Length: 17.7 km (11 miles). Toughness: 3~4/10
Buy a day return to Pluckley and take the 10:04 Dover train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 10:07, London Bridge 10:13, Sevenoaks 10:37, etc), arriving Headcorn at 11:09. Nip down the station approach road to the bus stop on this side of the main road for the Arriva 12 bus towards Maidstone at 11:19 (or perhaps share a taxi if it doesn't show up). After an 11-minute journey alight at the King's Head pub in Sutton Valence for the start of the walk.
If you'd prefer to avoid the bus connection you could instead take the 09:55 / 10:55 Ashford Int'l train from Victoria and do the walk's alternative start from Harrietsham (arr 11:13 / 12:13). The earlier train would get you to the lunch pub about 40 minutes before the main group; the later one about 20 minutes after. See the walk notes for ticket advice on this route.
Trains back from Pluckley to Charing Cross are hourly at xx:37. You could take a train in the other direction at xx:46 and change at Ashford for a High-Speed train to St Pancras, but you'd need to buy a fairly expensive ‘Plus High Speed’ supplement for this route.
This is a pleasant section of the Greensand Way through the ‘Garden of England’, with plenty of orchards and some fine old churches along the way (though not many pubs). The only convenient lunch place is the attractive Pepper Box Inn, which the Sutton Valence starters should reach at around 12:45–1pm. It has plenty of outdoor seating but as usual book a table if you want to be sure of Sunday lunch.
A mid-afternoon tea stop looks unlikely as the George in Egerton is reportedly closed. The choice for refreshment is between diverting to the Rose & Crown in Mundy Bois (open all day) or carrying on to Pluckley village for the Black Horse (open to 6pm). In both cases allow plenty of time to reach Pluckley station as the Dering Arms closes early on Sundays and there's nothing else nearby.
Please bring the directions from the L=swc.151 page.
1 comment:
Just N=3 on this walk, including the walk poster and the person who wrote the directions (me), who was giving them a check. The bus connection worked fine and we did the alternative start through the very attractive village. The weather was w=often-sunny: ie some cloud at times but plenty of sun at others.
As the walk author I am the wrong person to say this, but this is a pleasant little walk, with varied scenery and occasional fine views. Unlike its sister walk (Yalding to Sutton Valence) it has not seen a reduction in its apple orchards: in fact one or two new ones seem to have been planted. It looks to be a bumper crop this year. In places cobnuts (large hazelnuts) were also to be found in former plantations now turning into woods.
The Pepper Box is one of my favourite pubs. They were doing roasts today and two of us enjoyed them at a shady outside table. The third walker had sandwiches and went off to eat them somewhere. We expected him to return for a drink, but he did not. We hope we enjoyed the rest of his day.
In the afternoon traces of the Greensand Way get faint in places. Luckily we had excellent directions to guide us (I found them easy to understand anyway….). On a middle section of the walk the path went down the shady edge of several large fields. This was bad news for the innumerable sheep who had decided this was a cool place to browse and had to move out of our way. (Sorry, sheepies… We know it is tough having a pullover you can’t take off on a hot day).
The George in Egerton shows no sign of reopening. Building work seems not to have advanced since May and it is still impossible to tell if it aims to revive the pub or turn it into housing. So it was on across desiccated grasslands, disturbing more sheep, to Pluckley village. Here the Black Horse HAS reopened and its garden made a delightful tea stop.
We then (mostly) descended to Pluckley station for the 5.37 train. A great day out, which should have attracted more walkers.
Post a Comment