Sunday Walk – Bluebells in the Weald (Cowden-Hever)

Extra Walk 78 – Cowden to Hever (or Circular)
Length: 16½ km (10.3 miles), with longer and shorter options. Toughness: 4/10

09:47 Lewes train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:53), changing at East Croydon (arr 10:09, dep 10:15 from Platform 6) for the Uckfield train and arriving Cowden at 10:53. Buy a return to Cowden (Kent).

If it's more convenient you can travel from London Bridge on the 09:34 Three Bridges train (Norwood Jct 09:46), again changing at East Croydon (arr 09:50).

Trains back are hourly at xx:04 from Cowden and xx:09 from Hever, changing at Oxted for Victoria.

This Wealden walk is noted for both mud and bluebells, and it would be nice to find more of the latter than the former. The full version goes through the attractive village of Penshurst for lunch at the Leicester Arms Hotel, but you've also got the option of the Castle Inn in the next village, Chiddingstone (perhaps after taking the short cut bypassing Penshurst). The Castle Inn re-opened a year ago and has had good feedback. Both places are up-market and likely to be busy, but you should be able to squeeze into their gardens (or call in advance to book a table). As it's a Sunday you should be able to wander freely around the grounds of Chiddingstone Castle, which has also got a nice tearoom if you're stopping for a second round of refreshments in this village.

When you get to Hever you can choose between heading for its station or completing a circular walk back to Cowden. There's a pub in the village and another along the route to Cowden, but note that there's nothing very near either station.

You'll need to bring the directions from the Cowden to Hever walk page. T=swc.78

Sunday Walk - Broxbourne Circular or to Bayford (lots of woods = lots of bluebells?)

Length: 24.3 km (15.1 mi) or 18.8 km/11.7 mi if finishing in Bayford (4/10)

Ascent/Descent:  329 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours

Toughness:  6 out of 10 

Take the 09.43 Cambridge North train from Liverpool Street (09.50 Hackney Downs, 09.57 Seven Sisters), arriving Broxbourne at 10.15. Broxbourne is within the Oyster Pay-As-You-Go area.  
Return trains from Broxbourne: xx.10, xx.16, xx.39, xx.47; from Bayford xx.22  and xx.52.

After winding its way out of Broxbourne along a canal and through a park, this walk ascends

through the Spital Brook valley into Broxbourne Woods National Nature Reserve, an assortment of varied, ancient and wild woods, serrated by a plethora of streams. A circuitous route linking up separate woods follows age old trails, paths and green lanes through a magnificent and diverse woodland setting. While broadly following a well signposted trail through the Nature Reserve, the walk often diverts from it to take more interesting directions. Most of the distance and the ascent are covered before lunch, but the lunch pub serves food all afternoon, so a leisurely pace is entirely possible.

There are plenty of signed and unsigned paths in the woods, thus following the detailed written directions is essential, and a map and a compass are recommended.

A shorter walk (18.8 km/11.7 mi, 4/10), finishing in Bayford, is possible. Caution: Bayford station is on a different train line run by a different operator, trains go to Moorgate, a separate ticket is required. And Bayford is not within the Oyster Pay-As-You-Go area, but a Hertford (All Stations) return ticket covers both stations. This should be the cheapest option for the short walk.

Lunch will be at The Woodman & Olive in Wormley West End (14.5 km/9.0 mi, food all afternoon).

Tea: The Bull and The White Bear, both just a few minutes from the station. There is also The Old Mill Retreat Café  (open to 17.30) just off route on the (Old) River Lea, we’ll endeavour to find it (thanks Sean). On the Bayford ending, there is The Farmer’s Boy, 10 minutes from the station.

For walk directions, map, photos, height profile, and gpx/kml files click here.

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Saturday Walk Manningtree Circular

Manningtree Circular t=1.39

This is a walk through the Stour valley that Constable loved, passing by the settings of some of his most famous paintings, a landscape now protected as the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At Flatford, you can learn more about John Constable & there is an exhibition by 4 local artists in the Boat House.

Length 10.7m, 17.3km 4 out of 10

Trains: Get the 0930 Norwich train from Liverpool Street (Stratford 0938) arr Manningtree 1031. Return trains are xx53 & xx02 plus trains at 1619, 1719, 1919.

Lunch: Sun Inn , Dedham (tel 01206 323 351) daily from 12 noon to 3.30 pm. The Dedham Centre Tearoom (tel 01206 322 677) in the Arts & Crafts Centre serves vegetarian food from 12 noon to 2.00 pm daily. For a late lunch, there are three pubs to choose from in Stratford St Mary.

Tea: National Trust’s Bridge Cottage Tearoom, by Flatford Mill (closes 5pm). Manningtree has a station buffet.

Fully Revised: Woods, Streams, Hills, Heaths, Steam Trains & Bluebells (East Grinstead to Wivelsfield or Sheffield Park)

Fully Revised! The old walk was Forest Row to Sheffield Park, and was - for all intents and purposes - not that attractive (train plus bus at the start, occasional and expensive steam train at the end), and never got posted again after its first outing in 2008, and most parts of its route now feature in other walks in the area anyway. So, it was time for a complete revamp.

Length: 31.6 km (19.7 mi) or 22.5 km/14.3 mi to Sheffield Park (Bluebell Line Terminus)

Ascent/Descent: 451/534m or 336m ascent to Sheffield Park

Net Walking Time: ca. 7 hours or 4 ½ hours to Sheffield Park

Toughness:  8 out of 10 or 5 out of 10 to Sheffield Park

Take the 09.23 service from Victoria to East Grinstead (CJ 09.29, EC 09.41, then all stations to Grinstead), arriving 10.18.

Return trains from Wivelsfield: xx.21 (Thameslink), xx.31 (to Victoria), xx.51 (Thameslink), xx.53 (change Burgess Hill).  
Buy an East Grinstead return, you then will have to buy an additional single from Wivelsfield to East Croydon.

This route in the East/West Sussex boundary lands descends from East Grinstead into the Upper Medway Valley and past Weir Wood Reservoir and then meanders through an undulating landscape of hills, streams, ponds, heaths and mixed woodland, rich in bluebells and wood anemones in season. For the most part, it largely shadows the course of The Bluebell Line steam railway, and lunch is either in tranquil Horsted Keynes or in Scaynes Hill, near the (Sussex) Ouse River. Later you pass through several parts of the large Chailey Common heathlands and continue westbound through flatter ground – mostly pastures with fine South Downs Views – to Burgess Hill (for Wivelsfield station).

An Alternative Finish at Sheffield Park, the terminus of the Bluebell Line, for a return to East Grinstead by steam train (last trains at 16.00 and 17.15) or to Haywards Heath by bus (last at 17.01, change in North Chailey), is described, as are other alternatives to shorten the route  (see page 2 of the pdf).

Note: the notoriously mud-prone descent from East Grinstead has gotten worse, if anything, as it is now fenced for the particularly mud-prone part.

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

Lunch: The Green Man (food to 15.00) or The Crown Inn (food to 14.30) in Horsted Keynes (13.7 km/8.5 mi); The Sloop Inn in Scaynes Hill (19.2 km/11.9 mi, food to 15.00).

Tea:  The Sloop Inn  (as above), and one pub in Wivelsfield, 600m beyond the station; or The Bessemer Arms in Sheffield Park. T=swc.27