Sunday Walk – Eynsford Circular, via Farningham

Extra Walk 419b – Eynsford Circular, via Farningham (Short Walk 2)

Length: 13½ km (8.4 miles). Toughness: 3/10

09:44 Sevenoaks train from Victoria, calling at lots of stations in south London and arriving Eynsford at 10:36. If you just miss this at Victoria, take the 09:55 Ashford International train and change at Bromley South (arr 10:11, dep 10:19) onto the Sevenoaks train. Buy a day return to Eynsford (from St Mary Cray if you've also got a Zones 1-6 Travelcard; from Swanley with a Freedom Pass).

Trains back to Victoria are hourly this Sunday, at xx:41. There's not much advantage in changing onto a faster service at Bromley South, nor in catching a train in the other direction at xx:36 and changing at Sevenoaks (the latter probably needs a more expensive ticket anyway).

I wasn't sure about choosing this walk when another Eynsford Circular was posted a few Sundays ago, but the double whammy of Storm Darragh and major signalling problems at Victoria station seems to have prevented anyone from showing up (or at least reporting on it). In any case there's only a small overlap between the two walks, with this one covering a more northerly area around Farningham rather than Shoreham. I'm suggesting we skip the full Main Walk's northern loop since the river is prone to flooding around Franks Lane, but you could risk this if you want a longer walk.

Getting a pub lunch between Christmas and New Year is never guaranteed but this walk goes past no fewer than *five* hostelries in around 2½ km: three in Eynsford at the centre of its figure-of-8 shape, followed by two more in Farningham. There are several picnic areas if you prefer to bring your own provisions. As Eynsford's tearoom closed several years ago you'll have to revisit one of its pubs if you want some refreshment at the end of the walk, with the Plough Inn on Riverside being the most conveniently placed.

You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.419.b page. If you kept a printed copy after doing another version of this walk in January, note that the route has been tweaked and some of its loops are now done in the opposite direction.