Wednesday walk - Chorleywood to Chesham

T=SWC.81

Length: 15.8km (9.8 miles) - shortcuts available

Difficulty 5 out of 10

Catch the Metropolitan Line from King's Cross at 9.53,  Baker Street 10.01, Aldgate 9.45  or other stations on the line to arrive at Chorleywood at 10.50. 

Return trains from Chesham are approximately two an hour. At the moment, the TFL website is showing a replacement bus from Chesham to Amersham for journeys before 4pm but trains are showing as running from Chesham from 16.24 onwards.

Chorleywood and Chesham are in zones 7 and 9 respectively but are covered by Freedom passes and 60+ Oyster cards.

Lunch: The Red Lion (01923 282 722) in Chenies, 6.4km (3.9 miles) into the main walk, is now a smart, friendly pub with a somewhat gastro menu, served from 10am to 11pm daily. It has some outside seating in a sheltered courtyard.

The Bedford Arms (01923 283 301) in Chenies is larger than the Red Lion and and serves food in a table service restaurant from 12-2.30pm, with a more limited menu available in its bar area and its very pleasant garden.

Tea: The Drawing Room in Chesham is highly praised. There is also a Cafe Nero and Costa.

For directions, map and GPS click here

Evening Walk - Berkhamsted Circular (Short and in Reverse), with 3 pubs at the end

Length: 9.5 km (5.9 mi)

Ascent/Descent: 115m

Net Walking Time: 2 hours

Toughness: 1 out of 10 

 

Take the 17.54 Tring train from London Euston (calls Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction), arrives Berkhamsted 18.26. 

Return trains: 20.28, 20.50, 20.58, 21.28, 21.55, 22.33, 23.00, 23.35.

 

This easy walk explores the area to the East and South of Berkhamsted, which is not covered by other SWC walks. It is easier going and perhaps less inspiring than alternatives in the Tring/ Berkhamsted area, but navigation is easy. You walk through the town centre and up through school playing fields, then along bridleways through a wood and down into the scenic valley of the Bourne Gutter to Bottom Farm. Rise through fields and further up wide bridleways with views to descend to the Grand Union Canal for the walk back to town, passing three pubs close to the railway station.

 

Dinner (all within the last 500m of the route): The Rising Sun, The Boat and The Crystal Palace.

 

For walk directions, map, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.397.a

Bank Holiday Walk - Sandy to Biggleswade

Extra Walk 264 – Sandy to Biggleswade

Length: 19.6 km (12.2 miles). Toughness: 3/10

10:01 Thameslink Horsham - Peterborough service from London Bridge (but this train calls at multiple London stations including: Coulsdon South 9.39, East Croydon 9.45, Blackfriars 10.07, City Thameslink 10.09, Farringdon 10.11, St. Pancras 10.16, Finsbury Park 10:23), arriving Sandy at 11:05.

Return trains from Biggleswade to London are at xx:00 and xx:30. Buy a return to Sandy.

Originally written by Pete B and inspired by the Guardian‘s Country Diary, this stile-free walk has only gentle gradients. It follows the Greensand Ridge Walk in the morning. The route is a mix of attractive broad grassy tracks along field edges and woodland trails. Muntjac deer and hares have been spotted in the area. We visit two lovely villages – Northill and Old Warden. Optional diversions lead to Queen Anne's Summerhouse and Keepers Cottage.

Refreshments:

The Crown at Northill. (01767 627337) is after about 25% (5km) of the walk and The Hare and Hounds, Old Warden (01767 627225) is after about 60% (12km) of the walk. As it's Bank Holiday and both pubs are said to be "excellent" I'd suggest calling and booking a table wherever you can (perhaps stopping for a snack at both)

The walk notes say "Biggleswade has a number of pubs, cafés and restaurants dotted around the central area". For tea, coffee and cakes the suggested place is the popular Surfin café in Market Place (01525 403783), five minutes before reaching the station. It's website says it stays open until 17.00 on Bank Holidays. Alternatively, you could opt for one of the pubs in town.

