3 men on a walk 2015

Thursday, 31 December 2015

2015 walks start here !

2015 needs a new blog for the 3-Amigos walking club and you have found it here !

If you are looking for our new 2016 walks then the new blog is here...

new 2016 blog here

Ivan; Trevor and Richard meet up for a good walk most Monday's and these Blogs keep track of what we have been up to - well mostly so. Most of our Winter walks are around 8 to 11 miles long and in the Summer we try and get 12 to 16 miles in. As we live on the Kent / East Sussex / Surrey borders this is where most of our walks take place. Occasionally, however, we venture "out of territory" and these walks are also covered.

At the end of each walk entry you will find full details of the route we took including a link to the route on Google Earth (a KML file) plus stats for the walk such as length; ascent and average speed.

Enjoy reading our exploits and here's to continued good weather each Monday in 2015. For previous years walks see here ...

2014 Walks (3 Men on a walk - 2014) http://www.3amigoswalking2014.blogspot.co.uk/

2013 Walks (3 men on a walk - 2013) http://3amigoswalking.blogspot.co.uk/

2012 walks (Three men on a walk) http://wealdway.blogspot.co.uk/

Monday, 21 December 2015

Review of the 2015 walks

2015 Summary

During the year to December 21st we “logged” 42 walks covering 419 miles – an average of 10 miles per walk. However, our longest walk – the Gatwick section of the West Sussex Border Path - was 16.1 miles, the second longest we have ever done.

During the year we exhausted all the main “National Paths” through our area and we started to make up our own routes and very successful they turned out to be. It soon became apparent that the successful formulae for these walks were A) choose a pub that we had not been to before (and check its opening times!) B) move back about 6 to 8 miles and search for a decent start point that had parking and a footpath; C) search out paths that would take us in the general direction of the pub and plot it to check the distance. After all, you don’t want to arrive at the pub too tired! D) repeat the exercise back to the start taking a different route and hope the entire loop comes out around 10 to 12 miles. Fortunately our forefathers always laid down footpaths to the local pub (as they also built pubs opposite Churches so if they didn't drink they preyed and either way the footpaths led to the pub!)

Our “Walk Away” break this year was to the Dorset coast and we had a couple of amazing and very stiff walks. Whilst our Lake District walks the previous year took us up some steep and high peaks, the coastal path of Dorset turned out to have a higher ascent overall than the Lake District because of the undulating terrain. Our accommodation was a “Family Room” at a pub in Weymouth and the 3 of us sharing a room tested the “Camaraderie” !

Compared to previous years this year was slightly shorter in miles at 419 than last year’s 452 and also last year we managed 47 walks compared to the 42 so far this year. Its because we are all getting older! But our average walk length was almost a half-mile longer per walk this year than last. However, the “Ascents” this year added up to a massive 45,223 ft where as last year we did 43,690 ft. That is 1.6 times the height of Everest and we have often wondered why those Sherpas get such accolades when us Oldies do it without any complaints! On the calorie front we also continued to burn the fat. 44,000 calories were burnt off during the year down on last years 48,737 but still excellent for the tummy!

We started our “Monday Walks” at the end of March 2012 and since that time we have walked 1,506 miles which is all the way from Lands End to John O’Groats and almost all the way back again using public roads. We have climbed up 159,638 ft which is 5.5 times the height of Everest (eat your hearts out Sherpas!) and burnt off 92,711 calories – equivalent to not eating anything for 37 days.

One highlight of the year was the first walk where we got absolutely soaked right through to the skin. We have had showers before but up on top of the South Downs with a 50 mile an hour wind blowing ice cold rain horizontally at you was a first and probably not to be repeated experience. The year also showed us expanding our eating habits. We stopped at a Café at least 5 times including the “Pie & Mash” shop in West Ham and Camden Lock Market! We frequented the same pub on only 4 occasions this year – The Anchor at Hartfield; The Crown at Groombridge ; The Cock Horse at Hildenborough and The Royal Oak at Flimwell. 19 “New” pubs were added to our itinerary in the year.

