orpington 10:19), arriving Wadhurst at 11:01. Buy a day return to Wadhurst.

Trains back from Tunbridge Wells are at 09 & 39 minutes past the hour until 19:39, then hourly.

This walk's previous outings have all been on rather gloomy late-autumn or winter days, but the Wealden countryside should look a bit more cheerful (and less muddy) in early spring. You'll get a moderately strenuous two-hour hike to a pub which advertises “a friendly welcome to walkers” and serves excellent food, followed by a shorter and easier afternoon leg to a town whose name implies it won't be short of watering holes.

The George Inn in Frant will be busy on a Sunday lunchtime and you won't get there before 1pm, so give them a call from the station when you set off. I haven't tried the village's alternative pub, the Abergavenny Arms at the bottom of the hill, but that looks pretty good too. At the end of the walk Juliets is probably the pick of the tea places in Tunbridge Wells, but even on a Sunday there should be plenty of choice.

You'll need to print the directions from the Extra Walk 196 page.
T=swc.196

6 comments:

Eu said...

Hello! Me and my friend would like to join you (we'll print directions and try to follow them, too, but it'd be good to make sure we're not getting totally lost – err, it'd just be a lot nicer to know we could blunder behind you.) Any way to meet you in Wadhurst? Planning to get in at Waterloo East. Thanks!

Sean said...

The more the merrier, Eu. You might well come across some fellow-walkers on the train but if not you won't have any problem spotting them on the platform at Wadhurst station. Although there's no walk leader, people always mingle together for a few minutes before setting off. You might like to read our New Members page.

Anonymous said...

good to know! will keep an eye out – thank you!

Sean said...

On a day of w=hazy-sunshine n=18 walkers turned up, if we count one regular who appeared at the lunch pub but declined to be cross-examined about how much walking she'd actually done, or intended to do afterwards. The walk poster's hope that the route might be ‘less muddy’ than on previous outings provoked hollow laughter as a succession of squelchy fields and gloopy footpaths impeded our progress. However, the seven or eight first-timers were surprisingly uncomplaining about their sodden footwear and mud-spattered trousers and I hope they're tempted to try our walks again in better conditions.

The George Inn provided its usual excellent fare, postponing yet again any idea of defecting to the other pub in the village. At the end some headed for the High Street and/or the 16:09 train, while others took the small detour to Calverley Grounds for a relaxed cuppa in the sunshine before taking the 16:39.

Anonymous said...

The said regular did about 5 miles had an excellent lunch and the benefit of some lovely companions. Also the sun shone all day.jfk

Anonymous said...

The soils of the Weald do not drain well.