Wednesday walk - Ockley to Warnham

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A beautiful walk through an unspoilt countryside of fields, woods and gentle hills, with a choice of two homely country pubs for lunch.

Length : 16.5 km (10.3 miles)

Toughness : 3 out of 10

Trains: London Victoria : 09-41 hrs Southern service to Horsham Clapham Junction 09-48; Balham 9.53; Sutton 10-13; Epsom 10-24 hrs. Arrive Ockley : 10-51 hrs

Return trains from Warnham to Victoria : xx:19 and xx:57. Change at Horsham if taking the latter.

Buy a day return to Warnham.

Lunch : The Scarlett Arms pub (tel. 01306-627243) in Walliswood, is 7.2 km into the walk.

An alternative is the Punchbowl pub (tel. 01306-627249) in Okewood Hill. The pub is reached via a detour beginning in the woods in Walliswood; the main walk can then be rejoined at point [5A].

Tea: The Sussex Oak pub (tel.01403-265028) in Warnham. The bar is open in the afternoon but no food is served between 2.30 and 6pm. The village shop in Warnham is open until 6pm. Warnham station is approximately 20 minutes walk from the village.

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Evening Walk: Hampton Court and Bushy Park Short Walk

Hampton Court and Bushy Park Short Walk

Distance: Approximately 4 miles or 7 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Travel: 17:57 South Western train from London Waterloo, arriving at Hampton Wick at 18:30. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE CORRECT TRAIN STOPPING IN HAMPTON WICK (NOT Hampton).

Return trains run every fifteen minutes until 23:30.

This is one of my absolutely favorite evening walks and has proved to be a real cracker of a walk the past few years at this time of year. Plenty of magnificent beasts starting the annual rut!

The walk meanders through a combination of the public grounds of Hampton Court Palace and neighboring Bushy Park with its resident deer population. The grounds are varied with pretty gardens and water features. Please ensure you keep a safe distance from any deer spotted in Bushy Park and do NOT feed them – they are potentially dangerous wild animals!

Post walk refreshments and possibly a meal can be had at the Foresters Arms, open until 23:00 with kitchen open until 22:00.

More information about the route can be found here.

Look forward to seeing you there!

#2026-09-29T18:00

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Monday Walk - Crickhowell Circular (via Table Mountain and two of the Three Pens) [Crickhowell Trip]

Walking the short version of the full walk today…

 

Length: 16.5 km (10.3 mi), with options to shorten or lengthen 

Ascent/Descent: 741m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 5 hours 

Toughness: 6 out of 10 

 

Meet at 09.30 at Crickhowell Square Bus Stop

 

Return to London:

Buses from Crickhowell to Abergavenny: 14.42, 16.42, 18.06, 18.54 and 20.44 (15 mins journey plus 10 mins walk). 

Train Connections to London with those buses: 16.06, 18.04, 18.36, 20.40 and 21.08 (with some luck). There is a pub at Abergavenny Station.

 

From the centre of the rightly popular town of Crickhowell, within minutes you rise up steeply (with an 12% average gradient) for 3 km – mainly through pastures – to the excellent viewpoint that is the eponymous Iron Age hillfort site of Crug Hywel (or Table Mountain), which gives its name to the town and towers above the Usk Valley. You ascend further up the flank of the main mountain range above the town to Pen Cerrig-calch, the first of three high tops along the ridge. Continue to the slightly higher second top, Pen Allt-mawr, where we leave the main walk’s route and return along the westerly escarpment with very fine views, off the mountain down the Darren nose, before dropping down to town through the ancient woodland of the Cwm Cumbeth, with the bubbling Cumbeth Brook never far away. The route finishes through the heart of Crickhowell past most of its tea options.

Walk Options: 

A Very Short Walk leads back down to town from the Table Mountain, on a westerly loop along the Beacons Way and down the wooded Cwm Cumbeth (7.5 km/4.6 mi, 389m ascent, 4/10). 

A Short Walk leads in a westerly loop from either Pen Cerrig-calch and down the lower part of the wooded Cwm Cumbeth (11.5 km/7.2 mi, 658m ascent, 5/10). 

Longer Walks – check the webpage and the pdf for the Main Walk and Extensions of it.

