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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.

Sunday 7 August 2016

Sunday Walk 1 – a classic South Coast walk

Book 1 Walk 25 – Winchelsea to Hastings
Length: 20.3 km (12.6 miles). Toughness: 9/10

09:27 Hastings train from Cannon Street (London Bridge 09:31, Orpington 09:49), changing at Hastings for the Ashford train* (arr 11:00, dep 11:18), arriving Winchelsea at 11:33. Buy a day return to Winchelsea.

In theory you could also travel out on the 10:08 High Speed train from St Pancras, but you'd have a 30-minute wait at Ashford and would arrive at Winchelsea 9 minutes later than the others.

Direct trains back from Hastings to Cannon Street are at xx:31 (fast) & xx:50 to 18:50, then hourly. If you've got a High Speed ticket you could return via Ashford at xx:18, while lovers of slow trains on the scenic coastal route to Victoria can gamble on a Southern train turning up at xx:22. Last trains 20:22 to Victoria, 21:18 to St Pancras via Ashford, 21:50 to Cannon Street.

A classic Book 1 walk getting its first Sunday outing since records began, as the Sunday train service to Winchelsea was withdrawn for many years. There's been a major landslip near the end of the walk but the diversions are well-signposted, and a local has also kindly offered to reveal an easier alternative route.

You'll need to bring Book 1 or print the directions from the Walk 25 page.

* If there's a problem on Sunday with the connecting (Southern) service from Hastings you can always devise some kind of Hastings Circular.
T=1.25

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Being quite selfish I would welcome something in Kent or East Sussex!

Sean said...

If the London-based people can put up with a longish train journey I could post Book 1 Walk 25 (Winchelsea-Hastings), now that Winchelsea has Sunday trains again. Could someone with local knowledge confirm that it's possible to get around the landslip in Ecclesbourne Glen?

Unknown said...

Regarding the landslips in Hastings Country Park the minor diversions are well signposted. For those who do not wish to negotiate the many steps involved in going up and down the glens back into Hastings it is possible to take a level route from the Coastguard Tea Rooms at Fairlight; this entails a walk through an overgrown quarry and then a footpath that leads to Barley Lane that leads to the East Hill lift adjacent to the Tamarisk Steps that lead to the Hastings Old Town. This level route is also very pretty and does give good views across the sea. I am happy to lead this deviation from the tearooms for those who do not fancy the strains of the glens. It probably reduces the overall grading of the walk down to 7/10 from 10/10!

Andrew said...

Most recent feedback is that
- the coast path is still officially closed with a signed inland detour. If you've done the walk before, its the last 'up' before Hastings. i.e. after Fairlight Glen.
- but (at your own risk) you can still use it.

Unknown said...

If the Hastings - Winchelsea train isn't running the 100 bus (The Wave) departs Hastings at 1106 and takes about 35 mins to get to Winchelsea (the village not the station).

Unknown said...

Well the sea fret finally cleared at 5pm. Five walkers in the main group plus another couple who reduced the age profile considerably and another chap who said he was getting fit for Kilamanjaro.

PeteB said...

n=5 on this walk with the weather w= cloudy-with-a-breeze. However at the start of the 4 glens stretch there was sea fret with a strong breeze which means its in your face as you do the ups and downs. After the pub in Icklesham the route to the coast can be a bit tricky and a compass is helpful. At one field the owner has built chalets and there is quite extensive camping which means the instructions to head for the corner of the field to reach a lane is really not the best route. Far easier to head for the chalets to reach the lane and turn left .
Also the Royal Oak Inn is definitely open and looks very popular.
On the 4 glens route I did not pay attention to the instructions and the gpx route file and ended up taking the "closed" path. The final climb is tricky in places and has become very overgrown - not really recommended and I should know better at my age! On the walk back through Hastings at 5pm the sun came out and it was a glorious end to the day. The HS1 which I think has really made a difference for me in getting to walks in this area whisked me back to East London in time to catch the womens Olympic road cycle race which seemed far more dangerous than the last stretch of the Hastings Country park path.