Length: 17km (11m)
Toughness: 4 / 10
Transport: Take the 9:20 train from London Victoria, arriving at Dormans at 10:14. Returns trains from Hever at xx:05. Buy a day return to Dormans. You might need to buy a single from Hever to Hurst Green on your way back.
This is a delightful walk from Surrey into Kent passing an iron age hill fort and the charming village of Cowden with its cozy pub for lunch. Note that this is the reverse of walk SWC.362. I highly recommend a variation to the end of the walk which leads you to the King Henry VIII pub in Hever from where it is a 25mins walk to Hever station. The GPX for this variation is here.
1 comment:
n=14 gathered at the station and set off in w=pleasant-sunshine-with-soft-clouds. The landscape was undulating and pastoral, with nice wooded sections offering shade from the broad-leaved trees. The highlight was the abundance of blackberries along the route, having ripened with the recent rain. One left the group before lunch to carry on the route and eight dined in the Fountain Inn, which was was indeed ‘cosy’. Some sat in the garden and were greeted by a lovely dog. Many sandwichers joined later for drinks. The food was deemed very good, although some said the desserts were an ‘unusual take on the traditional’, the service was a bit slow.
The afternoon was short, having done 2/3 of the walk before the pub stop, and most agreed this is a good way to arrange things. Navigating the walk backwards using only the GPS was OK, we lost the path several times and had to go back and find the correct path, never very far. Written instructions would be great if anyone wants to volunteer for that job.
We soon arrived at the Henry8 for tea, the group split with many going straight to the station to catch the 16:05, leaving 5 to have tea at leisure, discussing many topics including philosophy and religion, and sleeping in graveyards, before catching the train an hour later. The drizzle finally set in in earnest just as we were approaching the station, so the forecasted downpours never materialized.
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