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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, 5 September 2020

Saturday Walk - Woodlands, Heathery Commons, South Downs Views and a Steam Train Line: East Grinstead to Wivelsfield or via Sheffield Park

Length: 31.6 km (19.7 mi) [Much shorter walks possible, see below]
Ascent/Descent: 451/534m
Net Walking Time: ca. 7-8 hour
Toughness: 8 out of 10

Take the 09.20 service from Victoria to East Grinstead (CJ 09.27, EC 09.40), arriving 10.20. From LBG, take a train to East Croydon no later than the 09.17 Caterham & Tattenham Corner service.
Return trains from Wivelsfield: xx.11 and xx.41 (Thameslink), xx.14 and  xx.44 (to Victoria, direct) and xx.25 and xx.55 (to Victoria, change Burgess Hill).
Buy an East Grinstead return, you then will have to buy an additional single from Wivelsfield to East Croydon, if you want to stay honest.

This route in the East/West Sussex boundary lands descends from East Grinstead into the Upper Medway Valley and past Weir Wood Reservoir and then meanders through an undulating landscape of hills, streams, ponds, heaths and mixed woodland, rich in bluebells and wood anemones in season. For the most part, it largely shadows the course of The Bluebell Line steam railway, and lunch is either in tranquil Horsted Keynes or in Scaynes Hill, near the (Sussex) Ouse River. Later you pass through several parts of the large Chailey Common heathlands and continue westbound through flatter ground – mostly pastures with fine South Downs Views – to Burgess Hill (for Wivelsfield station).

An Alternative Finish at Sheffield Park, the terminus of the Bluebell Line, is not practicable anymore, as the line has stopped co-funding the buses that ran from there, but: you could walk out-and-back to the interesting station (adds 5.0 km) and then finish the walk at one of below bus stops for a shorter walk.
Shorter Walks:
·        Start at Forest Row/Brambletye (i.e. opposite The Chequers Inn, route from there described in the pdf, cuts 3.6 km) or even Horsted Keynes/Lewes Road (right on the route, cuts 13.7 km): bus line 270 from East Grinstead (09.13, 10.05, 11.05…) or Wivelsfield (09.03, 10.01, 11.03…) or Haywards Heath/Perrymount Road – by the station (09.18, 10.18, 11.20…);
·        Finish at North Chailey/King’s Head bus stop (cut 7.9 km/4.9 mi) – line 121 at 15.07, 17.07 and 18.07 to Cooksbridge Station and Lewes, or line 31 at 18.02 to Haywards Heath Station;
·        Finish at a bus stop outside Wivelsfield village on the B 2112 (Ote Hall Chapel stop, cuts 2.6 km; lines 33, 166, 271, 272).

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

Lunch: The Green Man (Greene King, food to 15.00) or The Crown Inn (food all day) in Horsted Keynes (13.7 km/8.5 mi); The Sloop Inn in Scaynes Hill  (19.2 km/11.9 mi, food to 15.00).
Tea: The Sloop Inn  (as above), and one pub in Wivelsfield, 600m beyond the station; or The Bessemer Arms (hot food to 15.00) in Sheffield Park. T=swc.27

8 comments:

Davide said...

Hello there,

Anyone up for the whole 31k this Saturday?

Davide said...

Sorry not sure why it shows as Anonymous :)

Elena said...

Right now, comfortably sat on my chair, I'm in!Let's see how I feel after 27 km...

Davide said...

Ok cool, same here :)

Anonymous said...

Hi. Is the mud on the East Grinstead descent unavoidable? Thanks.

Walker said...

I will stick my neck out and say there won't be any mud to speak of. It is early September. Mud does not get serious until late October. At this time of year you can get a teeny bit of surface mud immediately after rain, but only a teeny bit.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Walker. Are the 5.9 miles of tarmac/concrete in one or two chunks?

Thomas G said...

Just n=5 intrepid souls (incl. 1 first-timer) up for this today in w=perfect-walking-weather, namely mostly sunny with some passing clouds and a very gentle breeze.
Plenty of mushrooms were out in the woods of the morning section, with one of the Italian contingent insisting that plenty of them were porcini, so a bag full were collected. We got to HK just after 13.00, and as one walker was already "starving", we obviously had to stop, and the Crown Inn had avails and some fine food. On to the Sloop Inn for tea & coffee, through more woods and gentle pastures, after that through Chailey Common, which was all bracken, birch, gorse and heather, with the heather a little subdued, but it still made for some good colours all in. The South Downs views on the remaining stretch were fewer than in the past on account of tree foliage, but still quite enjoyable against the mainly blue sky.
Mud? Paths were mainly rock-hard and streams low to dry, but the East Grinstead descent never disappoints: the very last bit, where it crosses a few streams, you guessed it: mud. On one stretch unpleasant enough sto divert through trees to get around that section.
At Wivelsfield Station in time for the 18.14, which 1 took, the other 4 decamped into the garden of the (re-opened) Watermill Inn (a G&T for £3.95!!!). A nice day in very fine company.