19km (11.8 miles) if ending at Upper Warlingham
21.6km (13.4 miles) for the full walk to Riddlesdown T=swc.367
9.55 (East Grinstead-bound) train from London Bridge (10.10 East Croydon) to Hurst Green 10.34
If you just miss this, there is a 10.07 (Uckfield-bound) train from London Bridge (10.22 East Croydon), getting in at 10.38
Buy a day return to Hurst Green, though if extending from zone 6 you only need a single, as both the return stations are in zone six. Incidentally I am told that London Bridge ticket machines have now been converted to do zone six extension tickets - yay if true...
This fairly new walk had an outing in August when for whatever reason attendance was quite low, and the walk report recommended it get another posting. It is basically a walk across Limpsfield Common and a climb up over the North Downs.
Lunch is at the Old Ship in Tatsfield after 5.4 miles, described as walker-friendly, reasonably priced and unpretentious on earlier outings. After 10.7 miles you then end up in Warlingham Green, which has two pubs for tea. Also two cafes but one closes at 3pm and the other at 4.30pm.
From Warlingham Green there are 403 buses every fifteen minutes or so to Sanderstead station (12 minutes). These are TFL-operated, so passes or Oyster are allowed on them.
Otherwise, you can pop down to Upper Warlingham station in 1.1 miles or carry on for another 2.7 miles to end at Riddlesdown station. There are a couple of alcohol-only pubs near Upper Warlingham station, but nothing at Riddlesdown.
If the evening is clear, a few of us might do a moonlight walk from Warlingham Green (after a suitable sojourn to wait for darkness to fall). Others are welcome to join us at their own risk. My idea here is to head east (ie, into the moon) over hills and woods to New Addington, where one can get the tram to Croydon - a distance of about 3 miles. The moon will be 77% full and fairly high in the sky at dusk, so hopefully good enough to provide light for walking.
Trains back from Upper Warlingham are at 03 and 33 past, calling at Riddlesdown at 07 and 37 and Sanderstead at 10 and 40.
3 comments:
A member of staff told me that London Bridge ticket machines are being upgraded to do zone six extension tickets but I don't know if has been done yet.
It has (St Thomas's Street entrance anyway)
16 on the specified train and two by car, but we then very nicely waited for the relief train four minutes later and picked up another three, so n=21 overall. We had to reject the siren calls of the Hever walkers on the second train.
I found this a very interesting and scenic route, particularly (rather surprisingly) on the approaches to and just after the M25. There was also a magnificent great valley that we crossed in the afternoon. All in all a very worthy addition to the SWC canon.
The weather was w=mostly-cloudy-with-some-brightness - a bit disappointing given the glorious sunshine of recent days. But at least the ground was still largely frozen, reducing the mud to surface slither at worst.
The Ship Inn in Tatsfield was a bit smarter than I expected given its “walker-friendly” tag, but proved perfectly welcoming. We had rung ahead and had three tables of four. The food was hearty, though the choice fairly limited. It looked to have a nice garden.
When we got to Warlingham Green some, I think, carried straight on to Upper Warlingham or took the bus. But 13 of us went to pub on the corner for tea or something stronger. In particular bottles of wine were bought, and then second bottles. Some then left at about 4.45pm to walk to Upper Warlingham.
In the end four were left and we discussed what to do. With the skies cloudy, a moonlight walk looked unlikely, but we figured we could at least continue in the dark to Riddlesdown, and this we did.
This turned out to be a good choice, as the clouds parted to let moonlight through, and with that and the glow of London ahead of us, there was adequate light to walk by. It really is atmospheric to be out in the countryside at night, and I wish more SWC-ers would try it. After a walk of about an hour and a half we caught the 19.37 train with a few minutes to spare.
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