9.59 train from Charing Cross (10.02 Waterloo East, 10.08 London Bridge) to Sevenoaks, arriving 10.31
If you miss this, there is another fast train at 10.08 Ch X, 10.11 WE, 10.17 LBG, arriving Sevenoaks 10.42 - but don't get the 10.10 from Ch X, 10.14 WE, 10.20 LBG, which is a stopper!!
You can actually buy a single to Sevenoaks, since return from Westerham is by London Transport bus, on which you can use Oyster, contactless and TfL passes/travelcards. Having said that, a day return to Sevenoaks is valid for return from Bromley South to Victoria.
This walk starts in suburban Sevenoaks and then has a stretch across Knole Park. After that you are out in a very idyllic slice of Kent countryside, nestling under the Greensand ridge. You gradually climb to the escarpment, where there are usually plentiful bluebells.
There is a possible lunch stop after 4.8 miles - The Windmill in Sevenoaks Weald, which requires a 1km diversion off the walk route: a very pleasant pub, but not large, so ring to check they have space - but most walkers seem to prefer to press on to the Cock Inn in Ide Hill after 8 miles, a popular pub which serves food till 3pm. Ide Hill also has a community shop serving tea, coffee, pasties, sandwiches and cakes - but this now shuts at 2.30pm on Saturdays.
In the afternoon the walk takes you through the National Trust Emmetts Garden on a public footpath. (Its grounds also have good bluebell displays, but you would have to pay the entrance fee to see these). It has a tea room (on the public footpath), open till 4.30pm.
The remainder of the walk is through woodland, which should have lovely bright green foliage at this time of year, to Westerham, which is bursting with pubs and tea places.
For return from Westerham the easiest option is the 246 bus, operated by London Transport, and so Oyster, contactless and passes can all be used, and fares are as for a normal London bus (£1.65?). This takes 31 minutes to Hayes, Kent station (four trains an hour to Charing Cross) or 43 minutes to Bromley South (regular fast trains to Victoria). It leaves from the green in the centre off Westerham at 15.17, 15.39, 16.10, 16.41, 17.12, 17.43, 18.14, 19.16, 20.18 (etc...)
An alternative is the 16.33 or 17.33. bus 594/5 to Oxted railway station, taking 20 minutes: you would then obviously have to pay whatever fare is relevant from Oxted to where you are going.
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16 at the start, but a N=17th turned up later, having missed the stop at Sevenoaks and travelled on to Tonbridge and back. We set off under cloud, keeping reasonably together as we crossed Knole Park. We managed the awkward main road crossing on a bend without mishap.
The next section had some nice patches of bluebells, but the real star was the wild garlic, of which there were several huge areas. I don’t remember seeing it here before. The sun even came out, raising hopes - but only briefly.
One walker had kindly booked for four people at the Cock Inn, but it sounded as if it was quite busy, and since 10 had indicated they wanted a pub lunch, a suggestion was made to try the earlier pub, the Windmill in Sevenoaks Weald. As the updater of this walk, I also wanted to check it out.
10 of us eventually made this diversion, nine lunching. The pub, which in the past has been rather gastro, is now back to standard pub fare. This proved perfectly pleasant, but was a tad slow to come, it being a two person operation. We seemed to be almost the only customers.
(I feel a bit guilty about the couple who booked at the Cock Inn. I hope they filled their table…)
After lunch we did the lovely climb in stages up onto the escarpment, and there had fine views. In the ridgetop woods more wild garlic awaited, including one particularly huge area, full out like all the rest.
Further on, forest operations had created a main road-sized swathe through the trees, which now is all mud, but hopefully will be prettier in due course. Coppicing of the lower slopes of the hill have also created a fine view to the south. There were some good bluebell patches too, all pretty much at their best.
Unfortunately, the view to the south also revealed that rain was approaching fast. It arrived at about 4pm as we got to the Cock Inn. (So w=cloud-turning-to-rain-at-4pm). After some debate, we stopped at the pub for drinks and tea, and then headed out into the deluge. It was a soggy walk through the woods thereafter, waterproofs getting a thorough testing.
We got to the Grasshopper pub in Westerham at 6.30pm and had a further drink there before getting the 7.16 bus, which sadly had no heating. We split between Hayes-ites and Bromley-Southiens, both groups glad to have heated carriages for the rest of the way back to Central London.
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