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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 14 January 2017

Third walk

20b Robertsbridge to Battle

Length: 17.2 km (10.7 miles). Toughness: 3/10

Catch the 10:00 from Charing Cross (Waterloo 10:03 London Bridge 10:08) arrives Robertsbridge 11:34.

Longer walk option start at Etchingham: 22.2 km (13.8 miles). 3/10. Catch the 9:00 train from Charing Cross (Waterloo 9:03 London Bridge 9:08) arrives Etchingham 10:30.

Shorter walk option 20a Robertsbridge Circular: 14 km (8.7 miles) 1/10

Buy a day return to Battle (unless taking the short circular walk from Robertsbridge).

Return: Bus from Battle to connect with Robertsbridge train x:24 xx:54 18:54 xx:54 until 21:54, journey time 13 minutes.

Return trains from Robertsbridge xx:17 xx:47 19:17 xx:17 until 22:17

The intention is to stop at the The Cross Inn, Staplecross for lunch rather than the later pub at Seddlescombe. The Cross Inn caters for dining vs. the odd cheese roll of past times.

Important Note: Immediately after the Cross Inn, ensure you take the straightforward route (as marked by [I] in the directions dated 11 Jan 2017), which avoids the ongoing earthworks, poor waymarking. There is a right of way but it is not at all clear and possibly not helped by the odd local resident. (Too late in the day to get onto the local rights of way officer in Lewes, but I will be checking the situation out after lunch and getting in touch with the local rights of way officer should there still be a problem.) Thanks to Walker - ref. Walk Comments page - for the alternative route which will save a lot of hassle on the day.

For the main walk 20b Robertsbridge to Battle print out pages 1,6,7, 9-14, 17.

For the Shorter walk option 20a Robertsbridge Circular print out pages 1, 5-9, 17.

For the Longer walk option in addition to the pages for 20b, download the Wadhurst Long Walk option and print out pages 9 and 10. To link up with this walk section from Etchingham station head NE (away from Etchingham) along the main A265 road. After 400m, fork left up a minor road. In 180 m you pass by a Primary School on your LHS. In a further 400m pass by a lane off to your L. In 250m turn right at an easily missed enclosed footpath (marked by a yellow arrow on a footpath post to the left of the footpath entrance), your direction 160 degrees. to pick up the directions from [L5]. Once you arrive in Robertsbridge, pass by The Seven Star pub on your LHS and continue up George Hill. Immediately past a small bookshop on your left (and with the war memorial / clock tower on your right), turn left to pick up the directions page 7, 1st col, para 3 "Follow this fenced-in footpath, ignoring a left turn off after 160 metres...."

*** Alternatively for a shorter more direct route from Etchingham to Robertsbridge SWC 208d option in reverse.***  T=2.20

7 comments:

Unknown said...

SE replacement buses are usually very good. Also I may have my car and give a few people a lift back to Robertsbridge station at the end.

DAC said...

Intend going on the main walk.

Kelda said...

There'll be at least 3 of us doing the longer version starting in Etchingham at 10:30am

branchline said...

I would really like to walk from Robertsbridge to Battle (getting a bus back from Battle to Robertsbridge)10.7 miles. I’m really sorry, but I am a bit confused as to which walk I should I print from the website. I cannot find a page 14 or 17 on the links provided.

Thomas G said...

as always, click on the walk number in the blue field in the subject line, '2.20', and on the page that appears: click on 'Download Walk (pdf)'

branchline said...

thank you.

Thomas G said...

3 walkers off the early train to do the long walk option from Etchingham, who managed to get to the War Memorial in Robertsbridge in time to await the masses off the later train: all 18 of them. The walk poster and author himself got outfoxed by a late platform change at Charing X, and was therefore half an hour behind everyone, therefore n=22 in total on a w=dry-mostly-sunny-day. Snow visible on many tops in many directions, but never quite where we walked, unfortunately. Several (about 9) soon forked off to walk a Robertsbridge Circular, the rest mostly lunched at the under-new-mgmt-for-a-year Cross Inn in Staplecross. Early arrivals hogged the table by the open fireplace and there was talk of staying there until last orders. Food was pub classics well executed, and staff were exceptionally nice. Quite a turnaround at this pub!
4 of us explored the rumoured to be impassable old route and found it brambles-infested but just about passable, at least in winter (memo to future walkers: next time bring secateurs). We then encountered a Met Walkers group that was doing "a variation of the SWC Robertsbridge Circular", all 17 of them, and re-united with the rest of our group a bit further along.
Plenty of views of rolling hills, many good examples of Kentish oast houses, thatched buildings and wooden cottages, some mud, nice woodland stretches, late on though a stretch of arable fields, producing mud agglomerations on boots.
We arrived in Battle for the 16.54 rail replacement bus, or the pub. 4 took the latter option, at The Abbey Hotel, to take a bus an hour later.
Very nice day out, and a good workout to counter the Xmas excess (aka the biscuit belly).