Lunch: Picnic. 

Tea: Plenty of options in Crickhowell, see the pdf for details.

 

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

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Sunday Walk - Crickhowell Circular (via Mynydd Llangatwg and Craig y Cilau) [Crickhowell Trip] [Extra Walk]

Length: 18.9 km (11.7 mi), with options to shorten or lengthen 

Ascent/Descent: 680m 

Net Walking Time: 6 hours 

Toughness: 6 out of 10 

 

Meet at 10.00 at Crickhowell Square Bus Stop (or join in Llangattock if you are staying there)

 

From the centre of the rightly popular town of Crickhowell, the route leads across the Usk River and the Monmouth & Brecon Canal up steeply through quiet pastures-with-views up to the easterly end of the Llangattock Escarpment and the fascinating limestone pinnacle of the Lonely Shepherd, overlooking the Clydach Gorge. From there you follow the escarpment westwards, past ex-quarries, surreal looking grassy spoil heaps, a couple of raised bogs and some extensive cave systems leading deep into the underlying limestone layers.

 

The natural amphitheatre of the Craig y Cilau escarpment with its spectacular high limestone cliffs and extensive cave systems, is negotiated with some easy walking along a former tramroad contouring the dramatic grassy ledge with some superb sweeping views across the Usk Valley to The Black Mountains, from the Mynydd Llangorse and Mynydd Troed via Table Mountain and Pen Cerrig-Calch to Sugar Loaf. You continue through the Craig y Cilau National Nature Reserve, where the Eglwys Faen cave system allows for some optional caving and down the slope to the raised bog of the Waun Ddu.

 

A very scenic descent and re-ascent leads through the beautiful Cwm Onnau and across into the very lush Usk Valley, from where you contour through more pastures with extremely fine views of the Central Black Mountains back down to the canal and via Llangattock village to Crickhowell with its many tea options.

Walk Options:   

A Morning Shortcut cuts 1.5m and 40m ascent. 

A rougher version of that shortcut, up a long and steep bouldery track, cuts another 1.4 km. 

Cut out the out-and-back to the Lonely Shepherd limestone pinnacle with views: cut 1.4 km. 

Caving (for beginners) can be done in the Eglwys Faen complex. Bring your headtorch and an extra layer or two! Good profile soles necessary, scrambling experience reassuring. And mind your head! 

An Afternoon Shortcut, cutting the ascent out of the Cwm Onnau and into the Usk Valley, cuts 2.8 km. 

An Extension of the route, higher up the Cwm Onnau adds 2.0 km and 35m ascent. This starts with 20 minutes along the grassy verge of a busy road though.

Lunch: Picnic. Best location: on the grassy ledge below the Llangattock Escarpment, with views across the Usk Valley. 

Tea: Plenty of options in Llangattock and Crickhowell. Check the pdf or the webpage for details.

 

For walk directions, maps, height profiles and gpx/kml files click here.

#2026-09-27T10:00 t=swc.370

Sunday Walk: Princes Risborough to Great Missenden

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difficulty 5/10 15.7km  9.8 miles

A classic Chilterns walk with sloping fields, beech woods, three steep bits (one avoidable), fine views and (maybe, just maybe) autumn colour. 

Trains: get the 09:42 Oxford train from Marylebone, arriving Princes Risborough at 10:25 

Return from Great Missenden at xx:03 and xx:33   

A return to Aylesbury ("any route permitted") covers both journeys

Lunch: is at the Gate in Bryants Bottom 01494 488 632  The later Polecat in Prestwood, is another possibility. 

Tea: The George Ale House is recommended - real ale, cider, all that. Nearer the station you'll find the Cross Keys. There's also Matilda's for those that prefer tea. but it closes at 4 Sundays.

Directions: here T=1.45 

Faversham Circular

SWC 420: Faversham Circular

Travel: Take the 9:40AM Ramsgate-bound train from London Victoria, arriving Faversham at 10:50. Return trains are at 37 minutes past the hour.

