3 men on a walk 2015: January 2015

Monday, 26 January 2015

A "stroll" to The Anchor

Along the Forest Way to Hartfield

Trevor was called to child minding duties at short notice and as the weather forecast was not good for the morning we took the easy option and decided to walk along the old railway line from Groombridge to Hartfield. This is easy walking on the old gravel bed of the railway so kept us away from too much mud after the rain recently. BUT the big draw was a favourite watering hole of ours "The Anchor Inn" at Hartfield where good beer and food is always on tap.

The rain was meant to pass over by 10-00am and indeed it seemed to have cleared by 8-00am so we set out in dry but overcast weather. However, around 11-00am a misty rain started to fall and half an hour later it turned to drizzle and was wet enough for the waterproofs to come out. But 30 mins later it had blown over and there was even a slight glint of sun in the sky.

We know the area well and walked about a mile beyond Hartfield along the line as we were in danger of reaching the pub before they opened! This allowed us to loop back across a couple of meadows into the village centre for our lunch stop. After lunch, we walked up over the hill to Wythiam and then looped across to the railway line and the walk back to Groombridge.

This was a simple but good leg-stretcher and it must have been almost a year ago since we stopped at The Anchor and its always good to catch up with an old friend.

The Anchor Inn with its homely feel and good beer

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 26 Jan 2015 14:34:20

Route: Forest Way to Hartfield

Weather:

temperature	10°C
humidity	88%
wind	10 mph W

Hike Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150126-1001

Import KMLLink: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwxmpmkssyxcrfy/Forest%20Way%20Hartfield%20260115.kml?dl=0

Hike Time: 3:23:00

Stopped Time: 1:09:48

Distance: 10.55 miles

Average: 3.1 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 12:32 min/mile

Ascent: 1575 feet

Descent: 1593 feet

Calories: 1135

Monday, 19 January 2015

Tenterden Loop

A loop around Tenterden

Winter arrived here at the weekend but in our South East corner we only got cold rain. However, Sunday night was the coldest night so far with a deep hoar frost. And come Monday Walk day, we had that wonderful combination of cold crisp weather with a decent dose of winter sun.

Ivan had uncovered a nice walk around Tenterden but it was only 6 miles long. A bit of pouring over the OS map led us to a small modification that added a further 3 miles so off we set.

Tenterden is a wonderful country Town and it still has a steam railway that runs during summer months. This walk started at the old station and led us out about 1.5 miles north and then swung round the town anticlockwise keeping that radius until we reached the 4-O'clock position when it swung back into the town where a decent pint and lunch awaited us at "The Vine Inn".

There is no doubt that this year has been one of the mildest on record - at least up till now. There are signs of the Bluebells pushing through the woods, some hedgrows with shooting buds and today we came across a clump of Daffodils in full flower! Never ever seen that in Mid January before.

A glorious winter sunshine day. That's Tenterden Church up on the hill in the far distance

Further round the loop and that's still Tenterden Church in the background

Daffodils flowering in January !

Our lunch stop.

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 19 Jan 2015 14:48:34

Route: Tenterden Loop

Weather:

temperature	2°C
humdity	93%
wind	10 mph N

Hike Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150119-1030

Import Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uoydexze2xtsi37/Tenterden%20Loop%20190115.kml?dl=0

Hike Time: 3:09:02

Stopped Time: 1:09:27

Distance: 9.28 miles

Average: 2.95/mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 13:40 min/mile

Ascent: 755 feet

Descent: 754 feet

Calories: 952

Monday, 12 January 2015

Short loop around Groombridge

Groombridge - Fordcombe Loop

The weather was not good. It was blowing a gale and whilst the rainfall was light and showery in the morning the strength of the wind meant that whatever rain there was pounded into your face at 60 MPH. In fact, it was the worst poor weather walk we have had for over a year.

Anyway, not to be deterred we settled on a short walk that would only take a couple of hours and then we should be safely back in "The Crown" at Groombridge before the really bad weather hit at lunchtime.

This was a made-up walk from studying the OS map and basically we picked up a path westward that took us across to the Wealdway; we then turned north on this well marked trail, through the village of Stone Cross and onto Fordcombe. Here we left the Wealdway and took a lane that bridged us across to the Tunbridge Wells Circular which took us south again and back to Groombridge.

On the outward journey the wind and rain was at our backs and so we didn't quite feel the ferocity of the weather. Not so as we looped around the top and it really was a foul day as we struggled against the wind on the return.

Unfortunately, halfway round Trevor started to go down with a flu like illness and Ivan was recovering from something similar all last week. So when we finally struggled back to the car the general feeling was that we get home and dry out and so we gave the The Crown a miss on this occasion. I'm sure the locally brewed "Black Cat Brewery" ale will last till next time.

The wet and windy view across to the Ashdown Forest from just outside Groombridge

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 12 Jan 2015 12:22:17

Route: Groombridge Fordcombe loop

Weather:

temperature	9°C
humidity	82%
wind	17 mph SW

Hike Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150112-0951

Import Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q42w98d5u2r06ob/Groombridge%20Fordcombe%20Loop%20120115.kml?dl=0

Hike Time: 2:17:47

Stopped Time: 12:53

Distance: 6.59 miles

Average: 2.86 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 14:21 min/mile

Ascent: 972 feet

Descent: 962 feet

Calories: 709

Monday, 5 January 2015

Mark Beech Circular - 8 miles

Mark Beech - Hever - Chiddingstone Hoath circuit

This was the first walk of the year and so we didn't want to go too mad and undo all that Christmas and New year excess in one go! This looked a nice gentle stroll around the Sussex - Kent western border which indeed it was except for some exceptionally muddy paths in places. We blamed the mud for our slow walking today but of course it could just have been those extra few pounds we had grown over the Christmas break.

Anyway, we parked up at the "Kentish Horse" pub in Mark Beech village and as we set out the clock on the church tower was striking 10-00am. It was not cold nor was there a breeze and so the day was "heavy" with relatively low cloud but no rain and definitely no sun.

Mark Beech was situated about the 9 O-Clock position on the circuit and we set out northwards towards Hever - famous for it being the birth place and home of Ann Boleyn, Henry 8th second wife. From here we turned east to Hill Hoath and then south to Chiddingstone Hoath before turning west to Cowden Station and back up north again to Mark Beech. The church clock struck 1-00pm as we walked through the churchyard to reach the Pub.

We have never walked through Mark Beech before and whilst we could have started this circular walk anywhere we chose this place because the Kentish Horse pub had a good write up and sounded like "our sort of place". We were not disappointed. It was friendly, open fires in the hearths and good beer and food. Overall, a great find and maybe we should research some more walks in this area for future visits.