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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 7 June 2017

Experimental Wednesday – Exploring a New Route from Stonegate to Battle

Book 2 Walk 19; SWC Walk 222; SWC 30:  Stonegate to Battle – An Experimental Exploration Using Parts of 3 Walks! T=SWC.222

Distance:  14 Miles or 22.5 km for those more metrically minded (with an option to shorten to 12.5 miles (or 20 km) by using the start from SWC 112 which takes a more direct route to Burwash).
Difficulty:  4 out of 10

Train:  Take the 10:15 AM Southeastern Hastings bound train from London Charing Cross (10:18 Waterloo East; 10:23 London Bridge; 10:40 Orpington) to Stonegate, arriving 11:26.  Return trains from Battle are roughly just past the hour by a few minutes and 36 minutes past the hour until 19:02; then, XX:07 until 22:07.  Buy a day return to Battle. 

This walk is a bit of an experiment – pulling together sections of three walks to create a new route from Stonegate to Battle.  I had planned to post it a bit earlier in the year – but circumstances required a deferral.  Unfortunately, a small section of footpath may be overgrown at this time of year – but, hopefully, since it is still early June it will be passable.  Our journey features a seldom posted route via Brightling with its strong “Mad Jack” Fuller associations.

We will start with the Book 2 Walk 19 route from Stonegate to Burwash for lunch (a shorter option, saving almost 2 miles/3.5 km, is available using the route to Burwash from SWC 112).  After lunch, we will continue with Book 2 Walk 19 for a short distance past Batemans (basically to the [§] at the bottom of the second column of page 4 of the PDF instructions for Book 2 Walk 19) where we will pick up the interconnector instructions from SWC 222 – care will need to be taken here as we will be following these interconnection instructions backwards for a few kilometers.  We will then pick up the instructions for SWC 222 proper and carry on with them using the Battle ending option which picks up the instructions from SWC 30 for the shorter ending via Netherfield.  It appears that we will be able to stop for afternoon refreshies at the White Hart   in Netherfield before setting out on the final leg into Battle. You can find more information about the walk and download the walk instructions here, here   and here.  Please bring all three sets of instructions (or relevant portions thereof).  If planning to do the shorter route to Burwash in the morning, those instructions can be found here.

Burwash has a couple of options for lunch – the currently recommended is the Rose & Crown pub (01435 882 221). Battle has a host of options for tea and stronger post walk libations.

Enjoy the walk!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is heavy rain forecast ?
jfk

Hugh Jars said...

Au contraire...... Mucho Scorchio! (Walter Weatherman)

Stargazer said...

Perhaps it was the requirement to bring three sets of instructions or perhaps it was the reference to "experimental" or "reading instructions backwards" or perhaps many were simply resting up for a nice long walk on Saturday....whatever the reason, just n=6 brave souls alighted from the train at Stonegate into w=bright-and-blustery conditions for an interesting exploration of the high weald. The morning route to Burwash was as pleasant as ever including some time spent enjoying the whimsical sculptures on a farm property and the surprise of discovering a few more art works on the approach to Burwash. Shortly after lunch 5 of the 6 (one doing a shorter option due to evening commitments) set of on the longer than advertised experiment -- which mainly went well -- gpx routing providing some guidance in just a couple of key spots. We passed through Brightling visiting both the Jack Fuller mausoleum and tower (which we climbed); then there was a slightly long road section to join the Battle route. The White Hart in Netherfield was a delightful spot for early evening refreshies with excellent views from its terrace over the surrounding area. Upon arrival in Battle we had just enough time to stop at the Tesco Express near the Station for some provisions before catching the 20:07. A very full day at the office.

Marion said...

I was completely put off this walk for all the reasons given above. When only one walk is posted during the week those of us who do not want this level of exploration are really hard done by. We have had up to 21 walkers when we keep the walks simple and easy to read. Please could these experiments be done privately or at the weekend when there is more choice on offer. Thanks