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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 19 September 2020

Saturday Walk: Oxted Circular - UPDATED TRAIN TIMES

Main walk: 12.1 miles / 19.5 km
Longer walk with afternoon loop to Chartwell: 14.1 miles / 22.75 km

This walk explores the woodlands of the Greensand hills, with some fine views across the Weald.

Outward Trains
09:50 London Victoria, arrives at Oxted 10:31
Return Trains
xx:23/53 London Victoria

Lunch
Westerham is 5.5 miles into the walk and has many places to eat - two central pubs are the Kings Arms Hotel (01959-562990) and the Grasshopper on the Green (01959-562926).  The George & Dragon appears to be shut.

Click here for full details and walk directions

T=swc.63

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The bus service still appears to be running between Westerham and Bromley / Oxted.

Mr M Tiger said...

I don’t know why I'm reporting. For one thing, I didn’t count anyone at the station, ( n=15 )? For another, I accidentally did a different walk. While we waited for another train to arrive, we had a speech on how we should divide into sixes. We eventually set out in 'long walk' and 'short walk' groups. It would have been a keen observer that noticed the groups were indeed separate, as we threaded our way down a busy Station Road East. One walker hung back so as not to add to that impression. That walker had not realised that his printout pre-dated a major re-jig of the route and was soon in a group of one (would have happened anyway, let’s face it).
That walker went on his merry way, on a blissfully w=sunny day. Until, lo and behold, a longhorn bull stood on the footpath ahead. An impressive animal with big spiky horns (sadly my iphone has died and I can't retrieve the photo). Never daunted, our plucky walker said “hello“ to it. It sneezed and placidly walked past. It may possibly have been missing its gentleman’s bits. Anyway, it transformed from a raging beast into a little poppet.
About this time, I realised I was off piste and had to rely on Mr Google to get me through the dense forest that lay ahead. That and follow the road to Westerham
The way back was not without its challenges. I teamed up with two others not realising that their directions were different to mine! This may have resulted in some gibberish being spoken. Parts of the way back were the reverse of my morning, not that that helped much, my memory being what it is. There were one or two wrong turns and we nearly got hit by a golf ball (on the path). Coffee at Kiwis shut at four. So it was on to Oxted for us.

Anonymous said...

At least 2 of us did the extension via Chartwell, lingering in the grounds and cafe for over an hour. I realised that, while I've often been to the cafe, I had never previously had a proper look at the gardens. We got to Oxted at 5.45 and then had a decent meal at Cucina Italiana. They were booked up inside but found us seats outside. Thanks for scheduling this fine walk.

Sandy said...

I sympathise with Mr Tiger on several counts, as I will explain. I agree the total numbers were roughly 15. In fact, as we left central Oxted we split into twos and threes, so I don't know how the day wokred out for others; however it dawned on me during the morning that I was also following an out of date route. But my companion had the up to date GPX, and after a lengthy discussion at one junction, we realised the situation and followed the "new" route; which we did successfully, even finding a reasonably effective way out of Crockhamhill Common which has always baffled me before. We had a sandwich at the churchyard in Westerham and didn't repair to the pub so I suspect we were ahead of the rest for the return leg. I was surprised that the final quarter of the walk is almost totally different from the "old" route, except for the visit to Peter Rabbit, so the line on my old map was pretty useless. However, I can see that the "new" route adds a couple of better viewpoints and avoids some sections which might be very muddy at other times.
Anyway, a final point to report is that we met a familiar face on the outskirts of Oxted, who had been on a slow journey from London Bridge and did the short walk starting at noon. She reported favourably on a pub in Limpsfield (can't remember the name) having been denied access to the Carpenters Arms without a booking. 1623 train for me.
Sorry not to be more informative; but thanks for posting a welcome return to this pleasant and accessible area.

Marion said...

I met Mr M Tiger plus 2 ladies using their google maps on my way to Westerham an hour later than the specified train due to engineering works on the line to Clapham Junction. They were following the walk backwards to Oxted having suspected that the original directions if 2 years had been completely re-written. I had already lunched at the Carpenters Arms to make sure I got a table. Arriving at Westerham at 2..30pm I decided to have a leisurely look around and then caught the bus back to Bromley South rather than spend an exhausting afternoon in the direct sun trying not to get lost.