T=1.34
LENGTH : 17.2km (10.7 miles)
DIFFICULTY : 6 out of ten
TRAVEL : Take the 0950 Thameslink train for BRIGHTON calling at St.Pancras 0950, Farringdon 0954, City Thameslink 0956, London Bridge 1005 and East Croydon 1019 arriving at BALCOMBE 1046
Buy a Balcombe return and try to blag your way past the barriers at East Grinstead. If unsuccessful, an extension to East Croydon can be purchased at the nearby ticket office.
Return trains from East Grinstead depart half hourly at .06 and .36, taking 59 mins to reach London Bridge.
LUNCH : My main purpose in posting this walk is to have a Wednesday Walkers seasonal lunch at the excellent Cat Inn in West Hoathly.
A table for six has been reserved for 1.30pm (only one place left). Advance booking essential as the Christmas dining out begins in earnest, but please note there is charge of £25 for each no-show not cancelling at least 24 hours in advance.
If feeling unwilling/unable to face the remainder of the walk buses are available from the village as follows,
To Three Bridges ( on the morning line) at 1535
To East Grinstead at 1640
TEA : The Old Dunnings Mill on the outskirts of East Grinstead.
6 comments:
I would like to join. Do I need to add a booking for lunch
I’m definitely coming. Am I one of the 5 people. Please confirm
Due to a cancellation Marion, you’re now the sixth person. Congratulations 😊
Train seems to be cancelled?
Not a good start to the day with train cancellations due to signal failures and flooding between Three Bridges and Brighton but eventually 9 intrepid regulars arrived at Balcombe after much consternation and frustration that we would never get a walk off the ground. Lunch was cancelled as we had no idea if we could get to the Cat Inn before the kitchen closed at a very early 13.45. We made it with 2 minutes to spare but then waited 40 minutes for four of us to be served an acceptable but unexciting lunch.
The latest walk directions updated recently warned of much mud and wet conditions underfoot in countless places on route and in that sense looking at a walk report dated 2011, nothing much had changed.
‘ I felt compelled to mention that after just one day of rain nearly every part of the walk was VERY muddy! Luckily we had wellies and I think you really need them at this time of year because of the clay soil it just turns into a quagmire! There were several spots where it was flooded / ankle deep mud and walking boots would not have cut it! Good fun’
It was not however fun to find 4 of us waiting at the bus stop to find that the 84 bus route had been cancelled all day due to flooding despite the web site information showing the bus coming in 14 minutes. Lies damn lies. Luckily a local taxi was summoned and took us to East Grinstead to await the 17.06 train to Victoria. All Thames Link trains cancelled. Our gallant menfolk who had to rebuild the remains of a footbridge across one of the wetland streams approaching Wakehurst Place had the stamina to complete the walk in darkness with one head torch. They caught the 17.36. Well done guys.
N=9 in w=relentlessly-grey-and-damp-dark-but-never-actually-raining weather. Every step both in London and Sussex was fraught with difficulty, but the bridge (re)build would have had Bear Grylls nodding in admiration. Well done everyone!
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