These walks don't have a leader so you'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.264

Bank Holiday Walk - Hilly Walk with magnificent lunch pubs: Haslemere to Midhurst via Lurgashall or Lickfold

Length: 21.8 km (13.4 mi) or 20.9 km (13.0 mi)

Ascent/Descent: 469/587

Net Walking Time: 5 ¼ hours

Toughness: 6/10

 

Take the 09.30 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo (09.55 Woking), arrives Haslemere 10.20. From Clapham J, take the 09.27 Exeter St. David’s train and change at Woking (09.45/09.55).

Return to Haslemere Station from Midhurst by Bus Line 70 (26 mins journey, relevant buses: 16.35 and 18.35 [this assumes that this Bank Holiday is regarded as a ‘Public Holiday’ by Stagecoach, else there will be more buses] or by taxi. 

Return trains from Haslemere are on xx.01, xx.10 and xx.30.

 

The route leads from Haslemere station through the town’s centre and along the waymarked Serpent Trail through a small Nature Reserve to rise steeply out of town and back down through Camelsdale to then rise with the Sussex Border Path through pastures and pine and heather covered slopes up to the Black Down. Following the crest through open heathland, with far views across West Sussex and out to Hampshire, you reach the Temple Of The Winds viewpoint, with further panoramic views over the Rother Valley to the South Downs escarpment and easterly across to the West Weald. 

A long descent through the sloping open grounds of Blackdown House and through bluebell-carpeted woods leads to either the classic Sussex village of Lurgashall, with its pub and church at the corner of a picturesque village green and cricket pitch, or to the hamlet of Lickfold with its super-duper Inn.

The afternoon takes you through a mix of flat farmland and wooded hills to the Cowdray Estate, with its golf course-with-views as well as several polo fields, to the romantic ruins of Cowdray House, as captured by JMW Turner. Climbing from the River Rother’s banks, Midhurst's Norman castle ruins are passed en-route to the old market town's attractive centre with its many tea options.

 

Lunch: The Noah's Ark in Lurgashall (10.3 km/6.4 mi, food to 14.30, booking recommended). Or The Three Horseshoes Inn in Lickfold (11.0 km/6.8 mi, food to 15.30, booking recommended).

Tea: lots of choice en-route to and in Midhurst (see the pdf for details), recommended are The Halfway Hut (3 km from the end), Cowdray Farm Shop & Cafe (2 km from the end, open to 17.00), Garton’s Coffee House, The Wheatsheaf or Fitzcane’s [The Angel Inn and The Olive & Vine are still closed after a catastrophic fire earlier in the year].

For summary, map, height profile, some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.48

Sunday Walk: Bures to Sudbury

16.0km (9.9 miles) or 12.6 km (7.8 miles) with shortcut
Difficulty: 4/10
An easy-going walk through the Stour Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Much is along the waymarked Stour Valley path. Approaching Sudbury, you cross the ancient Sudbury Common Lands. This time of year, they can be awash with buttercups.
Trains: 10:07 Ipswich Train from Liverpool Street. (Stratford 10:14). Change at Marks Tey for Sudbury (arr 11:04 dep 11:17) arrive Bures 11:29.
Return at xx:42 changing at Marks Tey.
Get a return to Sudbury.
Lunch
The official lunch pub is the Bulmer Fox  (tel 01787-312277) in Bulmer Tye, Serves food 12-3pm. but the detour to the Henny Swan (tel 01787-269238), a pleasant riverside pub in Henny Street, is recommended. There's usually a few swans and, it being May, mayflies may fly. The detour there makes little difference to the overall length. It is also possible to take a more direct route, avoiding either lunch pub, in which case, Great Henny's churchyard makes an ideal picnic spot. t=1.08
Tea
The suggested tea place is the comfortable Mill Hotel (tel 01787-375544) overlooking Sudbury Common Lands. Be sure to pay your respects to the mummified cat visible through the floor in the hotel lobby. After tea, allow 20 minutes to get to the station.
In Sudbury itself there's the Lady Elizabeth (tel 01787-379046) and the White Horse (tel 01787-313508).
Walk directions: here

