A Pooh Sticks Competition on an Ashurst Circular T=SWC.29
Distance:
Short, Medium and Long on offer:
Short: 9.2 miles/15 km
Medium:
12 miles/ 19 km
Long: 15.1
miles/ 24 km
Difficulty:
3, 5 or 7 out of 10 – depending on distance
Train:
Take the 10:07 AM Uckfield train from London Bridge, arriving at Ashurst
at 10:57. Return trains from Ashurst are at 56 minutes past the hour until
22:56. Buy a day return to Ashurst.
This is
a lovely walk with options for all. It begins along the Medway Valley and
visits the charming village of Withyham for an early lunch. After lunch, there
is a choice of three routes to the next village. On the medium and long routes
you pass across Pooh Bridge where you
can have riveting Pooh stick races and on the long walk you venture out for a lovely
circuit around the Ashdown Forest with fine views to the South Downs. You can
find more information about the walk and the instructions here.
The lunch
spot is The Dorest Arms in Withyham (01892 770 424) about 4 miles/6
km into the walk. Tea options include: Piglet’s Tea Room or the Anchor Inn, both in Hartfield. Please
note that there are no amenities at Ashurst Station – so you will need to time
your departure from Hartfield carefully – it is 4 miles/6 km to the station…..
Enjoy
the walk!
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4 comments:
The pub can get busy so worth booking and/or staggering lunch times.. Rich
N=17 on this walk. The weather was w=cloudy-and-humid for the most part, relatively brief flashes of sun in the afternoon only adding to the stickiness. A pleasant walk through pleasant territory, but spring is definitely over, with the meadow grasses seeding and overtopping the remaining buttercups and the glorious displays of verge flowers gone. Some good clusters of foxgloves in places, though, and once - incredibly - I heard a cuckoo.
We had a table for 8 booked at the Dorset Arms, a wise precaution by our walk poster, but squeezed a couple more in. It was a very red meat-laden menu and yet the steak in one dish was so tough as to be almost inedible. The vegetarian risotto also lacked excitement. So perhaps another example of a pub trying to be too gastro for its own good.
After lunch 3 of us, plus another two presumed, did the long walk - a tough slog up to Ashdown Forest in the sticky heat but nice views and an ice cream when we got there. Disappointingly no sight of the heffalumps for which the area is supposedly famous. Several of the main walkers got a bus from Hartfield to East Grinstead. Presumably some completed the walk to Ashurst, as did we three long walkers - a dogged yomp against the clock through waist high grass, but we made the train with several minutes to spare.
The Dorset Arms has a raised garden at the rear. You can access it via the steps to the right of the pub's main entrance. It had plenty of free tables on Saturday and staff were bringing ordered food up for people who were seated there.
Some added info: Four of the 12 milers enjoyed superb "piglet" fruit scones with jam, cream and proper tea cups -totally yummy and just 4 pounds! We allowed 85mins for the last beautiful stretch of the walk and alerted 3 pub-goers (inc two 15 milers) of our intention to catch the 17.56 train. At a purposeful pace three of us made it with a few mins to spare and were followed onto the platform by the two 15 milers who must have done the stretch in a little over 70mins- damn fine effort this.
As Walker has pointed out it was noticeably more humid than of late. I always find it a tad melancholy as we leave the vibrancy, freshness and sheer exuberance of Spring and head off into the comparative quiet and mugginess of deep summer. A wonderful day out and my pooh sticks skills remain undimmed, which is more than can be said of my legs!
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