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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.

Saturday 3 October 2015

Saturday Third Walk – Pooh Sticks in Ashdown Forest

Extra Walk 110b – Hartfield to East Grinstead
Length: 18½ km (11.5 miles), or 13 km (8 miles) if you finish in Forest Row. Toughness: 7/10

09:23 East Grinstead train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:29, East Croydon 09:41), arriving East Grinstead at 10:18. Outside the station, take Metrobus 291 (towards Tunbridge Wells) at 10:31, arriving Hartfield at 10:58.

Long Walk option, 24¾ km (15.4 miles): You can avoid the outward bus journey by taking the 09:02 Portsmouth Harbour & Bognor Regis train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:08) and changing at East Croydon (arr 09:17, dep 09:23) for the Uckfield train (which is starting from here this Saturday, not London Bridge), arriving Ashurst at 09:59. For this option a day return to Ashurst (Kent) has always been accepted for return from East Grinstead, but ask the station staff politely before attempting to negotiate the ticket barriers.

Trains back from East Grinstead are at 07 & 37 minutes past the hour. If you decide to call it a day at Forest Row, take Metrobus 270 or 291 up the hill to East Grinstead; there are two buses an hour up to about 6.45pm, with a late one at 9.15pm.

The new breed of SWC walkers who like their walks long and tough should be satisfied with the full Walk 110 from Ashurst, and they'll soon catch up the lesser mortals who've chosen the morning bus ride and shorter start from Hartfield. Either way you'll get fine views from the heather-covered ridges along the top of Ashdown Forest, not least at the Memorial to AA Milne and EF Shepard. You'll pass several places featured in the delightful childrens' books, starting with the famous bridge where you can test your skills with a few authentic games of Pooh Sticks. Later, be careful not to fall into Pooh's Heffalump Trap.

Lunch is at a remote country pub not visited on other SWC walks, the Hatch Inn in Coleman's Hatch (7 km from Hartfield, nearly 13 km from Ashurst). To get there you'll need to take the slightly longer route along country lanes in §6b. There are more fine views from another ridge in the afternoon before you descend through woodland and across a golf course into Forest Row. After a tea stop here the final section is a long gentle climb up the mud-free Forest Way into East Grinstead, where more opportunities for refreshment await.

You'll need to print the directions from the Extra Walk 110 page.T=swc.110.b

4 comments:

Karen said...

Intend doing the long walk option.

Karen said...

On the long walk option n=11 w=foggy_until-lunch_and_clear_sunny_skies_after

11 off the train at Ashurst. Foggy start to the day with lots of dew on the ground. In Hartfield, the group stopped at the church of St Mary the Virgin to participate in the Big Draw. Some 4-8 year olds were colouring up a storm, but we were not intimidated and showed them a thing or two about drawing. Also took advantage of the coffee, tea and cakes that were available for a donation. Next stopping point was Pooh Bridge where three walkers played the obligatory game of Pooh sticks. Lovely walk through Posingford Wood.

6 dined at the Hatch Inn, 5 picnicked on the green by the busy road and joined for drinks once their sandwiches were consumed. Food very good by all accounts. Landlady of the pub took an interest in the SWC and was pointed in the direction of the website for further information. By the time lunch was finished, the sun finally made an appearance and the afternoon was very pleasant walking through Ashdown Forest. Lots of exciting fungi were spotted, including one example of amanita muscaria (proper red and white fairytale mushroom). One final distraction for the day was a visit to the Forest Information Centre where time was taken to watch the video presentation about the forest.

4 took the bus from Forest Row. The remaining 7 completed the full walk to East Grinsted. Drinks were had by all at the Dorset Arms. 3 set off for the train and the remaining 4 had another drink, catching the 19:07 to London. All in all, a very good day, especially as no walker was lost to the bald eagle (7ft wingspan and three-inch-long razor-sharp talons) that is currently missing in Ashdown Forest...

Sean said...

N=6 more walkers took the bus from East Grinstead for the shorter start from Hartfield, in the same W=foggy-but-a-bit-brighter-later weather. It sounds like we were just ahead of the larger group but never paused for long enough to meet up. The main reason for this was our experience at the Hatch Inn. The pub was half empty at 1pm but the manager claimed they were full and refused to take any orders for food, not even a sandwich to eat outside. We grimly ploughed on to Forest Row and had a reasonably good late lunch in The Swan, after which two took the bus and four did the final leg up the hill.

The walk design seems to cater for all tastes (a middle section over Ashdown Forest with optional legs before and after) but the unwelcoming attitude at the Hatch Inn rules this out as a lunch pub as far as I'm concerned. The landlady may have taken an interest in the SWC but if their policy is to turn walkers away they won't be seeing us again in the near future, if at all.

Anonymous said...

Historical duplicate/misleading attendance numbers cleanup project: n=17