DAC is away...
Length: 26.2 km (16.3 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 580/587m
Net Walking Time: 6 hours
Toughness: 7/10
[shorter versions possible (see the webpage), but mostly depending on
buses]
Take the 09.10 Caterham & Tattenham Corner train (front
carriages) from London Bridge (Norwood Junction 09.23, East Croydon 09.28),
arrives Caterham 09.54.
Return to Charing X (via Orpington, LBG and W’loo
East) on xx.28 or xx.58, journey time 35 mins to Charing X if
changing at Orpington. Caterham and Knockholt are within the Oyster Zones
1-6.
Tired of reading pages of detailed walk directions? Here is your
solution: just follow the well waymarked North Downs Way along one of its
better stretches (but do expect some road noise in the early stages), with just
minimal directions to hand, found here.
Lunch: Botley
Hill Farmhouse in Botley Hill (10.2 km/6.3 mi, food to
15.00). A table has been booked for 12.30.
Tea: a couple of pubs in Knockholt Pound about
4 km from the end and another one, a little closer and a little
off-route, in Halstead.
For summary, map, height profile, some photos,
walk directions and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.111
1 comment:
n=8 off the train, including one first-timer, on another day where the gloomy forecast was (literally) outshone by the real weather: w=grey-start-evolving-to-sunny-end-no-rain-all-day
There was a fair amount of mud encountered today- unsurprisingly in the woods, but also out in the fields etc, possibly due to the NDW just being a very popular route. Initially this was kind of ignorable as the attention was captured by the thousands of bluebells just weeks from flowering, and the even more numerous wild garlic plants very close to flowering, but later on it was starting to get a bit tedious, I admit.
The mud that is. Energy-sapping and time-consuming, although never deep, due to a lot of the morning route being either steeply up or steeply down, so one had to proceed with caution.
We still reached the lunch pub only 5 minutes after the booked time and had a great time there: 5 ate, one cappucino-ed, 2 more picnickers later joined to hoover up left-over chips, mushy peas and fish & chips batter.
We slid on (with just one minor fall into the mud) and after 15.5 km two left us for the bus to Haynes (Kent) station. They had an unlucky journey insofar as the previous bus had just left and the next one (27 minutes later) missed the connection due to some blaggers trying (and succeeding) to get on the bus without paying.
The remaining 6 got split into 2 + 4 but were re-united on the platform at Knockholt, awaiting the 17.28.
Great day out. Fine far views once the grey sky brightened up (we waved towards the South Downs to our friends on the Lewes walk), loads of bb's and wild garlic, small patches of what looked suspiciously like wood anemones, crocusses and birdsong galore.
Post a Comment