9.47 train from Victoria, calling at all sorts of SE London stations, including Bromley South depart 10.23, to Eynsford, arriving 10.41 If you just miss this, catch the 9.55 train, arriving Bromley South at 10.11, to connect to the above train
From London Bridge, you could get the 9.44 train to Peckham Rye, arr 9.54 and connect to the Eynsford train there at 10.01
For walk directions, GPX and map click here.
Would you believe, this walk has never been posted on a Saturday, and seems so far to have been mostly confined to midwinter That is a pity, as this is gorgeous May territory. In particular, early on in the Lullingstone Country Park, it crosses a hillside that is usually awash with oxeye daisies at this time of year. The park is also my favourite spot to hear yellowhammers, and the river near Farningham is a good spot for mayflies. I am pretty sure there will also be good displays of buttercups somewhere or other. Among other delights...!!
There is a positive embarrassment of lunch pubs - four in Eynsford, one in Farningham - and if you do the extra 1.1 mile loop to Horton Kirby there is another pub there with (from memory) a rather nice garden that would make a good mid-afternoon stop. Otherwise for tea/end of walk drinks there is a riverside pub in Farningham and the aforementioned four pubs in Eysnford.
Those that want a longer walk could follow the Darent Valley Path south from Eynsford to Shoreham or even Otford.
Trains back are at 35 past, going to Victoria in 55 minutes: but you can also change at Swanley (arriving 40 past, depart 48 past) and get a fast train to London Bridge, arriving 07 past: ie just 32 minutes journey time in all.
#2026-05-23T09:47
1 comment:
When posting this walk I was expecting it to be sunny, but not w=blazing-hot. Perhaps a walk with more woodland would have been a good idea (though there was some). I also wanted to avoid trains to the coast, which I feared would be crowded: but I spent a good portion of the walk thinking how nice it would be to have a cool dip in the sea...
N=15 emerged from the train at Eynsford, a few having come from London Bridge via Peckham Rye. We set off under the fierce glare of the sun. The countryside was looking very pretty. Oxeye daisies carpeted the hillside in Lullingstone Country Park. Later we descended across arable fields with fine valley views. Did I mention it was hot?
No one, including the walk author, who was present, had any views on which of the four Eynsford pubs was better, so dither ensued. In the end a Man of Destiny (me) was required to steer prospective diners to the Malt Shovel. It was empty and had a garden with shade. The food was old-fashioned homemade dishes served rapidly in huge portions - the kind of pub food that is rapidly disappearing in a tide of gastro flummery. Half a dozen swifts screamed overhead.
Initially there were only three of us eating and we wondered where the others had gone. But four more turned up. After lunch it transpired that most of the rest of the group were picnicking in the shady churchyard next door. We all set off together, so group cohesion was maintained.
It is interesting to see the pretty centre of Eynsford (not passed through on other walks). For the record the Five Bells seemed to have a very pleasant garden. We made a stop at the castle ruins and there was then a mort of road walking to get to Farningham.
Once we got to the Darent I squinied for signs of mayflies, but only saw banded demoiselles. This walk also had lots of chaffinches singing. Through stopping to look at nature I lost the rest of the group, but had the walk author to guide me in the correct direction around the extra loop. In an area of scrub near Horton Kirby I heard a nightingale. You will have to take my word on this.
Eight or nine of the main group went the other way round the loop so got to the garden of Fighting Cocks before us. Cold drinks and (in my case) hot tea were had here. Then we sent the others to finish the loop their way while we finished it ours. We met up again at the viewpoint on the edge of Farningham Woods. This gave a fine prospect of the motorway, which sounds like I am being catty, but I am actually not. It really is a grand view, worth sitting a while to savour and I enjoyed the downland descent to Farningham.
Three were having drinks in the garden of the Lion Hotel here, and two of us joined them. The others presumably went straight on to Eynsford. I guessing lots got the 17.35 train. I could not resist a quick second look along the river to see if there were any mayflies, but there were not. I guess they have been and gone.
I walked back to Eynsford with the Farningham church bells pealing all the way, ringing a complex sequence of changes (my mother was a bell ringer in her youth). I got to the Malt Shovel at 6.10pm, but not before I had taken off my boots and waded the ford - something some of the others did earlier, I gather. Four of us then got the 18.35 train, charging at Swanley for the fast train to London Bridge via the Bickley Interconnector.
Post a Comment