Length: 14 km (8.7 miles).
Toughness: 5/10
For today the directions
for the Main Walk are suggested; there are plenty of shortcuts in the
directions if you wish to follow one of these.
Travel: 10.29 Charing
X; 10.32 W’Loo East; 10.38 London Bridge; 10.59 Swanley; arrives Otford 11.07
Returns: xx.05 and xx38
from Otford
Could end walk after
lunch in Shoreham by walking to Shoreham station. Trains xx.02 and xx.32 changing at Swanley.
Ticket type: Return to Otford
The walk starts with a
stiff climb to the top of Otford Mount then through the secluded valley
of Magpie Bottom, one of several small nature reserves in the area
managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. A steep descent through the wooded White
Hill brings you to the attractive village of Shoreham and
lunch. After lunch we walk through
Meenfield Wood, down to Polehill Bank Nature Reserve, picking up the Darent
Valley Path for an easy stretch back into Otford, an attractive village with
many interesting old buildings.
Lunch: There is a
good choice of lunch places (pubs and Hospices of Hope café in Shoreham,
after around 6 km.
Tea: Hospices of
Hope or pubs. Some of us had the most
delicious cakes recently in the Hospices of Hope (open 9am – 4pm).
Short walk to the station
from the High Street.
Walk directions, map and
GPX available here: L=swc.290
2 comments:
Hospices of Hope cafe is in Otford not Shoreham. Apologies.
#7 gathered on the Otford station platform and set off in morning #sunshine_cloudy_later.
The walk was very undulating with grand views throughout. Arrived in the very busy village of Shoreham with even busier pubs. Here we said goodbye to one walker; another two walkers had had the foresight to book a table in the Samuel Palmer pub, and three of us found seating and food in the The Crown, where the interior decorations exhorted us to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’. We lost another two in Shoreham as they took the train from there. Continuing the walk, about 9 Kites were spotted, and occasional bursts of birdsong. We stopped on the top of the hill to admire the views of the valley, and so back to Otford, where after some window shopping, three walked to the station and one to his car.
A relaxed walk after the scrum of Christmas.
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