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