Length: up to 16½ km (10.3 miles), with shorter options. Toughness: 2/10
Train: 10:08 Hastings train from Charing
Cross (Waterloo East 10:11, London Bridge 10:17, arriving Tonbridge at 10:52. If this train is cancelled, then use the 9.59 and/or 10.16
trains to Tonbridge.
Return Trains: xx:07;
xx:13; xx:37: xx:44
Ticket: Buy a
return ticket to Tonbridge
Walk out of Tonbridge through
parkland, farm fields and orchards. The
beautiful stained glass windows by Marc Chagall in Tudeley Church Chagall windows should not be missed.
Lunch: Poacher & Partridge is the lunch
time pub, but if this is too busy, you can have lunch on your return to Tonbridge
which should only be about an hour’s walk from here.
Tea: Many lovely tearooms in Tonbridge, if you
arrive in time.
Please see the full walk post
for options on extending the walk if you wish and bearing in mind that possible flood prevention construction works in Haysden Country
Park may have closed some paths.
You'll need to bring the
directions from the L=swc.220 – clicking 'Main' on the Walk Options. This will cut out the directions for the Capel extension, which needs a
longer day.
1 comment:
Four got the specified train, which was a bit late. When we got to Tonbridge a fifth told us that nine others had got a slightly earlier train (also a bit late) and assumed that any walkers would have got that one instead. So off they shot. But n=14 in all, it seems: a good turnout. The weather was less good than had been advertised: w=grey-with-some-showers-and-drizzle
We five unwilling laggards decided to do a cunning shortcut to catch up with the others by cutting out the castle. But we became a bit navigationally challenged and only ended up seeing more of suburban Tonbridge than we needed to. Nevertheless two of us caught up with two from the main group mid morning, and we caught up with the others at the Chagall Church. The three other backmarkers caught us up at the lunch pub.
In keeping with the festive season there was no room at the inn - those who tried to book had been turned away. But we were allowed to eat in the bar area, which eight did, while four had drinks. Nice food as usual. We set off en masse after lunch and enjoyed a fine scrumping session in the mysteriously unpicked apple orchards.
Getting to downtown Tonbridge at 3pm there was defeatist talk of going straight to tea. But in the end I think everyone did at least part of the extra loop. Three did a walk round the park and went to Weatherspoons. The rest of us rounded Barden Lake and went to the Finch House cafe in the high street for a nice tea. We then got the busy 17.07 train, being rather surprised to get back to London so early.
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