Cuxton
to Sole Street with shortened start from Cuxton
Open views and a wooded ridge before lunch, then a walk across a vineyard. An optional afternoon loop up to Cobham and the Leather Bottle pub (of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers)
Length: 15km/9.3 miles with options to shorten further by omitting the loop to Cobham near the end.
Toughness: 5 out of 10
Trains: Take the 10.20 high speed train from London St Pancras (10.27 Stratford), changing at Strood for the 11.03 train to Cuxton, arriving 11.07.
Return trains from Sole Street to London Victoria run hourly at xx.32 with one extra train at 17.02
Tickets: An off peak day return to Rochester should cover both journeys
Lunch: A diversion (450 metres) to the Golden Lion, Tel 01474 815644 in Luddesdown is necessary if you want to have a hot lunch - 7.7km (4.8 miles) by the shorter start,
Options for a later pub lunch are detailed in the walk directions as are recommendations for picnic spots and tea stops.
For walk directions, map and GPS click here
T=swc.35
9 comments:
If you have a Freedom pass or other travel card up to zone 6 and a senior or network card, I is slightly cheaper to buy a super off peak advance single ticket to Cuxton and a regular off-peak single from Sole Street to Bromley South which is in zone 6.
On the line from Sole Street, St Mary Cray is the zone 6 boundary.
https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf
On the above map Swanley is in Zone 8, which presumably means free to Freedom pass holders. (Amersham in Zone 9 is free)
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/60_map.pdf
On the above map for 60+ Oyster card holders the end station is Swanley.
https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedom-pass/using-pass/freedom-pass-travel-map
Same for Freedom pass holders.
Single ticket from Sole St. to Swanley is £4.25 plus single from Stratford to Cuxton £8.05 totals £12.30, a saving of £3.65 on the return fare to Stratford via the high speed train.
Thanks, you're right. Unfortunately, I booked my ticket on Trainline and they charge £4 to refund - Beware.
Apologies for not pointing this out before, but I just thought of it.
You CAN'T use boundary zone anything tickets on Southeastern High Speed out of St Pancras. You have to buy a ticket from St Pancras or Stratford. Your 60+ or Freedom pass will NOT work on the ticket gates.
You can get round this by getting the Thameslink train to Strood, but it is a tight connection and takes a lot lot longer. The 9.32 from St Pancras Thameslink (Rainham train) calling at 9.48 at London Bridge gets to Strood at 10.59. Providing it is in time you have four minutes to cross to the adjacent platform. But that is a big providing, given the punctuality on Thameslink.
If you are buying your Southeastern high speed ticket at St Pancras, use the three ticket machines UPSTAIRS on the departure level mezzanine (ie just before the gates). After 10am these MAY give you a cheaper super off peak return (I am not sure if they are available for Rochester, but they may be). These tickets are NOT available from the other ticket machines at St Pancras, since they are not Southeastern machines (I know: it is nuts!).
That is true on the day, but the suggestion was to get an advance single for the journey out, which has to be from St Pancras or Stratford.
Yes, the freedom Pass can't be used for the outward high speed train but you will get a third off with a senior railcard.
The freedom Pass can be used as well as the senior card for the journey back from Sole Street.
If you don't have a freedom Pass but have a network railcard, a return ticket to Rochester might be your cheapest option.
Check out the relevant fare on the national rail website.
12 met at the station in bright sunshine for this walk. We had a fine climb up the hill, with a view of the Medway Valley, and then an easy walk though the woods. Descending to the Luddesdown Valley we ran into two more who had parked at the lunch pub and walked back to it with us. So n=14 in all.
The Luddesdown vineyards get bigger and bigger. Soon they will take over all of Kent. Workers were in the vineyard, which should spark Biblical reflections, but they elude me at present.
Just before Luddesdown village, four of us split off to go to the Golden Lion for lunch. The menu here was simple but quickly served and tasty. We chose a sunny table and the sun promptly went behind clouds, never to reappear.
Several picnickers joined us for drinks. Did the rest finish the whole walk or short cut from here to Sole Street? When we had finished eating it was raining (so w=sun-in-the-morning-then-some-rain) which persuaded three to flee by car. Five of us continued regardless, taking a short cut up a lane to the afternoon loop.
The rain soon stopped and it was just grey. We paid a brief visit to the almshouse behind Cobham church and were shown its rather grand communal hall. Then, avoiding all pubs, we made full sail to Sole Street station.
We arrived just in time to miss the 3.30pm train so repaired to the Railway Inn. This was full of a raucous group, music blasting out at full volume - so obviously a funeral. But they made tea in mugs. Unable to speak to my fellow walkers due to the noise, I pen these lines….
Three picnickers did the loop to Cobham and three headed straight for Sole Street as rain started to move in our direction.
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