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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 13 November 2016

Sunday Walk 2 – Autumn colours in the High Weald

Extra Walk 112 – Stonegate to Robertsbridge
Length: 13.7 km (8.5 miles). Toughness: 4/10

09:55 Hastings train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 09:58, London Bridge 10:03, Orpington 10:21, Sevenoaks 10:30), arriving Stonegate at 11:07. Buy a return to Robertsbridge, two stops further down the line.

Return trains from Robertsbridge are hourly at 14 minutes past.

This walk promises “plenty of fine autumn colour” and I'm hoping that the River Rother won't have begun its seasonal inundation of some fields you have to cross in the morning, which has spoilt one or two attempts to do this walk in winter. A comment last year also warned that the paths across these fields (between the railway line and the river) weren't marked out, so you might find it easier to go around the field edges.

The possible lunch stops on this walk come very early. If the going's good you'll reach Burwash around noon, where the most recent feedback favoured the Bear Inn over the Rose and Crown. The alternative is to carry on for another fifteen minutes to the National Trust's Bateman's, where visitors to the property can get a light lunch in its tea-room. As sunset is at 4.15pm and it's another 9.2 km to Robertsbridge, I suggest leaving Bateman's by 2pm to avoid finishing in the gloom.

You'll need to print the walk directions from this pdf document.
T=swc.112

9 comments:

Aritra Majumder said...

Hello, thanks for posting this walk.
I am new to this place and not exactly sure how to navigate my way around by myself.
if anyone is going on this walk, i would love to join.
please let me know if possible to connect with any potential fellow walkers.

thank you.
Aritra

Unknown said...

I will be joining the walk. Might be wet underfoot in parts. Just turn up at the station preferably with the walk notes.

Anonymous said...

Aritra, most people meet up at the destination. Just wait on the platform when you get off the train, and you should find people. Generally people stand in a circle and do introductions. You can try to identify fellow walkers on the train, but there are many people who go out walking so you may introduce yourself to people who are not going on the SWC walk. Definitely bring the notes though.

Eliz said...

Hi all. It looks as though I'll be on a solitary walk as the train was cancelled from Charing cross and started instead from Orpington where I got on.next train not stopping at stonegate!still at least I have the instructions.

Unknown said...

But of course you were not alone Liz, as a group of seven somehow assembled after lunch. A lovely walk with great colours and a lake! Sadly The Lilac Tea Room closes for good later this month.

MG said...

There were also 5 people who got to Stonegate at the posted time by taking a connecting service (in my case changing at Tonbridge - not sure about the others). We separated before lunch, some going on to Batemans, at least one to the Rose & Crown. Lovely walk on a perfect autumn day.

Anonymous said...

so did the 7 include some of the 5 ? and also the solitary walker liz parker? or was it 13 in total, or even more? bamboozled...

Red Rambler said...

Just to clarify, five walkers met on Stonegate platform, but the designated train from LB was cancelled which meant that three walkers were an hour behjnd but managed to catch us up after Batemans, as some of us had a look round! The sun was out and the colours of trees glorious. A great day out.

Anonymous said...

n=8 w=sunny