Sunday Walk: Harpenden to St Albans

17.6 km (10.9 miles) Difficulty 3/10 

Through a new-ish Woodland Trust forest (Heartwood) to Sandridge, then on through a country estate (Childwickbury) to St Albans. The abbey there is worth a look and you also pass what is claimed to be the ‘oldest pub in England’. Just before Sandridge, there’s a large wildflower meadow that can be impressive (fingers crossed).

Lunch

Today is Mothers Day so pubs may be busy.  Plan accordingly.

There are, however, 3 of them in Sandridge 

• The 17th century Queens Head (tel 01727 855069) at 7 Church End.  
• The Green Man (tel 01727 854845) at 31 High Street. 
• The 400 year old Rose & Crown (tel  01727 859739) at 24 High Street A country pub with a beer garden. It specialises in cask ales. 
• There's also the  Heartwood Tearoom .

The churchyard near the Queens Head makes a good picnic spot.

Tea

The suggested tea place is the Abbot's Kitchen Café, just inside the Cathedral, which is open daily until 4 pm. 

An alternative is Abigails (tel: 01727-8560039) in the Village Arcade in the Cathedral precincts, which is open daily until 5 pm. 

However….before you climb to the cathedral, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (tel: 017227 865830), is one of several pubs claiming to be the oldest in England.  

Trains 

⏰Clocks go forward a hour today, which means everything happens earlier. 

I've put the train time back half an hour to compensate.

Get the Bedford train from St Pancras at 10:35 arriving 11:05

(South Londoners can catch this train at East Croydon 10:03, London Bridge 10:19)

(North Londoners at West Hampstead 10:43)

There are 4 trains an hour returning from St Albans City. 

St Albans Abbey station is mentioned as an alternative, but this requires a separate ticket. There is one train an hour from there (xx:41 changing at Watford).    

Directions: here 

t=swc.351 

Sunday Walk: Eynsford Circular via Farningham

14 km 8.7 miles Difficulty 4/10

Up the hill and along past Eagle Heights, where, if you’re lucky, you might see a stray raptor from the Birds of Prey centre. Up there, you get a good view of the Eynsford Viaduct. On to Farningham and, after a stretch along the river Darent, Horton Kirby. The return to Eynsford includes a stretch through a nature reserve then open hillside. Eynsford boasts a ruined castle if you have time (open 10 till 4).

Trains: ⏰Clocks go forward a hour today, which means everything happens earlier. 

I've put the train time back half an hour to compensate. Get the 10:13 Sevenoaks stopping train from Blackfriars arriving 11:06. 

Trains return at xx:11 and xx:41

Lunch: Choose between: 

• the Lion Hotel 01322 860621 in Farningham with its riverside beer garden (which you pass twice). Puzzle over the strange not-a-bridge structure in the river (a “cattle-screen”). 
• or The Fighting Cocks (01322-862299) in Horton Kirby, which is more centrally placed. 

A reminder that today is Mother’s Day, so pubs may be busy.  Plan accordingly. There are picnic areas near both if you prefer to bring your own. 

Tea. You pass both the Castle and the 5 Bells in Eynsford. You’re more likely to find room in the 5 Bells.

Directions: here  (we're doing Short walk 1) t=swc.419

Saturday Walk: Rochester to Aylesford along the River Medway

10 miles / 16km

This walk links two historic buildings - Rochester Cathedral and Aylesford Priory, by following the River Medway.  Both are free to enter.  Aylesford Priory grounds are open til 5:30, but sadly the tearoom and chapel shut early this time of the year.  

This is not a regular SWC route and completely untested.  I am planning to try it out this Saturday and explore both buildings.  

Route:  The route simply follows footpaths/lanes as close to the River Medway as possible.  You can download a gpx file from this page:

https://www.walkingenglishman.com/ldp/aylesfordpilgrimagewalk.html

or try this fresher version which starts from the current location of Rochester station

Rochester2Aylesford.gpx

Trains:  10:10 from London Victoria, arriving at Rochester at 10:53.  Return trains from Aylesford at xx:03/xx:33 via Strood (you can go back to Rochester from here for a fast train to Victoria or take a slow train to London Bridge).  

A day return from London Victoria to Aylesford is valid for Rochester. (If like me you are coming on a slow local train via Strood, an Aylesford return is still good, but you will need to get out at Strood and walk across the bridge to Rochester)

Lunch: The village of Wouldham is a little over half way.  There are 2 pubs - The Watermans's Arms and The Medway Inn.  There's also a Co-op further on at Peter's Village.

At the end of the walk:  the Chequers Inn is a historic pub on the River Medway in the old part of Aylesford.

Saturday Walk - Cowden to Eridge

SWC Walk #3  - Cowden to Eridge

Length: 19.5km (12.1 miles). Toughness 4/10.

