Ascent/Descent:
363m
Net
Walking Time short walk: ca. 5 hours, Toughness: 6 out of 10
Take
the 09.25 Hastings train from Charing Cross (W’loo East 09.28,
LBG 09.34, Orpington 09.50 etc.), arrives Battle 10.44.
Return
trains:
xx.07 and xx.44
Long
journey on – possibly – the slowest railway line in the south east to a walk
through 1066-Country, centred on the charming town of Battle. Woods, Valleys,
far views, fairly undulating. Well worth it.
Lunch: The White Hart in Catsfield
(4.5 km/2.8 mi, food 12.00-15.00), The White Hart (food
to 15.00) and the Netherfield
Arms (food to 14.00), both in Netherfield (13.5 km/8.4 mi).
Tea: lots of choice in Battle,
first and foremost The Pilgrim’s
Rest, but also plenty of cafés.
For
walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml
files click here.
T=swc.30
7 comments:
Should we buy return tickets to Hastings or Battle?
Also, how to recognise the group as there may be other people in walking boots?
Sorry for questions, it will be my first time on one of these walks
Buy a day return to Battle.
The group is usually obvious on the station platform. If there are two groups, just ask one “Are you the Saturday Walkers?”
Thanks. Does that work the same if joining in the pub or the group will post which pub they are stoppong in? I will miss the first train but dont need to stop for lunch and would like to catch up with group
I suspect they will stop in one of the two Netherfield pubs after 8.4 miles. You will just have to check in each one to find them, I guess. But you will then have done two-thirds of the walk by yourself....
There were still some snowdrops out, plenty of primroses and daffodils as well and also a few patches of wild garlic. There were also some stretches of dry and firm ground. Those were not many and they were not long. Some punters called it the muddiest walk they'd ever been on, and who am I to dispute that? Certainly, the percentage of the total route that wasn't in some way muddy, was vanishingly small. Thankfully none of the mud was clingey and a lot of the muddy bits were of the harmless standing-water-in-a-pasture-dissolving-a-cm-of-topsoil-into-gooey-but-not-deep-mass type, but lots of others weren't, especially around gates (lots of those) and stiles (even more of those), in woods (some of those) and along enclosed paths (plenty of those, some steep some not). In the end, our boots were reasonably clean courtesy of puddles and grassy verges in Battle, but the gaiters as dirty as I've seen gaiters.
The views were fantastic though (out to the South Downs by Eastbourne) in the w=sunny weather with some passing fluffy clouds and a bit of a breeze and the group quite jolly: 5 off the train, 1 more awaiting us at the station (with one of her dogs) up from Shoreham, 2 more (coffee cup in hand) awaiting us in the village centre (they had driven to Battle), and 1 other was caught an hour and a bit into the walk, having taken an earlier train, ie n=9.
The fast 4 got to the Netherfield Arms at 13.58, ie 2 minutes before last food orders and had fine meals and a drink or two. The not-so-fast 5 got to The White Hart at 14.45 (ie 15 minutes before stated last food orders) but apparently got no hot food anyway as the kitchen had run out of stuff to cook! We 4 got to Battle at 16.15 or so, after chatting at length to a group of metal detectors in the last field before the village, who proudly presented their finds of the day (that was the Eastbourne Detectors Club, and they confirmed that as far as they are concerned, the site of THAT battle has not yet been confirmed as non of the supposed areas yield enough typical battlefield finds). Anyway: all teashops had already shut of course in good English Countryside tradition, and several of the coffee shops had seemingly closed for good, partly surely due to the one business in the sector that is so successful that they have just moved to a larger premise and was still open: Costa Coffee. There's a tale there...
On the platform, waiting for the 16.44, 26 Meetup-ies turned up (AAA London Walking): they had done Etchingham to Battle off an earlier train, and had paid £28 each for the privilege (ie £10+ for the guiding, with the Off-Peak Day Return with Network RC costing £17.25).
Good walk, as always, and a very fine workout in the conditions, but maybe not that great a day to post it after all...
Great views and a good workout. Thanks a lot for posting the walk Thomas! bee
A special mention for the Netherfield Arms. We arrived just 2 minutes to go before end of service and they were clear we needed to get our order in ASAP, but all was handled in a friendly way i.e. we weren't made to feel like an inconvenience. Food came quickly and all staff were extremely pleasant and efficient.
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