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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.

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Wednesday Walk - Shoreham (Kent) Figure of 8 [New Walk]

Length: 19.8 km (12.3 mi)
Ascent/Descent: approx. 360m; Net Walking Time: 5 hours
Toughness:  6 out of 10         

Take the 10.00 Sevenoaks train from St. Pancras I’nal (10.05 Farringdon, 10.12 Blackfriars, 10.16 Elephant & Castle and all stations via Bromley South), arrives Shoreham (Kent) 11.04.
From Victoria: take the 10.22 Canterbury West train and change at Bromley South (10.38/10.44).
Return trains are on xx.10 and on xx.40.

New walk covering the familiar area of the Darent Valley between Eynsford and Otford: two loops centred on Shoreham, with plenty of options to shorten the walk, and even one to lengthen it (a wee bit).
“The northern loop initially follows the route of Book 1 Walk 23 (Otford to Eynsford) and takes a similar route through Lullingstone Park, an attractive landscape of chalk grassland and ancient woodland with an internationally important collection of veteran trees. It comes out by Lullingstone Castle, a historic manor house with limited opening hours, but its grounds contain an unusual parish church (open to the public at all times) and a World Garden. The route back to Shoreham is along the Darent Valley Path and passes extensive lavender fields at Castle Farm, while in Shoreham itself The Mount Vineyard is sometimes open for tastings.
The southern loop goes through a couple of small nature reserves on the hillside to the south-east of Shoreham and joins the route of Extra Walk 59 (Eynsford Circular) into and through the village of Otford, passing its scale model of the Solar System. The village has many interesting old buildings and the full route takes you past the ruins of Otford Palace, a rival to Hampton Court in Tudor times. The remainder of this loop follows the ‘longer afternoon’ route of Walk 59 along the wooded hills on the western side of the valley.”

Lunch: There are four pubs in Shoreham, passed after 9–10 km: the Crown and the Two Brewers on the High Street, followed by the Kings Arms and Ye Olde George Inn on Church Street.
Tea: Pubs as above plus - en route back to Shoreham - the Otford Tea Rooms at the back of the Hospices of Hope (open to 17.00) and the Pond View Café (open to 16.30). There are also two pubs on the High Street in Otford.

For summary, map, height profile, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.289 Next Week: A Brockenhurst walk

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Weather fore-cast doe not look promising tomorrow. Will anyone do the walk even it is raining?

Anonymous said...

Yes. People will turn up. There may well be some rain fir a while, which will make us appreciate the sun more when it emerges, and emerge it will. Often. Take a mack.

Anonymous said...

I ll be doing it

Thomas G said...

8 walkers off the train, and 1 other an hour behind due to some problems with a connecting train, i.e. n=9 in w=drizzle-to-lunch-then-overcast-and-gloomy conditions.
Nearly having struggled to get out of the station, never mind the proverbial car park, a good pace was had, spurred on by the annoying drizzle. This restricted views from the many ridges and viewpoints en route, but the morning loop through Shoreham and up through Lullingstone and Preston Hill Country Park was full of delights nevertheless: varied woods, large wildflower meadows throughout the Country Park, Lullingstone Castle and parish church, the Darent River Path, several lavender fields and a hop one as well.
The group somehow lost their leader early on, who in the drizzle wasn't in the mood for waiting, so arrived much earlier at lunch in Shoreham. The Crown provided steady quality (although we later thought that maybe the Two Brewers would've been the better choice).
The afternoon is somewhat less interesting, with Fackenham Down, Otford Palace and Polhill Bank the highlights. Drinks at The Kings Arms for some, 17.10 train for the majority (so they thought, but the train was cancelled).