Sunday Walk: Pluckley Circular

Difficulty 1 out of 10 (maybe 2 or 3 for the longer versions)
Length: 7.2, 9.2 or 11.2 miles. The basic walk can be lengthened using one of two extensions.
Pluckley, in Kent’s Low Weald, claims to be the UK’s most haunted village. The area was also the setting for the 'Darling Buds of May'. book and TV series. You pass the author’s former house and cross an apple orchard where you might still see some of the ‘darling' apple blossom. Many buildings have distinctive Dering windows, a style introduced by the former landowners.
Trains: Get the 09:20 Ramsgate train from Victoria arriving Pluckley 10:40.
Return trains at xx:06 to Victoria. Get a return to Pluckley.
Lunch: The Swan Inn in Little Chart is recommended 01233 840 702.
The later Black Horse, in Pluckley 01233 840380 is, sadly, more of a restaurant these days with no drinks-only service and booking required. 
Tea: Your best bet is  the Rose and Crown at Mundy Bois 01233 840 048. It's on the route of both extensions and a short diversion from the main walk.  From there, allow 45-50 minutes to the station.
The longer option also takes you past the George in Egerton  01233 756 599
The Dering Arms, 01233 840 371, opposite the station, closes at 4 on a Sunday, sometimes earlier. Be pleasantly surprised if it is open.
SWC Directions :Here
Ghost Walk: If you are interested, (not that anyone ever is), when you reach Pluckley, this 4 mile ghost walk  would lead you on a tour of the alleged hauntings. It starts at St Nicholas Church and ends back at the Black Horse. (Shortly after encountering the ‘Hanging Schoolmaster', you could avoid some duplication by turning right into Smarden Rd and reverting to the SWC walk which then turns left into Lambden Rd [para 93]).
T=2.21

Theydon Bois to Epping

Theydon Bois to Epping

Length 15.5 km (just under 10 miles)

Toughness: 3 out of 10

Trains: Take a tube train to arrive at Theydon Bois Station by 10.30am. Theydon Bois and Epping are both in Travel Zone 6 and are on the Epping branch of the Central Line so you will need an appropriate travel or Oyster card for your journey. Trains are very frequent.

This new walk passes through scrub and marshland before ascending to All Saints Church at Theydon Garnon. From there, an old Roman Road follows and eventually arrives at the tiny Mount End Hamlet. Here it skirts Beachet Wood and leads to the Hamlet of Woodhatch, Tawney Common, where the Moletrap Pub makes for an early refreshment/lunch stop. After some gentle walking, you come to North Weald, where there's a heritage (steam) train station and cafe. Note: the steam trains are running on Saturday so use the footbridge or cross the level crossing with care.

Soon after the station, you reach the King's Head pub, the second pub lunch option. The route then passes close to Roughtalley's Wood (GreenAcres), a little piece of old Epping Forest where Stephen Backes, who walked with the SWC and North East London Ramblers, is buried. The instructions include directions if you wish to visit his grave. The route from then on is mainly through a mix of woodland and open fields and passes the third and final pub of the day (and the recommended "tea" stop), the Theydon Oak in Coopersale, with it's pleasant garden.

There will also be an NELR group doing this walk today, starting at 10am and lunching at the King's Head

Refreshments

Woodhatch, Tawney Common: Moletrap Pub (booking essential, 01992 522810).

North Weald Station: there's the Anglia café (serves a range of hot and cold drinks and light refreshments) and also some picnic tables.

