27 April. This was an unexpectedly good day for walking, with the rain keeping off till we had all piled into a bus at Alfriston. Coming to the top of the steep hill up from Polegate, and rewarded by the song of skylarks Then to Jevington, where they claim to Read more
9 March. This was a slightly truncated version of my planned walk (probably about seven miles as it turned out). The mud, which is sabotaging all our walks this year, made us abandon the planned lunch stop in Underrriver. The final steep descent was impossible when I did the recce Read more
13 January. A grey but largely dry day, and we avoided the worst mud. We skirted alongside the edge of Farthing Down in the Morning, through Happy Valley and up to Chaldon Church. This had been open when Christine M and I did the recce, but unfortunately it was closed Read more
Trains: Please note the train is earlier than originally advertised. It will be leaving London Bridge at 9.59, East Croydon 10.17, arr Coulsdon South 10.25. The Walk is 7-8 miles through Farthing Down, Happy Valley and Coulsdon Common. It is undulating with some short but sharpish hills. These can be Read more
2 December. It was a cold and foggy day as thirteen ramblers set off down the Darent Valley, under the railway viaduct to Lullingstone Castle. It was very muddy underfoot and four of our number preferred to stay in the valley, following the Darent to Shoreham, where they visited the Read more
This is a change from the original programme. It will probably be rather muddy with some hills in the morning. Trains. London Blackfriars 9.10; arr Eynsford 9.52. Buy a return ticket to Otford. This is the Sevenoaks train, also calling at Elephant 9.13 and Herne Hill 9.22. The walk. A Read more
28 October. This was the first walk I had led since a hip operation, and so I kept the distance to about seven miles, and we avoided the steeper hills around Penshurst, staying mainly on farm tracks and country lanes. For reasons known to Victorian engineers, Leigh station is closer Read more
21 October. We usually do this walk in the summer. But because of programme changes, Peter G is leading it on a cloudy day, which wasn’t yet raining when we set out. As the ground is very muddy and wet, Peter suggests we do not take our usual path up Read more
Trains. I have amended the train times for this walk because it involves a change, and on the recce Sally and I missed the connection by a minute. Therefore I am recommending that people take the Dover Priory train to Tonbridge. This leaves Charing Cross at 8.59, Waterloo East at Read more
3 June. Peter G introduced us to a new perspective on Epping Forest (his own home territory), in a walk that took us through the meadows skirting the south of the Forest, with views across to the London City skyline, and in and out of the trees. In the afternoon Read more