Around the Ashdown Forest

Chuck Hatch to Fairwarp

The "Plan" was to try out a 10 mile circular walk around Robertsbridge but on the morning there was a flood warning for the river Rother and as part of the route followed the river we quickly decided to abort and stick to an old favourite the Ashdown Forest.We last walked across the forest at the end of July 2012 and that walk really stretched the leg muscles - this one did the same as the terrain is split by lots of streams and valleys, some pretty steep.

Previously we had walked East to West across the forest so this time we went North to South, parking up at Chuck Hatch car park on the north edge just by the Hundred Acre Wood. (https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Chuck+Hatch,+Hartfield&hl=en&sll=51.078771,0.102015&sspn=0.001739,0.004823&oq=chuck+hatch&hnear=Chuck+Hatch,+Hartfield,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=14
) and setting sights for a nice pub at Fairwarp about 5 miles away https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?ftid=0x47df5dfde386c82d:0xc6d60af43dd09200&q=Fairwarp&hl=en

The weather was wintry sun but forecast to cloud over in the afternoon with rain hitting around mid afternoon. The winter sunlight on the gorse and dead bracken was delightful.

The pulls up the slopes hit the legs and whilst not as muddy as some recent walks we often had to jump mud holes and divert around boggy ground. In the middle of the forest at Duddleswell we came across the grave of an Aircrew where a returning RAF bomber crashed in 1941.

Driven on by the smell of ale we reached the destination at 12-02 - just two minutes after "opening time"

The Foresters Arms at Fairwarp where a "Badger Ale" went down very well. Now for the International readers who have to put up with "pissy beer", the Badger Ale is an award winning beer using a single variety of hop (First Gold) and the beer won two gold medals at the Munich beer festival 2005. Ivan took the "Sussex" another excellent local beer.

As we are part-time POETS and to celebrate Robbie Burns Birthday just a few days ago we took the "Haggis; Neeps and Tatties" from the menu to go with the ale and it was delicious

Getting the legs moving again after such excellent refreshment was quite a feat and the return loop was even steeper.

Odd things tend to amuse us - could this be the new "Facebook" and if so, how would you "Un-Friend" someone!

Great walking and scenery - and that's Ivan not Bilbo Baggins!

Stats for the walk were...

Date	Steps	Distance (mi)	Time (min)	Calories	Average speed (mph)	Elevation gain (feet)	Elevation lost (feet)	Max speed (mph)
28/01/2013	18483	9.6	212	1151	2.7	1441	1452	8.1

A walk on the white side

Southborough to Bidborough in the snow

10 hours of non-stop snow yesterday left us with 6 inches of the white stuff so the choice of walks was severely restricted. Trevor was off baby-sitting so Ivan drove his Land Rover across and we took a local walk through Southborough ancient woods and then up the ridge to Bidborough. Why Bidborough? The Hare and Hounds was there!!

It was very pretty, mostly on soft snow and where Schools had been closed, the kids were out making the most of their sledges.

 

Southborough Church sits on the common with a historic Cricket Ground in front

 We resisted joining in - and anyway, Ivan left the sled behind!

So our short walk eventually took us to Bidborough with its very pretty church and of course, the Pub.

 

 

 

After refreshment we returned the same way - except Ivan took a fancy to this sheep...

 

 

Stats for the day were a gentle ...

 

 

Date	Steps	Distance (mi)	Time (min)	Calories	Average speed (mph)	Elevation gain (feet)	Elevation lost (feet)	Max speed (mph)
21/01/2013	7724	4.0	174	475	1.4	998	960	9.9



 

 

Groombridge Circular

Groombridge - Tunbridge Wells - Rusthall - Speldhurst - Groombridge

 
Last Monday we chose the right walk for the right weather and conditions. This week we didn't!
 
