Length: 18 km (11.2 miles), or 15¼ km (9.5 miles) with shorter afternoon. Toughness: 3/10
10:15 Hastings train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 10:18, London Bridge 10:24, Orpington 10:40, etc), arriving Tonbridge at 10:58. Buy an “Any Permitted Route” return to Penshurst, which in theory will get you through the ticket barrier at Tonbridge.
From south London you could also travel out via Redhill. You'd need to connect with the 10:26 service which gets to Tonbridge at 10:56. If you do this, buy a return to Tonbridge.
Unless you switch to the Circular Walk and return to Tonbridge, trains back from Penshurst are hourly in each direction. It's quicker to return via Tonbridge (at xx:48) but your ticket is also valid for travel via Redhill (at xx:34).
The first half of this walk is a fairly gentle stroll along the Medway valley, including a stretch through Haysden Country Park where a closed bridge and other disruptions mentioned in past comments have all been fixed. It should be possible to get a pub lunch in the beer garden of the Leicester Arms Hotel in Penshurst village, but if this doesn't appeal you could visit the Porcupine Pantry outside Penshurst Place or have a picnic in the churchyard.
Regulars will know that Penshurst station is nowhere near the village, and there's a choice of two routes to it in the afternoon. Both go via Chiddingstone which has two good tearooms: the Tulip Tree in the village or the one at the back of Chiddingstone Castle (although access to its tearoom might be restricted as there's a “Circus of Curiosities” event in the grounds). There's still a fair distance to cover to Penshurst station but if you misjudge your arrival you can pass the time in the Little Brown Jug across the road.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.235 page.
1 comment:
It wasn't easy to count numbers accurately as a few sneaked off at the start to buy provisions, but I reckon about n=15 on a w=partly-sunny day, ideal for walking.
The Leicester Arms is yet another pub which sneakily adds 15% even when ordering and paying for food & drink at the bar, making it nearly £7 for a pint. Still, I suppose that's better than finding it closed and boarded up, and they were happy to serve half-price children's portion Sunday roasts to some distinctly unchildlike walkers.
A few then went off on other routes but the majority did the shorter afternoon, although that included a superfluous tour of the church and a loop past the manor house as the walk author had forgotten that he'd written up a short cut out of the village. But no harm done and when we reached Chiddingstone we were cordially invited into their village fête, enjoying some excellent tea'n'cake while watching the festivities.
There are a maze of possible routes between the village and Penshurst station but the footpaths are all rather neglected and not easy to follow. I wanted to get the 16:34 to Redhill and lost sight of the main group who were taking a more leisurely stroll for the 16:48 to Tonbridge, but I trust their gizmos got them to the station in time.
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