Distance: 12 miles/19km, with a shorter option of 9 miles/14.5km available

Difficulty: 2 out of 10

This walk combines and extends two published walks promoted by Faversham Town Council. The initial leg to Oare is a loop around Ham Marshes, an isolated area hemmed in by Faversham Creek and Oare Creek. After a lunch, it explores Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park, where the remains of its massive structures are scattered around a patch of woodland outside the village. Then, a quiet country lane leads you to the hamlet of Luddenham, with its impressively large medieval church of St Mary now seemingly marooned in a farmyard. The full walk continues through farmland and past Uplees Marshes to the Swale, the tidal channel between the mainland and the Isle of Sheppey and loops around Oare Marshes Nature Reserve. More information on the walk and the instructions and GPX can be found here.

Elevensies and Lunch: First up for elevensies is the recommended, tumbledown Shipwright's Arms (01795-590088) in Hollowshore, like something out of Dickens, it has a limited menu (burgers, jacket potatoes, sandwiches, etc.), but it does have an interesting range of drinks. 

Having quenched our thirst, lunch proper can be had twenty minutes later, in Oare at either The Castle (01795-533674) and the more upmarket Three Mariners (01795-533633). Lighter fare is available at The Cafe by the Creek (01795-537985).

Tea: There are many possible refreshment places in Faversham, such as The Refinery at 122 West Street open to 9pm.

Look forward to seeing you on the walk!  I have not done it before and it sounds like fun!

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Saturday Walk - Henley Circular via Nettlebed

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Length: 23.4km (14.5m)
Toughness: 6 / 10
Transport: Take the 9:37 train from London Paddington, change at Twyford onto the 10:15 to Henley arriving at 10:27. Return trains at xx:00 and xx:30.

This is a great walk across the Chiltern Hills to the north of Henley passing through extensive woodlands.

Saturday Walk - Bwlch Circular (via Mynydd Troed, then Llangorse Lake or Pen Tir) [Crickhowell Trip]

Length: 21.6 km (13.4 mi) [longer or shorter walk possible, see below] 

Ascent/Descent: 837/840m 

Net Walking Time: 6 hours 

Rating: 7 out of 10

Take the 09.26 Bus Line X43 from Crickhowell Square to Brecon (does not call in Llangattock), arrives Bwlch, All Saints at 09.36. 

Return: 14.30, 16.30, 18.43 and 20.33.

 

This is a varied walk from the small settlement of Bwlch (‘pass’ in Welsh), starting from a low col high above the Usk Valley onto the rolling moorlands of Cefn Moel and Mynydd Llangorse. The following long ridge walk along good grass paths across this outlying peak’s plateau – and the subsequent optional ascent to Mynydd Troed –command panoramic views across to many of the much higher giants of the Brecon Beacons National Park: across the Rhiangoll valley to the south-western flanks of the Black Mountains massif, west to the Central Beacons and south to Mynydd Llangynidr and Mynydd Llangattock.

A road descent leads to Llangorse village for lunch and around its iconic lake, of glacial origin and the largest natural lake in South Wales, with its watersports centre – and the only crannog outside of Scotland and Ireland. This is a busy touristic site in season.
Leave the crowds behind to further circumvent the large lake through pastures to a remote bird hide and an even more remote church-with-views in Llangasty-Talyllyn and then up the Allt yr Esgair ('wooded slope of the ridge' in Welsh). It is crowned by an Iron Age hillfort and a Roman road and overlooks the valley of the River Usk to the west and south and Llangorse Lake and the Black Mountains to the northeast. You then follow the Roman Road back down to Bwlch.

Walk Options:

Cut out the steep ascent to Mynydd Troed (2.2 km/1.3 mi and 260m ascent/descent) for a 6/10 walk.  

Cut out the ascent to the Allt yr Esgair Iron Age Hill Fort site near the end by contouring around the hill’s flank and along the ruined Paragon Tower folly.  

An easterly route from the summit of Mynydd Troed along the ridge and down into the Cwm Sorgwm and back up over Pen Tir to the Cefn Moel and to Bwlch adds 800m distance and 245m ascent (8/10).

 

Lunch: The Red Lion in Llangorse (12.0 km, open all day, brunch served to 15.00); The Lakeside Café at the Llangorse Lake (12.7 km, open as a café to 16.00, then turns into Lakeside Bar). 