Well it was all the fault of that Weather Lady on the TV. At the mid-week planning point she said it would be very cold and frosty so we tentatively thought about walking another section of the South Downs. Then she said it would snow and that Monday Morning rush hour would be treacherous so we decided not to be too ambitious and spotted this circular walk amounting to about 10 miles. All through the weekend the weather forecast went up and down more times than a whore's knickers so we just made the decision to "go" with it. We woke today to a thin layer of wet snow; no frost and very wet underfoot conditions.
 
The first 3 miles was thick mud between 2 inches and 6 inches deep and it was exceptionally hard going; so much so that we only managed 2 mph over the first leg. We started out from Groombridge and headed east towards Tunbridge Wells - follow the green trail marker anticlockwise from Groombridge on the map below.
 

 

The initial run followed the River Groom so it should not have been a surprise about the mud!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The trail passed the "High Rocks" pub aptly names because of the huge terminal moraine rocks - an extension of the "Harrison's Rocks" we passed in a walk last year - which surround it.

Once we reached the edge of Tunbridge Wells we left the mud behind temporarily as we hit some hard paths and whilst the steep climb up the common to Rusthall was killing we did manage to start clawing back some time. The plan was to find a watering hole in Rusthall but firstly we arrived there around 11-45 which was before opening time and secondly, of the three pubs we passed none were open at lunchtime! Undaunted, we had a secondary destination in mind and quickly traversed the 2 miles to Speldhurst and the "George and Dragon"

 

 Painting circa 1900 of the pub. More info on Speldhurst and the Pub here ...


http://www.theweald.org/B10.asp?BookId=ladyh024&v=0&Xid=&xnm=1&pd=1
 
 Note that you can click forward on this web page to read the next page. Also the "two Up" display works best
 
 
 
 

As it is now ...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Pub sits opposite the old church in Speldhurst village. Those parishioners certainly demanded a good spot to get over those Sunday Sermons.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Up to now the day had been dry but very overcast. As we left the pub for the final leg back to Groombridge it started to rain!
 
This made the mud even worse and we slipped and slid our way back to the cars at Groombridge 3 miles away. Only Trevor went A over T ......

 

 
 
 
 









Had it been better under-foot it would have been a nice walk so maybe we will re-visit this one in the summer when hopefully the trail will have dried out.

Stats for the day were ...

Date	Steps	Distance (mi)	Time (min)	Calories	Average speed (mph)	Elevation gain (feet)	Elevation lost (feet)	Active time (min)	Max speed (mph)
14/01/2013	19131	10.1	233	1248	2.6	1501	1493	233.1	12.2

Groombridge to East Grinstead

Along the Forest Way - Groombridge to East Grinstead 

It was a typical UK dreary winter's day - low cloud cover and heavy dampness that occasionally turned to light drizzle. However, we had to try and reduce that Christmas and New Year tummy and as the wet winter denied all hope of any cross country walking, we took to this trail as its previous existence had been the railway line between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead.
 
History of the line here  http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/east_grinstead/index.shtml
 
This meant the path was well drained; the path was mostly hard packed gravel and it didn't have any hills! As it turned out it was the right walk for the weather and although not inspiring from a scenic point of view we were able to push on and keep warm in the damp conditions.

 
We parked up at Groombridge and the plan was to walk to Forest Row about 7 miles away and find a pub for lunch. This we did, reaching Forest Row at 12-30 a perfect time to search the local hostelries and found The Chequers, an old coaching inn dating from 1452.
 

 
 The original plan was to catch the bus back to Groombridge from outside the pub but suckers for punishment that we are we decided that we should at least attempt to walk-off the lunch, so we picked up the trail again and carried on another 2.5 miles to reach East Grinstead.

East Grinstead is a historic town on the main road between London and Eastbourne.

 
Stats for the day were ...

 

 

Date	Steps	Distance (mi)	Time (min)	Calories	Average speed (mph)	Elevation gain (feet)	Elevation lost (feet)	Max speed (mph)
07/01/2013	19,236	10.3	217	1,287	2.8	1,017	780	8.0