Eynsford to Shoreham circular

Eynsford and along the Darent Valley

Trevor was in bed with "Man Flu" so it was only Ivan and Richard who stepped out today. Ivan had found this circular walk but its instructions were somewhat lacking and the creator had relied on inserting photos to guide the walker, including some of a bunch of Fungi he spotted two years ago!
Anyway, the day was set fair but cold and so we set off from the village of Eynsford and headed up the north side of the Darent Valley.

We were right in the middle of the North Downs here and so the countryside and scenery was good. Parts of the walk covered areas we had cris-crossed before but that didn't matter. Our ultimate target was the pub in Shoreham but this time we would approach it down the valley from above the "Cross" set in the hillside as a remembrance for the WW1 locals lost in the war.

This walk took us through a part of Shoreham we had not seen before and lo and behold, we found a new Pub - The Kings Arms - that looked inviting so we dived in there and were not disappointed!

After Lunch we met up with the Darent River Path which took us along the river and back to the car at Eynsford.

Pedometer is still playing up so we didn't have a full count of Stats but we estimated the walk at about 9.5 miles.

The railway viaduct as it crosses the Darent Valley

The Lone tree

Autumn still hasn't finished

Standing at the top of the Shoreham Cross

A wonderful setting for a memorial

The Kings Arms - a new pub for us

Interesting bit of history at the pub

Blackboys to High Hurstwood

Blackboys to High Hurstwood loop - 10.6 miles

We moved the Monday Walk to Tuesday because the weather forecast was so different between the days. Monday was low cloud and drizzly rain and Tuesday was cold brilliant sun and an ideal winter walk day.

We drove to the village of Blackboys. Now some might consider this a bit racist to call a village this name but it has been called this since the 1300's and its believed its name derives from the making of Charcoal in the area, "bois" being French (the local feudal language then) for wood and so the literal meaning was "Black Wood" and not as we might think now, a coloured gentleman from Africa.  We wondered if the village had ever been called Noirbois!

Anyway, off we set in the sunshine through a terrific mix of wood, open countryside and wonderful Autumn views. Buxted Hose, set in Buxted park looked magnificent and we learnt that the path actually took us through the site of the medieval village of Buxted although there is nothing left of it to see.  Apparently in the early 1800's the then Prime Minister Lord Liverpool decided that his view from the house was marred by the village and so he got it moved to the back of the big house! Those villagers knew who was boss in those days.

Meandering our way through the Sussex countryside we were aiming for a pub at High Hurstwood and it didn't disappoint. Imaginatively named "The Hurstwood" we enjoyed good ale and posh-nosh for dinner (It was classed as a "Gastro-Pub" and we looked a bit out of place in our muddy walking boots and tops!).

Refreshed and with only a few hills to negotiate on the 4.5 mile return journey we continued to enjoy the afternoon sun and the way it bought out the colours in the trees.

Cold but brigh sun - the perfect English walk-day

Autumn is very late this year and the
leaves are still clinging on

Buxted Park House taken from where the old village
should have been!

Buxted Church now on the far side of the house!

The glorious Sussex countryside

Lunch stop - The Hurstwood

Autumn over the Weald of Kent

Not many red colours this year just the rust-browns

Perfect reflections in this old mill-pond

Stats for the day were ...

Date	Steps	Distance (mi)	Time (Hr)	Calories	Average speed (mph)	Elevation gain (feet)	Elevation lost (feet)
19/11/2013	21,196	10.6	4:20	953	2.5	2,067	2,101

A Walk to Jail!

Downe to Berry's Green via "Jail"

Another weekend storm left us with a sunny Monday for the second week running. However, two weeks of rain has left the ground fully sodden and at times we wished we were walking in wellington boots. Trevor even swore he was wearing his "Budgie Smuggling Speedo's" just in case we had to swim anywhere!

Ivan and Richard had actually done this walk before during the summer but we started the loop at a different place because we had heard of a pub which used to be an old Jail when it was built over 200 years ago and this sounded like a great place to stop for lunch.

Sunlight through the trees and the carpet of leaves

We were up in the North Downs again and had expected to see the full range of Autumn colours in the Beech trees and Pines but it seems we are not due a colourful autumn this year because everything is so late.  It's now almost a week into November and most of the trees are still in green leaf.

Trevor trying to brush up his tan.

Not as coulourful an Autumn as we would expect

Inside the Jail

The Old Jail turned out to be an excellent country pub (see http://www.bigginhill-history.co.uk/thejail.htm ) The Pub is sited just half a mile or so from Biggin Hill, the famous Battle of Britain Airfield and apparently was a firm favourite with pilots during the war.

The Pedometer let us down today but we estimated the circular walk from Downe to Knockholt and back Via the Jail was 9 miles.