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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Midweek day walk Battle to Hastings

Battle to Hastings - surf and turf

The 1066 trail, Art at Bexhill and beaches to Hastings

The first section of this walk is map led, the second section forms part of Book 3* Walk 66

*Online only

Length : 17 km or 11 miles

Toughness :  3 out of 10

Getting there : Catch the 9:45 am train from London Charing Cross (9:48 Waterloo East)  to Battle Or
    Catch the 10:15 am  from London Charing Cross (10:18 am Waterloo East) to Battle

Meeting point : Battle Station at 11:03 Or 11:42

Tickets : Buy a Cheap day return to Hastings (You can travel on the HST route but the journey time appears to be longer)

Travel Options: I have put two times up for travelling because of the high costs for some on the earlier train.
Thomas will travel on the later train and I will travel on the earlier one.
I'd estimate that team Thomas will most likely catch up team Dent by late lunch at Bexhill where we can all set off on the afternoon leg to Hastings - well that's the theory anyhow.

Brief Description

I thought it was about time the Wednesday folk had a chance to visit the seaside, so this weeks walk is a hybrid offering a map led section in the morning and part of Book 3 Walk 66 (what an appropriate number!) in the afternoon.
The morning section is along the 1066 trail  (Bexhill link) to lunch at Bexhill-on-Sea. Then along the sea front to Hastings in the afternoon (Maybe a chance of a paddle or swim)
High tide on this section of the coast is at 10:30am about halfway out by 2:00pm

You may find a map for the morning section here

You may find details of the Bexhill-on-Sea to Hastings section within the walk here

Suggested Lunch stops

The De La Warr Pavillion at Bexhill-on-Sea

Suggested Tea stops

Plenty of Chippies to choose from,
Lots of cafes which shut before five or don't open Wednesdays, but The Bullet Coffee House tel: 01424717477  at 38 Robertson Street (TN34 1HT) appears to be open to 5:00 pm
Please do post any other recommendations you have for good tea stops.

Maps

OS Explorer : 124

Return train times

Trains return from Hastings at the following times ...
:19 minutes past the hour to Charing Cross(via Waterloo East) journey time 1 hour 45 minutes
:55 minutes past the hour to London Victoria journey time just over 2 hours

Both trains stop at St. Leonards Warrior square station about 3 minutes later should you wish to return from there.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Should you wish a pre lunch thirst quencher. you could try the The Plough at Crowhurst

Marion said...

Fab choice and will definitely be there. Hope the weather will be nice enough for a paddle.

Thomas G said...

Monsieur Dent: 9.45? Really? Am I missing something? A Hastings rtn is £31.80 for that train. With a 10.15 train (and a Network Railcard) it's only £18.00. Are you trying to turn this into an OAP-only walk? If so, can we then pls have a 2nd posting for the (slightly) younger mob?

Thomas G said...

...or take the 10.15 and play catch-up? Fine with me...

Anonymous said...

Donner und Blitzen!, yes over £30 is too much.
The longer section of the walk is in the morning, so hence my choice of an earlier train.
Anyhow, may I suggest that for those fleet of foot and without an Older Person's Railcard go for the 10:15 train as suggested by Thomas?
AD

Thomas G said...

Intend going. 10.15 train

Anonymous said...

another vote for the 10.15 !
appreciate you posting the walk Mr Dent but it's always been a post 10am train for the midweeks

Anonymous said...

OR alternatively a 2nd posting for the younger lot as Thomas suggests ?

Marion said...

Will join Thomas on the later train at Waterloo East since it takes me 30 mins plus on my local train to get into London and you cannot get through the barriers at Waterloo until 9.30 even if you re a senior traveller. I have mentioned this before Mr Dent please note. No-one older or younger needs to spend this kind of money on an unnecessary train expense when the lunch stop is just the very simple cafe at the De La Warr pavilion-no time pressure surely?

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to do this walk.

Anonymous said...

might it not be better to bow to pressure of opinions, make it easier on yourself and just put the 10.15 train on the posting Mr Dent ? otherwise sadly walk is fragmented before we even get there !

Thomas G said...

For anyone willing to pace on to Hastings Old Town: the Jerwood Gallery (open until 17.00) is currently showing LS Lowry and Quentin Blake: http://www.jerwoodgallery.org/whatson/current#

Anonymous said...

first section is map-led...do any of the people intending to catch the later train have the correct map please ?!

Anonymous said...

there's a link to the map further up in the posting

Thomas G said...

n=10 w=overcast-with-hints-of-precipitation-turning-to-sunny-with-blue-sky
6 off the 9.45 dep., 4 off the 10.15. 19.8 km/12.3 mi as per gpx.
Very pleasant walk down to the coast to Bexhill along the 1066 Bexhill-Link. Quiet, varied, lots of woods, a few hillocks, some vast fields and only a few stiles. Lunch in Crowhurst for the late starters (very friendly service, but run-of-the-mill food). Tea and exhibitions at the De La Warr-Pavilion (Bridget Riley and John Stezaker). By then we were with Monsieur Arthur himself. Then on towards Warrior Square Station along the coast. Pleasant stretch of the South Coast this. Finish (for some) at a rewarding new Wine Bar/Bistro 100m from the station.
Nice day out.

Mike A said...

Yes, can certainly recommend Wine Bar / Bistro mentioned by Thomas, it's
The Wineshed, 52 Kings Road, St Leonards
TN37 6DY tel 01424 420020
http://www.thewineshed.info/
Great food and not expensive.

Carol said...

The first half of this walk was lovely - then I lost Mr Dent when he stopped to tie his shoelace in an empty field and simply disappeared! Following a waymarked route, I somehow overshot Bexhill completely and ended up in Bulverhythe. Had a great walk through the sea shallows from Hastings Pier to the lifeboat, then met up with one other slightly puzzled walker on the train home Glad to hear that Arthur didn't drop through a Portkey into an alternative universe.

PeteB said...

Ah, that's what happened to people! Realising at Crowhurst that we would not get to the suggested lunch place until quite late I set off on a bit of a march reaching the De La Warr pavilion at 2pm where I had lunch from their pretentious and not very appetizing lunch-time menu (probably best just for tea and cakes) before setting off with B at 3pm to Hastings. (We waited for others at the junction of the main coast road and the road at the end of the 1066 route. We reached Hastings main line station at just after 6pm where B caught THE 6.19 and I lingered with a coffee and read some news apps. I then met up with Carol on the 6.50.

Incidentally the distance for this walk is longer than the 11m advertised.
As follows:

1. Battle Station to Bexhill sea front = 12.33km
2. There and back to Pavilion say = 0.4km
3. Bexhill to Hastings main line station = 7.88km

This makes the walk 20.61km (12.89m) - a bit less if you catch the train at Warrior Square.
Good day out though and respect to Carol for her creative route to the sea front.