Catch the 10:07 train from London Bridge (East Croydon: 10:22), arrives Cowden 10:53. 

Buy a day return to Eridge. Return trains: xx:50

T=swc.3 

Saturday Walk - Borough Green to Sevenoaks, with optional Greensand Way ending

15.1km (9.4 miles) or 17.4km (10.8 miles) via Shipbourne T=1.36

9.29 train from Charing Cross (9.32 Waterloo East, 9.38 London Bridge) to Borough Green, arriving 10.15

Buy a day return to Borough Green, which usually seems to be accepted for return from Sevenoaks. (If not, buy a single from Sevenoaks to Otford.) 

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

This pretty little Kentish walk has had winter outings over the past three years, but has not been aired in spring since 2022. It is not massively long or demanding, but worth lingering over, as it goes through a range of pretty territory including woods, apple orchards and the cute village of Plaxtol. The grassy expanses of the Fairlawne Estate may well have lambs on them (no guarantees, though).

You can have lunch at the National Trust tea room at Ightham Mote, but if you want a pub lunch the excellent Chaser Inn in Shipbourne is reachable by a small diversion. It has super outside tables by the church if the weather is fine. After the Chaser, the route takes you back past Ightham Mote, which could be an early tea stop. 

After Ightham Mote, the standard walk route climbs up into the hills, but I personally much prefer the route westwards along the Greensand Way, a delightful walk that slowly climbs the escarpment with fine views and good spring flowers, including some wood anemones and a lovely field of primroses. This route is waymarked but a GPX or directions for it can be found in SWC walk 41: Yalding to Sevenoaks. It is about the same length as the standard route. 

(Full disclosure: there are also some patches of wood anemones on the standard walk route too, and approaching Knole Park it skirts Godden Wood, a very good wood anemone spot that is worth exploring...)

Either route eventually takes you to Knole Park, whose National Trust tea room can be rather busy but has a nice upper deck if the weather is fine. It shuts at 5pm. A late tea option in Sevenoaks is Gails, open till 6.30pm.

Trains back from Sevenoaks are every ten minutes or so. 

Evening Walk - Grand Union Canal and an Iron Age hillfort site in the Borough of Ealing: Perivale Circular via Horsenden Hill

Length: 5.3 km (3.3 mi)

Ascent/Descent: 95m

Net Walking Time: 1 ¼ hrs

 

Meet: Perivale Station at 18.45 hours. Perivale station is on the West Ruislip branch of the Central Line, and in Zone 4. Travel time from Bond Street is 24 minutes.

 

You hit the Grand Union Canal and walk along its towpath, then cross a couple of meadows to climb the mostly wooded Horsenden Hill (an Iron Age hillfort site) and descend to a pub. Retreat to the tube along a tarmac path, then a road pavement.

 

Eat/Drink: The Ballot Box at Horsenden Hill (a Hungry Horse pub, i.e.: Greene King, open to 23.00, food to 21.00).

 

For walk directions, map, and gpx/kml files click here . T=short.4

Wednesday Walk - Gomshall to Guildford (Shere, Albury Park, Albury Heath, Blackheath Common and the River Wey)

Walk 1.14 – Gomshall to Guildford

Length: 15.6 km (9.7 miles). Longer morning route via Albury Park 18.0km (11.2 miles) Toughness ~3/10

At London Bridge, catch the 9.51 Three Bridges service change at Redhill arriving 10.22 departing 10.40 on the Reading service, which arrives at Gomshall at 11.00

or

9:41 London Victoria to Dorking service, change at Dorking and walk to Dorking Deepdene to join the 10.52 Reading service, ariving at Gomshall at 11.00. If you miss the 09.51 at London Bridge, you could instead take the 10.00 Horsham service which arrives at Redhill at 10.35, giving you 5 minutes to make the connection.

There are several trains from Guildford to London each hour (click for details).

Buy a return to Gomshall (via "any route permitted" to be valid for journeys via Guildford or Redhill)

Leaving Gomshall you are soon in the pretty village of Shere. On through Albury Park where a recommended (but optional, 2.4km, 1.5 mile) longer morning route takes a loop through Albury Park instead of going along its edge. This takes you past an unusual Catholic Apostolic Church built for a new religious movement which originated in England in 1832. This is not open to the public, but in the middle of the parkland you can visit an unusual and interesting old Saxon church. After lunch in Albury Heath, the walk continues through the open expanses of Blackheath Common before heading into woodland until you come to the River Wey where you follow the river into Guildford.

Lunch. The William 1V pub in Little London 01483 202685 serves good food and good beer. we have found it fully booked before so if you intend to eat there please book . The best picnic spots are just before the pub on Albury Heath, or earlier at the Saxon church in Aldury Park.