North Weald, High Road: The Kings Head (booking essential, 01992 525001)

Afternoon refreshment. Coopersale: The Theydon Oak (01992 572618, booking essential if you plan a late lunch there)

These walks don't have a leader so you'll need to download your copy of the directions from the L=swc.409 page.

Chippenham Circular

Map walk - Chippenham Circular 

Length: 17.9 km (11.1 miles). Toughness: 2/10 

Catch the 10:00 train from London Paddington to Chippenham, arrives 11:06. 

Return trains: xx:26, xx:56, 20:26, 21:28, 22:27 23:08. 

As the walk starts after 11am, the recommend lunch is at one of the pubs in Lacock 6km into the walk (which will add an additional 2km to the overall walk). 

Note: The SE Network railcard does not cover this journey. An issue given that the off-peak return rail fare is ~£63. Advanced bookings are no great deal, so for flexibility for the return journey then it is probably best to purchase your ticket on the day. (With a railcard covering the whole of the UK, the cost of an off peak return will be just over £40.) 

A more seasoned walk poster advises: For the West Country splitting the tickets is a way of making these trips cheaper. So on this walk you could split the ticket at Swindon Didcot (limit of Network Railcard). According to brfares.com, it would be £42.15 (saving over £20). With a Senior Railcard for both legs it would be £34.90, still worth doing.

A fairly easy walk with moderate climbs. 

This is a map based walk, so there are only basic directions included, with more detail in certain sections where it is not so obvious. 

L=swc.408

Sandling to Wye - Downland buttercup extravaganza

Length: 20.9km (13 miles)

9.37 Southeastern high speed train from St Pancras International to Ashford, arriving 10.14, changing there (usually same or adjacent platform) for the 10.19 to Sandling, arriving 10.30. T=swc.24

Or you can get the Sandling train direct from Charing Cross (8.59), Waterloo East (9.02) or London Bridge (9.08)

Buy a day return to Sandling. This should work for the return from Wye (Wye to Ashford is one stop: usually no barriers….) 

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

In favourable years (and I can see no reason why this should not be one of them...) this walk is an absolute sea of yellow buttercups. It is also a glorious downland walk - keeping to the escarpment, with gobsmacking views - for almost the whole time, the main exception being a 1.8 mile stretch in the afternoon.

Picnickers will have no trouble finding wonderful spots to eat their sandwiches so long as the weather stays fine. For a pub lunch the Tiger Inn in Stowting is a very popular haunt, but we usually manage to squeeze in. An emergency back-up is the Five Bells in Brabourne - also a gorgeous pub, but an 800 metre diversion off the route (most of it on roads). Both serve food until 3pm and both have outside tables as well as inside. 

At the end of the walk the Tickled Trout is not only in an idyllic situation, with a garden by the river (in which you can paddle), but also right by Wye station. It has taken to holding noisy music events on Sundays, which shatter its rural tranquility. Luckily today is not a Sunday....

Trains back from Wye are at 52 past the hour. Changing at Ashford gives high speed ticket holders a 1. hour 2 minute journey time back to London, despite an 18 minute wait for the connection. On the other hand if you just stay on the train from Wye, you get to London Bridge in 1 hour 16 minutes, or Charing Cross in 1 hour 27.

Evening Walk: A Ramble Through Richmond

Richmond Park Short Walk T=Short.7

Distance:          Approximately 4.25 miles or 7.6 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty:         2 out of 10

Travel:             18:20 South Western Reading bound train from London Waterloo, arriving at Richmond at 18:36. Richmond is also reachable on the District Line. Return trains and tube run frequently.

This walk takes a varied route first along the Thames River, then past the impressive Ham House before entering Richmond Park. Once in the park, the route climbs the escarpment for some fine views across the Thames valley.

Please ensure you keep a safe distance from any deer spotted in Richmond Park and do NOT feed them – they have apparently become quite interested in people (and any food that may be offered)….

Various options exist for post walk drinks and/or meal….

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!