9.51 (Thameslink train to Gatwick Airport) from London Bridge (9.35 St Pancras Thameslink, 10.02 Norwood Junction, 10.07 East Croydon) to Earlswood, arriving 10.27
Buy a day return to Edenbridge Stations (a bit weird this, but it works for all but the one stop from Redhill to Earlswood, and should be accepted on that too if you explain you are on a walk.)
This pleasant section of the Greensand Way is very different in character from the Holmwood to Shamley Green walk posted last week. In fact, the only thing the two walks have in common is...greensand, presumably. This section is a gentle mix of fields and woods, with some nice views at times. There will be plenty of opportunities to see whatever autumn colour is left to see.
For lunch the cosy and quite spacious Red Lion in Bletchingley after 3.8 miles has always been very accommodating. Whether the other lunch options mentioned in the village - Lammingtons tea room and the Whyte Hart Hotel - are still in business I am not sure. There is a later lunch option in the Barley Mow in Tandridge after 8.1 miles (ie fairly near the end of the walk), which seems to serve food all afternoon.
For tea Oxted has lots of options, though Papillons closed quite early on a recent walk, and the Oxted Inn, the Weatherspoons pub by the station, actually seemed to offer the best value, with bottomless hot drinks and large puddings...
Trains back from Oxted are at 23 and 53 past: the 20 past is also OK, but needs a change in East Croydon today, apparently.
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N=21 on this walk, including two who got the train half an hour later. At St Pancras, Horsham and Brighton trains were being cancelled all over the place. But into the Valley of the Dead rode the Gatwick train, completing its journey with no more incident than a couple of extra stops.
At the start of the walk there was a very waterlogged stretch. Thankfully this did not prove typical, and the rest of the walk was only a bit muddy in places, probably saved from worse gloopiness by freshly fallen leaves.
Near South Nutfield those of us who were actually looking at the directions (ie me) did the main walk route, which is a short cut. The majority, following the GPX, stuck to the Greensand Way (more road walking). This produced at one point the amusing sight of two groups of SWC walkers coming towards each other from opposite directions, both correctly following a version of the route. But we soon regrouped and all went the same way.
I must just mention too the perplexing sight of a young calf in a field of sheep. How he had got there was a mystery, given that two fences and a particularly tricky stile separated him from the rest of his herd. He seemed a bit confused himself.
The Red Lion in Bletchingley was as accommodating as usual. Friendly, unfussy, happy to let us order at the bar, no complicated protocols. The two late starters caught up with us here, having apparently seen a steam train pass on the Redhill-Tonbridge line.
We lingered quite a bit over lunch and then set off through some very scenic sections with beech, oak and sweet chestnut trees all now fully gold. Only the rather w=cloudy weather muted the spectacle a bit. In the morning there were glimmers of sun; in the afternoon rain threatened but did not materialise.
The Barley Mow in Tandridge has had a big makeover, but this was not the time of year to be stopping there. Instead it was all sail, flying jibs and stuns’ls, to get to Oxted by nightfall, aka 4pm. Seven or eight of us went to the Spoons by the station to enjoy bottomless tea (or hot chocolate) for £1.35 and a “cookie crunch” (two spoons ice cream, crumbled cookie and chocolate sauce) for £1.55. Not only the cheapest walk tea ever, but only 346 calories, apparently.
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