For post walk refreshment, there's a cafe in the foyer of the Yvonne Arnauld Theatre, a variety of cafes (including Gail's) in Guildford town centre and several pubs. The George Abbot, on the way to the station, has proved popular with walkers in the past.

For full details and to download your copy of the directions see the L=1.14 web page.

Sunday Walk – Hampton Court Figure-of-8 (including Palace Gardens)

Extra Walk 240 – Hampton Court Figure-of-8 (including Palace Gardens)

Length: up to 15½ km (9.6 miles). Toughness: 1/10

09:57 Hampton Court train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:01, Clapham Jct 10:06, etc), arriving at 10:34. Hampton Court is in TfL Zone 6.

Trains back from Hampton Court are half-hourly at xx:05 & xx:35.

A few years ago Historic Royal Palaces stopped all free entry into Hampton Court Gardens but they seem to have partially relented as there are now quite a few Open Days each year, including this weekend. Home Park and Bushy Park are pleasant enough but a stroll around these gardens makes an excellent end to the walk. The Wilderness and other parts of the informal gardens will be awash with spring flowers and blossom, and hopefully the formal gardens will be open too.

Somewhat against my nature I've started the walk earlier than usual to allow for more time in the gardens, which means that you'll reach the Pheasantry café in Bushy Park's Woodland Gardens at around noon. If that's too early for lunch you'll pass it again an hour or so later after the loop around the north-western part of the park, although it's likely to be much busier then. There are several places for tea at the end of the walk, including the Tiltyard café in the palace grounds.

Please bring the directions from the L=swc.240 page (which now include a suggested tour of the palace gardens).

Sunday Walk - Aldermaston to Woolhampton (Midgham Station): Quiet and scenic, rolling West Berkshire countryside. Woodlands, fields, commons, chalk stream valleys (Kennet, Bourne, Pang), heathland, canal or parkland ending

Length: 20.3 km (12.6 mi) [shorter walk possible, see pdf] 

Ascent/Descent: 278/275m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours

Toughness: 5 out of 10 

Take the 10.00 Reading train from Paddington (Slough 10.20), change at Reading (10.34/10.43) onto the Newbury Train (usually departs from Platform 1); arriving Aldermaston at 10.54. 

Return trains: 16.03, 16.56 (change Newbury), 18.02, 18.56 (change Newbury), 20.01… hours (change at Reading unless otherwise mentioned, from 56 mins journey time). Buy a Midgham Return.

 

This walk explores a surprisingly quiet part of the commuter area that is West Berkshire, less than an hour from Central London. It is an undulating landscape with some fine views over unspoilt countryside - the West Berkshire Downs, which are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and consist of a mix of ancient woodlands, commons, fields and pretty villages with pleasant, historical pubs. The route passes through the chalk stream river valleys of the Kennet, the Bourne and the Pang, where you’ll also find some evidence of traditional water meadows. Lunch destination is the very pretty village of Stanford Dingley in the Pang Valley.

The walk also leads through the Bucklebury Estate, one of the largest in the South, and through the elevated Bucklebury Common, one of the largest commons in Southern England. In the main this consists of a variety of woods, but you’ll also walk through one of Berkshire’s largest heathlands and see part of a famous Avenue of Oaks. 

At the end there is a choice of finishes either along the Kennet & Avon Canal or through the landscaped Midgham Park.

Lunch: There are plenty of pubs on and just off route (see the webpage for details), but the best placed are in Stanford Dingley, just after the 8 km mark: The Old Boot (food to 17.00) and The Bull Inn (food to 16.30). 

Tea: The Angel Inn or The Rowbarge Inn, both in Woolhampton, 2 minutes from Midgham station (but with The Rowbarge being on the ‘wrong’ side of the level crossing!).

 

For walk directions, map, height profile, and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.117

Saturday Walk - Leigh(Kent) to Tunbridge Wells

Length: 11.55 miles

Toughness: 5 out of ten

Trains:  CharingX: 10.04; W’loo East 10.07; London Brdg 10.13.   Arrive Tonbridge 10.46. CHANGE onto the 11.01 train from Tonbridge to Leigh (arrives Leigh 11.05)

Ticket type: Return ticket to Tunbridge Wells

Description: This is a pretty walk with a choice of nice lunchtime pubs. The route is through a landscape of great beauty, confirming the description of Kent as the Garden of England. The walk goes through the grounds of Penshurst Place, with fine views of the house, taking in a truly pastoral landscape of rivers, lakes, woods and rolling hills; and passes through the lovely village of Penshurst. The walk then makes its way along the River Medway and into historic Royal Tunbridge Wells, through woods and parks which extend right into the heart of the town.

