t=swc.78
Length: Main walk: 16.5km (10.3 miles) with options to shorten.
Difficulty: 4 out of 10
This walk starts from a lonely station and wends its way through remote valleys, woods and tiny settlements in the undulating landscape of the High Weald. It descends into the Eden Valley for refreshment stops in the beautiful villages of Penshurst and Chiddingstone, before ending in Hever. Each of these three villages has an interesting church which is worth visiting, as well as a popular historic house open to the public.
Trains: Catch the 9.51 East Grinstead train from Victoria, (Clapham Junction 9.58, East Croydon 10.09, changing at Oxted to catch the 10.38 from platform 3 to Cowden, arriving 10.55.
Return trains from Hever run hourly at XX.07.
Buy a return to Cowden.
Lunch: For those wanting a pub lunch, the Leicester Arms Hotel (01892-871617) In Penshurst village is reached after about 7 km.
Later in the walk, at Chiddingstone, the Castle Inn (01892-870371) is another possibility.
The Porcupine Pantry at the entrance to
Penshurst Place may have tea/coffee and snacks.
Tea: the suggested tea place is the Tulip Tree (01892-870326) in Chiddingstone.
2 comments:
#16 off the train at Cowden for a good day's walk under #overcast-with-increasing-sunny-periods-in-the-afternoon-windless-and-mild. We began with a pleasant tramp across fields, with extensive views north, then through woods with some muddy patches, reaching Hoath Corner after which the path became even muddier until we gained the tarmac safety of Penshurst. At least three lunched in the Leicester Arms (reports welcome) while the rest picnicked alfresco in the churchyard. The post-lunch walk towards Chiddingstone started off on tarmac, then gravel, then the hard-packed earth and, on the final stretch, shin-deep mud. And yes, gentle reader, pride does come before a fall. As a riposte to my smug boasting last week about the utility of a trekking pole in preventing unwanted facial attacks on the ground, a well-placed bramble brier neatly tripped me up and down I went like a felled tree. Fortunately, a large patch of nettles broke my fall and, such was the ubiquity of large pools of deep, gloopy mud I was far from the only person sporting the walker's trophy of slowly drying patches of Wealden clay. However, the far-reaching views to the Greensand ridge, under a bright blue sky, more than made up for it.
The Tulip Tearooms in Chiddingstone were open, but, for some reason (the known availability of toilets?) we decided to press on to Chiddingstone Castle - where the tearoom was shut. As were the toilets. There was nothing for it but to continue on to Hever station where most, if not all, caught the 16:07 homewards. An excellent day out, with many familiar faces and some new ones.
Still trying to get the china clay off my new Paramo waterproof trousers. Thank god for my 2 walking poles which not only kept me upright all day but guaranteed me a seat on both the train and bus home as it was standing room only. No one spotted the caked on mud. Must remember this in future and recommend it to anyone with mobility issues and a mudfest to deal with.
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