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.
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| The wet and windy view across to the Ashdown Forest from just outside Groombridge |
Finished Hike: 12 Jan 2015 12:22:17
Route: Groombridge Fordcombe loop
Weather:
| temperature | 9°C |
| humidity | 82% |
| wind | 17 mph SW |
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
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