2016 will be a new "WALK YEAR" and so a new Blog will be created. May we continue to enjoy our wonderful countryside on our "Mondfay Walk".

2015 Log

		Rateing 1 = Poor 2= OK 3= Pretty good 4= Excellent
Date	Village	Pub	Rateing	Miles	Calories	Ascent ft
05-Jan-15	Mark Beech	The Kentish Horse	4	8.17	868	1,318
12-Jan-15	Groombridge	The Crown	3	6.59	709	972
19-Jan-15	Tenterden	The Vine Inn	3	9.28	952	755
26-Jan-15	Hartfield	The Anchor	4	10.55	1,135	1,575
02-Feb-15	Hadlow	The Carpenters Arms	4	9.45	955	235
09-Feb-15	Tudely	Gearge and Dragon	3	7.05	751	843
17-Feb-15	Birling Gap	Birling NT Café	3	11.48	1,231	1,787
23-Feb-15	Wadhurst	The Greyhound	4	11.32	1,207	1,160
02-Mar-15	Flimwell	The Royal Oak	3	6.89	711	305
09-Mar-15	London Greenway	Camden Lock Market	4	11.51	1,190	385
16-Mar-15	London Greenway	Pie & Mash shop West Ham	2	12.45	1,218	43
23-Mar-15	Cowden Loop	The Fountain	4	9.21	1,000	1,474
30-Mar-15	Poundgate Loop	Crow & Gate	4	9.55	994	879
07-Apr-15	Tonbridge	Bowls Club Tonbridge	4	5.67	599	784
13-Apr-15	Southborough-Tonbridge	Morning walk only	n/a	6.02	620	748
20-Apr-15	Ivy Hatch	The Plough	3	11.46	1,206	1,010
27-Apr-15	Hildenborough	The Cock Horse	4	11.72	1,176	484
05-May-15	Best Beech	Best Beech Inn	4	11.72	1,440	977
11-May-15	Portland Bill	Afternoon walk only	n/a	5.19	498	255
12-May-15	Lulworth Cove	Lulworth Cove Inn	4	12.66	1,321	2,657
13-May-15	Charmouth	Seafront Café	3	10.63	1,179	2,510
26-May-15	Flimwell	The Royal Oak	3	11.27	1,157	734
01-Jun-15	Hartfield	The Anchor	4	6.17	640	538
22-Jun-15	Leigh	Fleur de Lis	4	10.77	1,124	1,210
06-Jul-15	Hawkhurst Moor	The Eight Bells	3	8.1	852	1,359
13-Jul-15	Rye	Sandwich shop	n/a	11.79	1,172	154
20-Jul-15	East Grinstead	The Ounce and Ivy Bush	4	13.66	1,422	1,955
27-Jul-15	Falmer	The John Harvey, Lewes	4	9.59	981	884
03-Aug-15	Charlworth	The Half Moon	4	16.09	1,716	1,762
10-Aug-15	Mayfield	The Rose & Crown	4	8.38	872	775
17-Aug-15	Horsted Keynes	The Green Man	4	14.64	1,547	1,541
02-Sep-15	East Dean	Tiger Inn & Café	3	11.24	1,209	2,092
21-Sep-15	Patcham	Black Lion	3	12.63	1,334	1,403
28-Sep-15	Penshurst	Leicester Arms	3	12.75	1,335	1,933
19-Oct-15	Alciston	Rose Cottage Inn	4	9.92	1,042	1,088
26-Oct-15	Vines Cross	Brewers Arms	4	9.36	1,001	806
02-Nov-15	Wye	Tickled Trout	4	9.62	983	1,388
09-Nov-15	Mayfield	Half Way House	4	8.5	908	1,516
16-Nov-15	Wrotham	The Bull	4	11.08	1,142	875
23-Nov-15	Lamberhurst	Chequers	4	11.16	1,172	798
30-Nov-15	Groombridge	The Crown	4	6.62	720	952
21-Dec-15	Sevenoaks Weald	The Cock Horse	4	6.76	711	304

A short stretch before Christmas

Around Sevenoaks Weald

The weather forecast was for a wet and windy day but studying the detail it appeared that there was a small 2.5 hour break between the two wet fronts from 10-00am and so we decided to chance it and get a short 7 mile walk in ahead of our Christmas eating. And the gamble paid off as the sun came out at 10-00am and the rain came back at 12-30 - but we were in the pub by then!

