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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 18 December 2016

Sunday walk 2 Sturry Circular

Sturry Circular SWC walk 121 (variant)
8.4 miles, 13.5 km
Difficulty 2 out of 10:
A beautiful walk through a quiet corner of Kent, visiting a series of ancient villages, each with its own ancient pub and church. Mostly flat, with a few gentle hills, and some good views. Some of the woodland bridleways can be muddy in winter but the walk also has many dry sections on quiet tarmac lanes and tracks.
Trains
Either....take the High Speed HS1 Dover Priory train from St Pancras at 09:37 (Stratford International 9:44) changing at Ashford for the Ramsgate train (arr 10:14 dep 10:32 platform 5). Arrive Sturry at 10:55.
Or.....take the same Ramsgate train from Victoria (note change of terminus) at 09:12, direct to Sturry (calls Bromley South 9:30, Orpington 9.37, etc). This is the cheaper option.
Trains return at xx:37 direct to Victoria (cheapest - journey time: 1hr:51). Or change at Ashford for the HS1 back to St Pancras (costs more - journey time: 1hr:18).
Get a return to Sturry.
Lunch
The first pub reached is the (untried) Anchor Inn, Littlebourne (01227 721 207), 5 km (3.1 miles) into the walk.
Next is the recommended Rose Inn on Wickhambreaux's village green (01227 721 763), 6.4 km (4 miles) into the walk - worth ringing to book.
There's also the Duke William in Ickham (01227 721 308), another pretty and ancient village. Just off the walk route on a diversion that adds 1.3 km (0.8 miles) to the walk length – directions given at the end of the main walk text. A pleasant pub with an interesting and not over-priced menu.
With Xmas being so close, pubs may be busy today. You might want to pack a snack or two just in case there's any problem.
Tea
The Fordwich Arms, King Street, Fordwich (01227 710 444), 12.6km (7.8 miles) into the walk, has a rear balcony and garden overlooking the River Stour. Serves tea in proper pots.
There's also the George and Dragon, 100 metres down the road from the Fordwich Arms. It serves food all afternoon and has a pleasant garden.
Walk Directions here 
T=swc.121

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Planning to travel from Charing Cross.

Sean said...

Southeastern have sneakily switched the Ramsgate trains to run to and from Victoria this Sunday, not Charing Cross and London Bridge. I've updated the walk post above.

PeteB said...

Just the fab n=4 on this walk, (I was Ringo again!). This walk should be (re)branded the
"pints and prayers" walk as you pass through a series of lovely villages each with a church and an excellent pub. We stopped to visit the church in Littlebourne just as the morning service was finishing and enjoyed a cuppa and chat with the friendly parishoners.

By following a clear and well-used path along a field edge we did a variation of the diversion to Ickham by cutting out a rather pointless diagonal field crossing and dog-leg left turn before stopping for lunch and a drink in Wickhambreaux.
After lunch the fabs briefly split into 2x2 groups after taking a wrong turn through a complex of farm buildings into the poly tunnels fields. The gps section were soon followed by the analogue word followers who realised the error of their ways and we quickly met up again to reach Sturry just in time to grab some takeaway coffees and snacks at a local shop before catching the 15.37 train back to London -3 of us changed at Ashford for HS1.

This walk is a little gem and after the dry weather the benign muddy stretches through woodland were easily avoided and by the end my boots were actually cleaner than when we started! Great company and a Sunday well spent in w=dry-and-mild conditions.

pia said...

Yes, agree on everything with Pete (and so does my gps!!): lovely walk with plenty of spires and pubs between the lovely fields; small but great group plus mild weather and little mud made this a pretty perfect Sunday stroll. It is worth adding though that the Duke William in Ickham, on a little detour, has reopened and is now a large gastro pub. It looks splendid and for a (larger) group is perfect. The Rose Inn is more intimate though and is situated on a pretty green with benches where you can eat sandwiches, which we all did.

Can someone update the walk notes please? www.thedukewilliamickham.com

Thanks poster boys for a great year of walking. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

Walker said...

Walk updated. Good to hear that the Duke William is open and suitable for groups.