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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 24 November 2018

Saturday walk - Eridge to Forest Row or East Grinstead

Length: 17.5km (10.9 miles), with possible extension to 21.5km (13.4 miles) or 23km (14.3 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10. T=3.109

10.07 train from London Bridge (10.22 East Croydon) to Eridge, arriving 11.03.

Buy a day return to Eridge. This is often accepted for return from East Grinstead (a different branch of the same line) but if not you would only need to buy a single three stops to Hurst Green, where the two routes join.

For walk directions click here. For GPX click here.

This walk had a Wednesday outing just over a month ago but it is 19 months since the workers had a chance to do it. It is a simple and pleasant walk along the High Weald Landscape Trail, with fine views at times. In winter the Weald can get very muddy but it is not quite winter yet and so far paths have been quite firm (famous last words!!).

For lunch the favoured locale is usually the Dorset Arms in Withyham after five miles, but a slightly later alternative another 1.5 miles further on is the Anchor Inn in Hartfield. In Forest Row there are now tea options galore, even including a Costa Coffee, but it is hard to beat the ever-friendly Taffels.

To end the walk in Forest Row (10.9 miles) catch a 270 or 291 bus to East Grinstead from outside the Brambletye Hotel at 16.03, 16.27, 17.04, 17.26, 18.03, 18.35, 18.57, 19.46, 21.14. 

These buses go all the way to East Grinstead station, from where trains return at 06 and 36 past

A possible EXTENSION to the walk is to walk from Forest Row to East Grinstead. If you follow the route in the walk directions, which goes up the old railway line, this is a gentle walk uphill along a broad track, adding 5.5km (3.4 miles) to the walk, making a total walk of 23km (14.3 miles). This route is easy to follow even in the dark (with a full moon to help if skies are clear) and the last mile or so is in any case through the lit streets of the centre of East Grinstead.

Another slightly shorter way to extend the walk is to switch at Cansiron Lane, the end of section 7 in the walk directions, to SWC walk 40, East Grinstead Circular. Directions for this option are here (starting in paragraph 133) and you need pages 9-11 of the document. GPX file here. This makes a total walk from Eridge of 21.5km (13.4 miles), including about a mile through East Grinstead to the station. You miss out the tea options in Forest Row but there are plenty in East Grinstead, mentioned in paragraphs 142-145 of the direction.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I want to print the directions but the type is scrunched up in a wide column on the left of the page - can this be re-formatted so the instructions use the whole page.
Thanks !

Walker said...

Sorry about this. This appears to be a glitch on the site. The link has now been changed to go to the home page of the walk where the directions are at the bottom of the page in html. This should - cross fingers - print like any web page.

PeteG said...

Back on a sunny day, a group of us enjoyed the Hop Yard Brewery in Forest Row.

branchline said...

11=n on this walk. W=Overcast throughtout the day, but a lovely walk nonetheless. Two people had lunch in the Dorset Arms, and the remainder had lunch in the Anchor Inn, very nice with fires or had sandwiches outside.

We then pushed onto Forest Row, where some people took the bus back to East Grinstead, two walked to East Grinstead rather than come into Forest Row. Three of us had tea in Taffells and then a spooky walk back to E Grinstead along the old railway line, and caught the 6.36 train back.

A very nice day out.

Anonymous said...

N=11