Stonegate Circular T=2.19
Length: 15.5 km (9.6 miles) 4 hours 45mins, or long walk of 29.5km (18.3 miles)
Requested by Brian, this walk passes over gentle hills and into tranquil valleys, through classic English wood and pastureland, its attractions include the unspoiled village of Burwash for lunch, and Bateman's, the one time rural retreat of Rudyard Kipling. For those venturing on the long walk section after lunch at Burwash Common, this could with some justification be described as a wilderness walk.
Covid-19 This is an informal walk for up to thirty people. For presumably the last time, please help Brian by registering on Eventbrite here.
Trains: Take the 1005 Hastings train from Charing Cross arriving 1126. (There is also a 1012 from Victoria, which involves a 4 minute change at Sevenoaks). Return trains are xx23
Lunch: The Rose and Crown 6km from the start of the walk, which serves pub food from 12 to 2.30pm - 160 metres west down the High Street from the church. or The Bear Inn 90 metres further west.
Tea: There is nothing at Stonegate station. The Wheel Inn Burwash Weald, 10km from the start of the walk
7 comments:
It looks like the Wheel Inn at Burwash Weald has gone and got itself a new address ... https://www.thewheelinnburwash.org/
Beware train cancellations due to staff being pinged by the NHS app. It happened quite a lot today, Friday.
10:05 from Charing X (10:14 at London Bridge) is still scheduled (as of 08:40) fingers crossed :-)
3 of us decided to go to Robertsbridge from Burwash after lunch as we knew that we could get a drink there whilst waiting for the train. One train an hour.
Our route was planned to be 6 km but allowing for getting lost let us say 7km
The extra km meant that two of us filled our boots when crossing a stream, TWICE, and the third person in his size 10 hobnail boots had no trouble at all and it was he who said 'It isn't deep, you will have no trouble at all on this' and on the second crossing 'This one is even shallower'
What happened to once bitten twice shy?
We were slower than an M Tigers pace as it took 2hours 50 minutes to do the 6k. Getting old
But the swift drink in the pub at the station was most worthwhile
We passed a sculpture of Rudyard Kipling sitting on a bench at some point and someone had left a note saying 'Time you got your clothes pressed mate'. It was a very rumpled-looking suit.
Another wag had put a subsequent note saying 'And time you cast off your self-righteous racism mate'
Bugger I should have taken a pic
N=20 on a w=hot-sunny day. An enjoyable walk. Largely firm underfoot, with occasional patches of quickmud to trap the unwary. As well as its flurry of variants, this walk seems to undergo frequent route changes. Most recently due to work on the railway. It didn’t help that, after the disembodied door and leg, I opted to follow a group of GPS-ers who ‘knew where they were going’. They didn’t. Would you believe we entered Burwash through the opposite end of town? However, the scenery was still beautiful so I have decided not to lodge an official complaint. We managed to find the Rose and Crown alright, though. There, the intended one pint of cider quickly turned into two. Fellow-imbibers will attest this was entirely due to the staff’s hard-sell techniques and not any proclivity on my part. Concerns this would have a deleterious effect on the afternoon’s navigation were unfounded. If anything, it improved.
Although I made a detour after lunch for the view from the churchyard, and the smugglers graves, I too neglected to take a pic of the Kipling statue. I do blame the cider for that.
In the afternoon , what appeared to be another disembodied sculpture turned out to be two of our number asleep in the grass. At least I think they were asleep.
And so on to Stonegate, without incident, having accidentally, and perhaps fortuitously, avoided the Wheel . (I heard later of one who spent longer than intended there). I took the “northeast route” to avoid any more of the muddy bridleway. It works fine.
Just to add to Mr T's missive, it was indeed a delightful day out under a cloudless sky with a welcome waft of air now and again. Many thanks to Brian for deputising and providing us all with some local knowledge at the start of the walk.
During the morning the three back "markers" dallied taking photo opportunities at the newly replaced surreal door and leg before crossing the railway line and slipping through a field of golden corn. Concern at Mr T's undone shoelace and a "technical" discussion on "non-relational databases" meant the GPSers took their eyes off the route track and got yellow cards for deviation. However the group seamlessly (well there was a bit of mud involved) merged into the "green" route allowing them to savour the delights of Burwash High Street, but as Mr. T. alludes, loosing VDT (valuable drinking time).
Many assembled at St. Bartholemew's Church Yard for a picnic shielded from the sun by a well placed yew tree. Here, two senior walkers planned to visit Batemans and then take a cab back to Stonegate. But with no cabs on offer untill 4pm, they switched to plan "B", a hastily devised 7km shortened stroll to Robertsbridge (in case the train service went pear shaped). This turned out to traverse some stunning meadow and woodland (although there was some walking on quiet country lanes). The Ostrich (adjacent to Robertsbridge railway station) was open as if in a 1980's time-warp and provided thirst quenchers, before they caught the delayed 5:14 back to the Great Yen (don't get me started on the train journey!)
Tied laces are so “last-year”
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