Length: 17.6km (10.9 miles) or 20.5km (12.5 miles) T=swc.40
9.50 train from Victoria (9.57 Clapham Junction, 10.10 East Croydon) to East Grinstead, arriving 10.50
I feel like I am constantly trying to rehabilitate this walk after it had a couple of disastrously muddy winter outings about a decade ago. It definitely will not be muddy at present!!, even if we have had some rain this week.
It is a very pleasant little Wealden walk, not too hilly but with a nice range of territory, and a gratifying plethora of lunch options (including the Chequers and Brambletye pubs and the Java and Jazz Cafe which does Italian food in Forest Row) and tea options (coffee chains, cafes, pubs in East Grinstead).
You also pass the National Trust Standen House in the morning: if you want to visit it, there are short walk options designed for that - see the walk home page or walk directions.
After lunch there is a choice of a standard ending - the 10.9 mile walk - or a longer one - the 12.5 mile walk. Both are very nice!
The standard ending passes Tablehurst Farm quite soon after Forest Row, a possible tea stop (through very soon after lunch).
The longer option loops round the Bewl Water Reservoir and comes back to Standen, and you may just get there in time for tea (closes 5pm). The tea room is inside the paywall, so to speak, but right by the property entrance, so they might just let you in free if you arrive late and say you want to spend money on refreshments: there is also a back way into the property for National Trust members only. There is also a pub with a fairly nice garden - Old Dunnings Mill - towards the end of this option.
Trains back are at 06 and 36 past the hour.
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I woke to raindrops on the window. How long since that happened? It had the good manners to clear away by the time the walk started, but oh how glorious to walk on damp ground, past moist vegetation, and to feel the plants all around having a big Ice Cold in Alex drink. The birds seemed pleased too. Blackbirds chortling everywhere. Maybe now the ground has softened and they can get at the grubs they will start second broods…
So, n=12 happy campers on this walk. Actually 12 happy non-campers. Nearly everyone else we met in the countryside seemed to be young and doing their D of E, groaning under packs almost as big as themselves. They were probably NOT so pleased it turned out to be a wet weekend, (but they are young: they will get over it…)
Two of our group split off right at the start to do the short start and main afternoon, mumbling something about evening commitments. The rest of us showed good group cohesion as far as lunch, taking the main walk route. The weather was w=cloudy-and-humid. Occasionally there was a puddle underfoot or a bit of mud (it must have really poured down overnight). In the afternoon it was a bit fresher with glimmers of sun.
At lunch group cohesion disintegrated a bit. The Chequers was drinks only (no chef, and seemingly no electricity) so five pub lunchers and one latte drinker defected to the Swan. This had a so-so garden enlivened by glorious blackbird song and the food came quickly and was generally well liked.
Midway through our meal three sandwichistas came and snatched away one of the diners to do the longer afternoon. Another diner got the bus back to East Grinstead. The remaining four debated which afternoon route to do. Or rather did not debate. No one had an opinion. It was left to me to be Man of Destiny and choose for them. So we did the longer afternoon too.
This was nice, even the road bit, where I personally enjoyed being able to walk for without looking at my feet, enjoying the birdsong, breeze and greenery. A question was if we would get to tea at Standen in time, but we did easily, arriving at 4pm. A vegan walker was particularly happy to get vegan scones. I had the “scone of the week”, which was rhubarb and rosemary. Err…yes…
We met one of the sandwichistas here, so were five for the rest of the walk, which we polished off without incident, myself thinking of absent friends as we passed the Old Dunning’s Mill pub without a glance. We got a train by the skin of our teeth (the 5.36? I always forget to note the return train time). A nice chat on the train and then back to London’s random chaos.
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