16.5km (10.3 miles), Difficulty 3/10
Trains: Get the 9:41 Horsham train from Victoria (Clapham Junction 9:48) arriving Ockley 10:51
Return from Warnham xx:19 direct or xx:57 changing at Horsham
The last direct train is at 18:19, the last via Horsham 18:57. Get a return to Warnham.
A beautiful walk through an unspoilt countryside of fields, woods and gentle hills, with a choice of two homely country pubs for lunch. One highlight of this walk is a church, hidden in the woods. (Woods that can be muddy after wet weather).
Lunch:
The church above makes an ideal picnic spot, but the suggested lunch place is the Scarlett Arms (tel. 01306-627243) in Walliswood, some 7.2 km into the walk. Old-fashioned, walker-friendly, open from 12 noon Food till 2:45. Booking ahead advised.
Alternatively, the Punchbowl pub (tel. 01306-627249) in Okewood Hill. Serves food from noon. The pub is reached via a detour beginning in the woods in Walliswood; the main walk can then be rejoined at point [5A].
That detour could also serve as a shortcut for any
picnickers wanting to bypass the Scarlett Arms.
Tea: The walker-friendly Sussex Oak, Warnham. tel.01403-265028 ). It is 1.3 km to the station from Warnham
village, so allow at least 20 minutes to get there.
Directions here t=1.47
2 comments:
N=11 on a day w=largely-sunny-with-occasional-cloud Slippery mud at times but not too bad. Autumn in evidence. Fungi on show. Easy to miss a turn in the woods, as several confessed.
Mr Tiger let the young ones skip ahead, in the belief they’d soon tire. They didn’t.
3 were caught up with by the church in the woods. (Without wishing to cast nasturtiums, I think they might have taken the s-word after their picnic).
The other 7 were found in the Scarlett Arms. Beer good, cider OK. Meals looked good. A few chips, proffered by a kindly benefactor, were eagerly snapped up by the late arrival.
And so on to Warnham, where a sizeable number dropped into the Sussex Oak. Some stayed longer than others .
Those who caught the 16:57 via Horsham found themselves caught in a morass of delayed onward trains. But by cleverly hopping from train to train, platform to platform, they managed to successfully pick the slowest option, stopping absolutely everywhere. Sigh.
Hopefully the hangers-on had more luck.
All in all, a grand day out.
Two ran for the 16:19, one caught it, one felt the train leave with a finger on the door button. Three hangers-on got the 17:19 with our patient friend who had just missed the 16:19. Just to add to Mr Tiger's comment we were made very welcome at the Scarlet Arms a great pub in remote location.
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