SWC 1 - Lenham to Charing or Hollingbourne
Length: 13.3 km (8.3 miles) Option to walk to Hollingbourne adds 1.2 km to walk but no lunch stop serving food
Toughness: 3 out of 10 (more when muddy)
London Victoria: 10-25 hrs Canterbury West service Bromley South 10-42 hrs
Arrive Lenham: 11-38 hrs
Return
Charing to Victoria: 05 and 41 mins past the hour
Hollingbourne to Victoria: 18 and 54 mins past the hour
Rail ticket: buy a day return to Charing. If walking to Hollingbourne, buy a day return to Lenham
Today's walk makes for a pleasant, tranquil outing on a winter's day in Kent's classic countryside. Your pub stop for lunch is the Plough Inn in the village of Stalisford, some 8 km into the walk. For tea options at walk end, please refer to the Directions.
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Walk Directions are here: L=swc.1
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5 comments:
A quick food update for the Charing end of this walk. The Oak pub closed in 2015. There is another small pub in Charing, The Bookmakers Arms, but it doesn't open until 6pm.
The Rosebud Tea Rooms is now Mulberry's (http://mulberrys.co/) at 42 the High Street.
Mulberry's is open until 4. Phone number is 01233 714171.
How do I get rid of the pink pins on the OS map?
The normally very quiet Lenham station was uncharacteristically busy this morning as at least n=18 walkers got off the train from Victoria. The weather was w=bright_with_sunny_periods_and_mild_when_sheltered_from_the_wind. However, much of the walk is at an altitude of over 400 feet (130 metres), so in exposed places, the wind felt quite cold. One or two stretches were muddy underfoot, but most of the walk was pleasant enough, and the directions were straightforward to follow. Those bringing sandwiches were politely asked not to occupy the picnic tables in front of The Plough, but use the side garden (hidden away from sight) instead. It was a good two-hour walk from Lenham to the pub, so this walk would work best at the weekend, when a train can be caught an hour earlier, without incurring extra expense. The after-lunch stretch took only 75 minutes to the excellent Mulberry's, where six of us enjoyed a reviving cuppa before catching the train back to London. Others might like to comment on the food and service at The Plough.
With two additional walkers arriving at the lunch pub some fifteen minutes after our main cohort, we actually mustered n=20 on the day, an excellent turnout for a SWC mid-week walk. Nine of us dined at the Plough Inn where we received friendly service and enjoyed well presented, very good food. Having been informed the kitchen was not functioning to proper capacity when I phoned through in the morning to book, the pub performed very well to look after us. A few of the sandwichers ventured inside the pub for a drink, but most left early, leaving the diners to follow in two waves commencing thirty plus minutes later. Per David's report, the sandwichers had the benefit of arriving at the nice cafe in Charing in time for tea - the caff was well closed by the time my rearguard group arrived in Charing at 5 pm. We caught the 5-05 pm train, whilst I expect most other non-sandwiches were on the train before - and the sandwichers the day before !!
Methinks this short(ish) walk makes for a perfect winter outing, mid-week or at a weekend, with lots of variety and some lovely views. Agreed an earlier start today would have worked better for our arrival at the lunch pub, but us oldies have to have regard to our younger walkers whose travel cards do not kick in until 10 am. On reflection, perhaps we could have reversed the walk today - Charing to Lenham - but then I would have had to field complaints from those who do not like to walk the bulk of a walk after lunch (as per last week's walk in Arundel). There you go.......but no matter, I thoroughly enjoyed my day, late start notwithstanding, and I hope a few others did likewise.
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