Extra Walk 196 – Wadhurst to Tunbridge Wells
Length: 13¾ km (8.5 miles). Toughness: 4/10
09:45 Hastings train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 09:48, London Bridge 09:54, Orpington 10:10), arriving Wadhurst at 10:47. Buy a return to Wadhurst.
There are four trains an hour back from Tunbridge Wells at 09, 21, 39 & 51 minutes past.
In the last couple of years this fairly short Wealden walk has been posted in late November when the ground has been very soggy, so hopefully it will appear in a better light this time. There should be some good autumn colour, especially on the permissive path along the edge of Eridge Old Park: this has been quite overgrown in the past but recent feedback said that it was now well maintained and easy to follow.
There's a choice of two good pubs in the hilltop village of Frant for lunch, the George Inn and the Abergavenny Arms, plus a large green for hardy picknickers. At the end of the walk Juliets is probably the pick of the tea places in Tunbridge Wells, but there's plenty of choice.
You'll need to bring the directions from the Wadhurst to Tunbridge Wells walk page. T=swc.196
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2 comments:
It is wonderful to see this walk listed again as I remember doing it before
Walking form the station I went into my reverie whilst we were ably led by several people with confident manners and an array of media for the information.
When I started this walk little did I think that my report, for I had vowed to do one though I never did until now, would go in this vein but such are the vagaries of our daily lives that here I am an idle pip in the grapefruit of a random breakfast hopefully refreshing the palates of the readers
The quest for meaning and a searching for poetry in ones daily joy de vivre / every breath
resulting in the need to bind the unconscionable random events of our existence into a malleable structure with no limits all the while using a narrative to relate to a value system has no doubt caused us all untold angst but then
- BOOM -
I walk and life comes into petrifying focus. On this walk there was a young lamb that trotted alongside me. I stopped to watch it and it also stopped and intelligently returned my gaze and then I walked on and it assuredly walked on as well matching my pace.
I felt a whole oneness with the animal and such a joy in the event.
I breathed deeply and looked to the sky and realised that this could be the beginning of my next symphony
I had actually settled on the train before coming into the present. Then with extreme fatigue I realised that my vision was due to be fulfilled.
And did the thought occur to me that my brother S Oddel should have walked with us today - he would get this?
Rapture
TW Addle
N=12 on this walk. We were nearly stymied by a broken down train ahead of us: we were disgorged from our train at Tonbridge and threatened with a replacement bus. But then the line cleared and we were gorged again and got to Wadhurst only half an hour late. It was a w=sunny-morning-with-a-cold-wind. No mud yet, so we could enjoy the pretty ups and downs of the Weald without slithering. There was some autumn colour but still a lot of green. With this cold weather the last big push must be coming soon, however.
In Frant the George had a hunting party so we went to the Abergavenny Arms where the food was fine apart from the vegetarian options having inevitably sold out (order more veggie meals, pubs! Demand is rising!!). By the time we emerged it was cloudy but at least the threatened showers did not materialise. In Tunbridge Wells most of us squeezed into Juliet’s where we all enjoyed scrummy cakes - all, that is, except the two vegans, because the vegan cakes were (inevitably!!) sold out. A 5.20 (ish)’train home and off into the Great Darkness. Only five months to spring......
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