Toughness: 4 out of 10
10.01 train from London Bridge (9.57 Cannon Street, 10.13 Lewisham - lots of other stops in SE London) to Hayes, arriving 10.38
If this train is cancelled, get the one half an hour later. If both are cancelled, meet by the London Bridge ticket office at 9.45pm to consider alternatives.
Your journey today is entirely within zone 6, so use Oyster or contactless.
In these pingdemic times I find my mind searching for a walk with frequent trains (in case one gets cancelled), several possible lunch pubs (in case one is not serving due to staff isolating), and not too far from the comforting miasma of the Big City.
This walk comes to mind - a proper countryside walk with woods and fields and villages, despite starting and finishing in zone six. I don't promise it won't be muddy, but we have done it before in winter and lived.
There are three possible lunch pubs - two in Downe, 7km (4.3 miles) into the walk and one in Cudham 9.5km (5.9 miles) in.
After Cudham it is 4km (2.4 miles) to Coolings Nursery, whose wonderful self-service tea room is worth pushing through all the acres of pot plants and garden implements to get to. Be aware that last orders are at 4pm for a 4.30pm close, but you will want to be on your way by then anyway to complete the 2.5km (1.6 mile) walk to Knockholt station before it gets dark at 4.50pm or so.
Trains back from Knockholt are at 14 and 44 past. ** Don't forget to tap in ***
1 comment:
Seven hardy souls turned out for this walk, despite the w=thoroughly-wet weather forecast, which was for the most part correct. But as always, I was glad I turned out. We had a nice day in cheerful company.
To describe the ground as muddy does not do it justice. It was a paddle in places, with some flooded areas in fields and lanes. On the plus side, my boots finished the day fairly clean and my new rain jacket and trousers held up well. I must remember to break out the waterproof socks next week though.
When we got to Downe we chose the second of the two pubs, having loudly discussed the deficiencies of the first right outside its front door. We acquired two car drivers here. All n=9 of us ate in the pub, forming the totality of its lunch trade for the day. It is a long time since everyone on a walk had a pub lunch. Mysteriously sandwiches in the churchyard did not seem appealing today…
After lunch two took the bus “because the afternoon is boring” (nothing to do with the weather then…). The rest of us went on to Cudham, where the two car drivers left us. After that I navigated from memory and got us totally off piste (I might have been following the route of the Knockholt Circular). We got back on track by taking a fine all-weather horse-riding route through Newyears Wood, which actually might be an improvement on the normal walk route. At some point during these shenanigans the rain stopped.
I was afraid I might be the only one going to tea at Coolings, but in fact all five of us did, navigating though all the pot plants. (At least we looked like gardeners in our muddy boots and trousers). We left at 3.30pm and connected at dusk with the 4.43pm (?) train, which strangely was going to Victoria. (Victoria trains were operating from London Bridge and London Bridge ones from Victoria?). And so home to Covidland.
Post a Comment