9.07 train from London Bridge (9.22 East Croydon) to Uckfield, arriving 10.22
Buy a day return to Uckfield.
Apologies for the early train, but it is a fair way to lunch on this walk.... Starting early from London Bridge will also help beat the weekend crowds heading for the beach.
This walk was scheduled for 20 May but then cancelled due to ASLEF overtime bans. I hope its poster (and author) will forgive me for nicking the idea and slotting it in here, but I know that several walkers, along with myself, were looking forward to trying it back then.
This is a low level ramble through the dreamy Low Weald, passing through various country estates in the morning, with views of the South Downs. In the afternoon it follows the tranquil valley of the Tickerage Stream and ends up in the former deer park of Buxted Park.
There is apparently a possible "Elevenses stop" at the East Sussex National golf course 4 miles into the walk, but lunch is otherwise not until 8.7 miles into the walk, at the Blackboys Inn, which serves food till 3pm.
Alternatively there is a SHORT CUT, reducing the walk to 11.3 miles by avoiding Blackboys (and, from the look of it, most of the Tickerage Valley), and instead lunching in the Hare and Hounds in Framfield, 7.6 miles into the walk, which serves food until 2.30pm.
At the end of the walk there is a choice of two pubs close to Buxted station.
Trains back from Buxted are at 37 past the hour.
Trains back from Buxted are at 37 past the hour.
1 comment:
N=9 on this walk in w=blazing-hot-sunshine. OK, maybe the temperature did not help, but this walk felt like an epic. If I say that we started at 10.20am and got to the lunch pub FOUR hours later, at 2.30pm, you get some idea. The miles did not whizz by.
In retrospect we should have done the shorter start. The main walk route out of Uckfield did not seem that great and the countryside immediately after was not particularly special. Thereafter there were lots of wild fields and field edges - full of natural interest, brimming with butterflies (especially meadow browns, which were absolutely EVERYWHERE, but also marbled white, the odd skipper, one silver-washed fritillary) but also hard going - uneven ground underfoot, patches of high nettles or bracken or stinging nettles, stiles choked with brambles (lots of stiles in general..), tall grass covering ridged dried mud (this walk must be a mudbath in winter). If there were stately homes or distant views of the downs, I did not notice them.
You won’t hear me say this often, but the golf course mid morning was almost a relief, with its neat manicured paths and grass. Its refreshment hut made a welcome stop. Nice cakes too. Maybe the walk should be done backwards, with this as the tea stop?
When we finally got to the Blackboys, it was like an oasis. A cool shady table in the garden. Efficient service, nice nosh. Two picknickers went on here, and we did not see them again. The rest of us lingered after our meal, reluctant to face the elements once more.
By common consent the afternoon was nicer. More civilised, less rough. Tickeray Manor looked not a bad billet for Vivien Leigh to spend her declining years in. Buxted Park was pretty.
The first pub in Buxted had an event on. The second had a slim area of outside seating, but we found a relatively shady spot. Gin and tonic seemed the favoured drink. They also earned brownie points by selling us a takeaway bottle of wine for just £9. We got the 7.37 train, enjoying the aircon.
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