Full details of the walk including directions, map and GPX can be found here: https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/leigh-to-tunbridge-wells/index.html

Lunch: suggested lunchtime stop is the Spotted Dog (tel 01892 870 253 ) at Smart's Hill, some 6.4 km (a third) into the walk.

Nearby is another large and popular pub, the Bottle House Inn (tel 01892 870 306 ).

Picnic: The All Souls Chapel near Poundsbridge is a good picnic spot with benches in its pleasant churchyard, approximately 30 min walk away from The Spotted Dog pub. 

Tea: Lots of options in Tunbridge Wells.

L=1.15

 

Saturday Walk - Welwyn Circular

Length: 11 miles (17.7 km) 2 out of 10 T=swc.69

"Once out of the Garden City and over the A1(M) you are in some attractive Hertfordshire countryside, including the landscaped parkland of Brocket Hall and Lamer House. In the afternoon you reach the picturesque village of Ayot St Lawrence, which has two unusual churches – one reminiscent of a Greek temple, the other an ivied Gothic ruin – and if you wish you can visit the home of George Bernard Shaw, Shaw's Corner, now owned by the National Trust. (Open to the public from 1300, garden 1200)"

Trains: Get the Thameslink 0957 Royston train from Kings Cross (Finsbury Park 1003) arriving Welwyn 1026. Return fast trains at xx21 xx51 to Kings cross (29 minutes), with slow trains at xx00 & xx30 to Moorgate (51 minutes).

Lunch: The recommended lunch pub for this walk is The Brocket Arms (01438 820250) (14th century) (food 12-2.30) in Ayot St Lawrence, 11km from the start. You pass a couple of benches just before the pub for a picnic.

Tea: a walk report recommends the Doctor's Tonic pub "very cosy and well appointed", Greene King pub/restaurant.  The directions also have The Waggoners, 1km from the end or Simmons cafe, close to the railway station.

Saturday Walk - Tisbury Circular via Alvediston: West Wiltshire Downs at their best (anti-clockwise)

Length: 26.0 km (16.2 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below] 

Ascent/Descent: 628m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours 

Toughness: 7 out of 10 

 

Take the 09.20 Exeter St. David’s train from Waterloo (Clapham J. 09.27, Woking 09.47, Salisbury 10.47), arrives Tisbury at 11.06. You have to be in the front three coaches of the train. 

Return trains: 17.01, 18.01, 19.03, 20.01, 21.01 and 22.03.

 

Note: this walk is written up in both directions, with both versions available in separate pdfs. This was originally necessary as The Crown Inn was closed for many years and the Three Horseshoes had short kitchen hours. Since then, The Crown has reopened again, but then burned down while the Horseshoes has extended its kitchen hours and that pub now works well as a lunch stop in either direction. I will walk the original anti-clockwise direction, as it is due a text-check. Both versions are tremendous walks though.

 

This is the blurb describing the original anti-clockwise walk:

"This walk heads south from the Vale of Wardour through the southerly parts of the West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is spectacular walking country with some breath-taking views. The full walk reaches the hilltop boundary with the Cranborne Chase AONB (with views all the way to the coast, around Bournemouth and Poole). You’ll find picturesque villages and atmospheric pubs in the beautiful undulating countryside, as well as a wooded Iron Age hill fort site and plenty of dry chalky U-shaped downland valleys. The middle part of the walk especially leads through – or around the rim of – several very pretty coombes.The walk starts with a gentle ascent out of Tisbury across fields but features a few short and sharp ascents later on as well as three more prominent ascents, spread out through the day, before descending back into Tisbury, a remarkably unspoilt village."

Shorter Walk: 

A Shortcut before lunch, limiting the effort to 6/10, is described.  

Bus number 29 (Shaftesbury to Salisbury) stops outside the pubs in Ebbesbourne Wake (12.26, 13.56, 15.36, 17.06) and in Alvediston (4 minutes earlier, approx. 45 mins journey time). 

Bus number 26 (Shaftesbury to Hindon via Tisbury) stops outside St. Peter's Church in Swallowcliffe (15.48, 17.23) for a 7 minutes ride to Tisbury, useful if walking the clockwise version (cuts 4.5 km).

 

Elevenses: The Royal Oak, Swallowcliffe, 4.5 km/2.8 mi into the walk and open from 12.00. 

Lunch: The Horseshoe Inn, Ebbesbourne Wake (16.3 km/10.1 mi) into the walk. Open 12.00-15.00. Food served 12.00-15.00 [The Crown Inn, Alvediston burnt down in 05/23 and as far as I know has not been rebuilt]. 

Tea: Star Grill, Tisbury Fish & Chips, Tisbury Delicatessen, Beatons Tearooms and Bookshop, Gardner & Beedle Wine Shop, Coffee Angels, The Benett, The Boot Inn. See the pdf for details. 

 

For walk directions , map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.250