Tea Pen Tir Route: The Farmers Arms in Cwmdu (open from 16.00, located 5.8 km from the end). 

Tea both routes: The New Inn (open from 14.00, located right at the end of the walk).

 

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

#2026-09-26T09:26 t=swc.308

Saturday Walk - Eridge to East Grinstead in reverse!

SWC 109: Eridge to East Grinstead in reverse!

Travel: Take the 9:20 AM Southern train from London Victoria bound for East Grinstead (stopping at EC 9:40AM). Return trains from Eridge at 50 minutes past the hour. Buy a day return to East Grinstead -- though the stations are not on the same line... so some questions may be asked....

Distance: 13.5 miles or 22 km, with shorter options -- such as taking a bus from East Grinstead to Forrest Row and starting the walk there. This would reduce the walk by about 2.5 miles -- so you could take the 9:50 train and have a reasonable chance to rendezvous with the main group.

Difficulty: 7 out of 10

We have done this route in reverse before and it worked well and means that we can end the walk at the lovely Huntsman Pub near Eridge Station, rather than leaving it behind in the morning.... Based on the walk notes, I would suggest we set off on SWC 40 in reverse and switch to the reverse of SWC 109 at Cansiron Lane. 

Traveling in this direction, the recommended lunch stop would be the Bear Inn in Hartfield and of course post walk refreshments can be had at the Huntsman, a stone's throw from Eridge station.

Look forward to seeing you on the walk! Remember to start in East Grinstead!

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Friday Walk - Llangynidr to Bwlch or Circular [Crickhowell Trip]

Length: 21.9 km (13.6 mi) [longer or shorter walk possible, see below] 

Ascent/Descent: 781/685m 

Net Walking Time: 6 ½ hours 

Rating: 7 out of 10

Take the 10.11 Bus Line 43 from Crickhowell Square to Brecon (calls Llangattock Plas Derwen at 10.15), arrives Llangynidr Village Hall at 10.26. 

Return: 17.49 from Llangynidr Village Hall (Line 43) on the shorter ending and 16.30, 18.43 and 20.33 from Bwlch, All Saints (Line X43) on the full walk.

 

This walk leads from Llangynidr village up along a tight valley, the Cwm Cleisfer, and onto the open limestone uplands of Mynydd Llangynidr, initially along a lane then through pastures, in the latter stages with some difficult-to-find-and-negotiate paths near the transition to the open moorland. Mynydd Llangynidr is a basically treeless undulating mountain of open limestone uplands with numerous depressions, shake holes and pits, as well as many ancient cairns (burial mounds) dotted across the moorland. You climb to the source of the Cleisfer, a perfect picnic spot, and then across the scarred landscape (map and compass come in handy) to the Chartist Cave, arguably one of Wales' most important historic monuments. The Chartists were a 19^th century working-class movement for political reform and this cave is where the local group met and stored weapons before the Newport Rising of 1839.

You cross the top of the moorland hill and descend to a remote road by an active limestone quarry and pick up a former tramway for transporting goods to the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal to skirt around the rim of the picturesque wooded Crawnon Valley. A stretch along a ridge high above the Talybont Reservoir is followed by a descent through lush pastures back to Llangynidr. To complete the walk, cross the Usk River and ascend to Bwlch on the other side for a return bus.

Walk Options:

A Variation on the Cwm Cleisfer route circumvents an often-overgrown stretch with difficult route finding.  

An Extension near the end over the Tor y Foel hill adds 250m and 113m ascent.  

A Variation of the route near the end through Llangynidr leads along the rivers Crawnon and Usk to Llangynidr Bridge rather than along the canal. This is flood-prone when The Usk is in spate and has some steep and rocky bits.  

A finish at the start point in Llangynidr is described but note that there is only one bus late afternoon through the village.

 

Lunch: Picnic.

 

Tea:  

The Coach & Horses Inn; open all day, located 3.1 km from the end of the walk; 

The Walnut Tree Café; open to 16.00, located 2.2 km from the end of the walk;  

The Red Lion; open all day, located near the start of the walk, i.e. at the other end of the village from the end of the walk route; 

The New Inn; open from 17.00, located right at the end of the walk.

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

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