We have done most of this walk before; parking up at Sevenoaks Weald and heading off towards Bough Beech Reservoir. Too much "nattering" on route and not enough map reading meant that the second half of the walk was new! But it still fitted the bill and turned in a 7 mile trek over what was incredibly wet and muddy terrain so it felt more like 10 miles than 7.

The "Windmill" pub in the village doesn't serve food on a Monday so we nipped back down the road a few miles in the car to "The Cock Horse" at Hildenborough, which we have frequented a few times over the past year or so and its a known quantity for us.

The Church at Sevenoaks Weald

30 mins of sunshine across the Weald!

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 21 Dec 2015, 12:45:26

Route: Sevenoaks Weald Loop

Weather:

temperature	9°C
humidity	87%
wind	16 mph SSW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20151221-0953

Import Link: Download KML file link

Hike Time: 2:24:13

Stopped Time: 9:43

Distance: 6.76 miles

Average: 2.82 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 15:36 min/mile

Ascent: 304

Descent: 314

Calories: 711

Monday, 30 November 2015

Around Groombridge

Groombridge to Ashurst Loop

The weather forecast was dire but the forecasters reckoned that there might be a small lull in the rain for a few hours late morning. So we enacted "Plan B" and decided on a walk around Groombridge that could be as short as 4 miles but extended at several places to 6 or 8 miles if the weather would allow.

So we parked up at Groombridge and headed out through Burrswood and followed the Sussex Border path up to Ashurst. About this time the showers started but they were not continuous and after a couple of light down-pores it dried up for much of the rest of the walk.

After Ashurst we would our way South until we hit the old railway trail - Forest Way - which we followed back to Groombridge. In all we ended up doing the mid choice and walked 6.6 miles and we arrived back at Groombridge just in time to visit "The Crown" for lunch before the rain started again

A grey day over the Weald

Stats for the day were ...

Route: Groombridge Ashurst Loop

Activity: Hike

Weather:

temperature	12°C
humidity	82%
wind	16 mph SW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20151130-1026

Import Link: Download Google KML file

Started: 30 Nov 2015, 10:26:07

Hike Time: 2:14:59

Stopped Time: 6:59

Distance: 6.62 miles

Average Pace: 2.96 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 15:28 min/mile

Ascent: 952

Descent: 980

Calories: 720

Monday, 23 November 2015

Another Lanberhurst Loop

Bewl Bridge to Lamberhurst and back

It was a perfect winter walk day. Arctic winds had been with us for a few days and so our balmy November came to a sudden end. But today the wind dropped completely and with a decent overnight frost in place the day turned out to be clear, bright and sunny but cold enough for gloves and a beanie hat - if you are Ivan that is! Todays walk was another "made up one". You know the drill by now: a) Choose the pub ; b) find a track back from it for about 6 or 7 miles and this is the starting point; c) from the pub find a trail back to where you would leave the car and hope it doesn't have too many hills on it.

So today we started at the Bridge on the south side of Bewl Water Reservoir and followed the edge of the reservoir NW and across the main dam. From here we headed out into the Weald and gently looped around to the village of Lamberhurst where "The Chequers" awaited us. This is an old favourite of ours. There is always a warm welcome from the landlady and in winter a lovely log fire in the very ancient bar room. Food is excellent too.

After lunch we picked up the trail to Kilndown Village which crosses the National Trust parkland of Scotney Castle. Once at the top of the hill it was a pleasant gentle downhill saunter back to the bridge and the car.

THere were a couple of notable things along the way today. We had a Spitfire overhead on a couple of occasions just soaring about above our heads. The sound of the Merlin Engine is unmissable. We also surprised a Woodcock which quickly flew away in front of us. On a small pond there was what I think was a Barnacle Goose and I don't think we have seen one of those before.