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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 30 March 2019

Saturday Walk - Frant to Tunbridge Wells - the Weald in Spring

Length: 15km (9.3 miles) or 21km (13 miles) T=3.19

10.15 train from Charing Cross (10.18 Waterloo East, 10.24 London Bridge) to Frant, arriving 11.15.

Buy a day return to Frant.

For walk directions click here, for a GPX file click here, for a map of the route click here.

I have picked the alternative Frant start for this walk, even if it does start with an awkward 300 metres on a busy road - please take the greatest care on this - because it allows shorter and longer walkers to stay together till lunch at the Nevil Crest and Gun pub in Eridge Green. Hopefully the latter won't be booked out due to Mother's Day (which is on Sunday), but past experience shows there is relatively little spillover.

After lunch those who prefer a more relaxed walk can stick to the main route (the 9.3 mile version) which crosses Broadwater Warren Nature Reserve and gets you to the Pantilles in Tunbridge Wells in good time for tea.

If you are a more vigorous walker I urge you to try the longer route (13 miles) around Harrison Rocks. Above these (at a site passed by the walk directions) there is a grand display of wood anemones in Birchden Wood at this time of year, which look particularly impressive if the weather is fine and their star-like flowers are open.

Both long and short walkers will also see wood anemones between High Rocks and Tunbridge Wells.

Trains back from Tunbridge Wells are every 15 minutes - at 9, 21, 39 and 51 past.

4 comments:

Marion said...

Intend coming and have booked for 6 for lunch but the pub web site wouldn't accept a ressie until 1.45pm so expect them to be really busy. Tables in the garden are not bookable so should be warm enough to sit outside as long as they can serve us.

Steph said...

I very cleaverly missed the london bridge train by a hair. Am jumping on the 10:39 from London Bridge to Tunbridge and will hopefully be able to figure it out from there.

Marion Watkinson said...

I’m hoping to catch a bus from bus stop T Tunbridge Wells to the recommended pub having missed the train due to engineering works. Any idea of your ETA? I booked a table for 6 but walkers will probably want to sit in the garden. Look out for me at TWells Marion

Bill S said...

30 of the scheduled train, plus the two late starters who commented below (assuming that they both made it) and one serial offender who joined us part way through the walk and bunked of early after lunch, making n=33 or so. Gloriously w=sunny-and-warm with the odd bit of light cloud made for a pleasant days walking. Plenty of wood anemones, celandines and primroses, and large patches of bluebell and wild garlic plants holding out the promise of some spectacular displays in the next few weeks (unlike Thomas on his perambulation around Petersfield very few of the bluebells that we saw were in bloom). Strangely, given that we were further south, there seemed to be far fewer leaves out in the hedgerows than on my home turf at the northern end of the Metropolitan Line. I did however, see my first lamb of the season, not long born by the look of it, and a white deer that rather gave away the location of the rest of it's herd (the second that we had seen that day).
Many of us stopped at the Nevil Crest and Gun for lunch, all I think choosing to sit in the large garden. The first group to leave separated up soon afterwards when some split off to do the short walk. The five of us who formed the vanguard of the group doing the long walk passed through the Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells without stopping, drawn onwards by reports of riches to be had at Juliette's tea room. Alas, it was not to be as the place was jam packed and no table was to be had for at least twenty minutes. Two then headed of for the station, leaving three of us to seek solace (and tea) in a nearby Café Nero. On reaching the station we encountered another some other short walk participants who sang the praises of a café in the Pantiles called the Cake Shed which served large (too large in the opinion of two of the group) portions of very sounding home made cake. One to remember out for future walks perhaps.

A fine day out.