3 men on a walk 2015: May 2015

Friday, 29 May 2015

The Sussex Border Path to Hawkhurst

Wadhurst to Hawkhurst along the Sussex Border Path

This week we walked on Tuesday because Monday was a public holiday in the UK.

Thinking that we needed to get a move on with our walk along this track we decided that we should get the next section Eastward under our belt. So with a great weather day forecast we met up at Wadhurst and set out to meet the official path at the edge of Bewl Water, the reservoir that now feeds most of west Kent.

This was a great walk as it followed the edge of the reservoir for about 6 miles of the northern edge. And half-way along this stretch at the official "Visitor Centre" we could stop for a coffee!

We finally left the water's edge just before Union Street and the track then crossed the Ticehurst road just about half a mile from Flimwell where we knew "The Royal Oak" would give us a lunch. We have stopped at The Royal Oak on many occasions and it would be classified as a functional pub rather than a great pub.

After refreshment it was back to the trail at Union Street and then a loop around to the East, crossing the main A21 road and on towards Hawkhurst. There are not many buses in this area and we had a date with the 15-40 bus back to Wadhurst where we had left the cars and fortunately we made it with 10 mins to spare.

Vineyards outside of Lamberhurst where some of the UK's best wines are now produced

A view from the reservoir dam

Across the water

Such a peaceful scene and walk

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 26 May 2015 15:25:56

Route: SBP Wadhurst to Hawkhurst

Weather:

temperature	16°C
humidity	67%
wind	9 mph WNW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150526-0939

Import Link: Google path link

Hike Time: 3:38:51

Stopped Time: 2:06:55

Distance: 11.27 miles

Average: 3.07 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 14:02 min /mile

Ascent: 734

Descent: 836

Calories: 1157

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Walk 3 - South West Coast Path

West Bay to Lyme Regis along the Jurassic Coast

Another great days walking and another killer on the legs. We drove to West Bay - which is the far end of Chesel Beach, the big 16 mile long shingle bank - and set out from there. The Jurassic coast is just as steep as the eastern cliffs but the cliffs are "Soft" and made up of clay and shale and so they are not as stable. In several places the path went on diversion because of cliff falls.

I will flesh out these blogs later when back home but for now just enjoy some of the pictures here

SW Coast Path Walks Photos

and if this doesn't work then a few are below

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 13 May 2015 15:48:11

Route: West Bay to Lyme Regis

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150513-1025

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20150513-1025.kml

Hike Time: 3:51:18

Stopped Time: 1:30:45

Distance: 2.77 miles per hour

Average: 21:45 min/mile

Fastest Pace: 15:10 /mile

Ascent: 2510

Descent: 2505

Calories: 1179

As a comparison, Last year's two big walks in the Lake District showed we walked to a height of 2634 ft up The Old Man of Coniston and the total ascent for that walk was 3272 ft. The next day up Langdale Pikes we hit a height of 2,500 ft and a total walking ascent of 2593 ft.

On the Lulworth Cove walk this year the highest point was 615 ft but the total ascent up all those hills was 2657 ft. For the Lyme Regis walk the top of "Golden Cap" was 626 ft and the total ascent for the entire walk was 2510 ft.

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Walk 2 - South West Coast path

Weymouth to Lulworth Cove and beyond

What an amazing and strenuous walk this was. We classify "Hills" as "Steep"; "Very Steep"; "Bloody Steep" and finally F***ing Steep". Today we had 6 sections that fell into the "F" category! Three were downhill and so steep you could barely keep your footing and the other 3 were uphill. Still it keeps us fit I hope.

The weather people just can't get their act together just now. Yesterday was meant to be sunny but turned out to be low cloud and misty. Today at the 8-00am weather report it was slight rain till 11-00 then possible showers. It turned out to be sunny all day! Still we made good use of it and it enables some great photos.

In fact, I took so many photos it would be useless trying to find some for this blog. So I have created a Picasa web album here...

Weymouth Pictures

For those having difficulty connecting there are a few pics below.

Which hopefully will give access to the 40 odd pictures we took.

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 12 May 2015 15:47:42

Route: Osmington to Lulworth and Portway

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150512-1002

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20150512-1002.kml

Hike Time: 4:10:19

Stopped Time: 1:34:17

Distance: 12.66 miles

Average: 3.0 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 14:43 Min/mile

Ascent: 2657

Descent: 2762

Calories: 1321

Monday, 11 May 2015

Day 1 of the South West Coast Path

Around Portland Bill

The 3 Amigo's annual walk this year is to take in some of the amazing coastal scenery from the South West Coast Path trail.

We drove down to Weymouth today and booked into "The Royal Oak" pub which is our stay-over point for the next 3 days at lunch-time. This gave us time to head out to the Isle of Portland, park up and take in some of the delights of Portland Bill.

Portland Stone is known throughout the world and some of the UK's finest buildings are made from it. The quarries that mine this hard sandstone are everywhere but we were amazed to see so many actually mining the stone right at the cliff edge. In bygone days it appeared the stone was lowered down on makeshift cranes directly to boats moored under the cliff.

The only disappointment today was that we were promised sun but got sea mist instead! Still it did clear towards the end of the walk and whilst it masked some of the long distant views along the coast it didn't hinder us too much.

Chesel Beach

Portland Bill Lighthouse

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 11 May 2015 16:47:16

Route: Portland Bill

Weather:

temperature	16°C
humidity	83%
wind	12 mph WSW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150511-1428

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20150511-1428.kml

Hike Time: 1:44:59

Stopped Time: 33:41

Distance: 5.19 miles

Average: 2.9 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 16:57 min/mile

Ascent: 255

Descent: 270

Calories: 498

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Boars Head to Wadhurst

Boars Head to Wadhurst along the Sussex Border Path

The Sussex Border Path (SBP) is our "Nominated" long distance trail to try and complete this year. Its about 150 miles long and runs from Emsworth on the English Channel (almost opposite the Isle of Wight) right round the top of West and East Sussex and ends at Rye. We have already done quite a few short sections of the SBP but this was an attempt to get a reasonable 15 mile section under our belt. However, a rainy forecast and the fact that the only pub on-route for lunch was "closed" led us to modify the target and settle for a shorter distance that finished in Wadhurst.

We had to use the 2-car trick for this one as there was no public transport back from Wadhurst to Boarshead and we also delayed the start slightly to miss the heavy rain that was forecast to stop around 10-00am. We might have missed the rain but we didn't miss the wind! In fact gale force winds were forecast and arrived but fortunately the West to East direction we were walking meant the wind was at our backs for most of the way and at one point we were literally blown along at an amazing pace, which can be seen by the very impressive average speed we maintained for this trek in the stats below.

This was a great walk on a warm but blowy day. The views were great and with Bluebells and other Spring flowers everywhere it was a very pretty walk too. As we neared Wadhurst we deviated from the SBP to "Best Beech" to try out the pub there. Ivan and I remembered walking to this pub last Autumn only to find it closed down. However, new owners now run the place and its open every day so we had to go take a look and it was a great place for lunch and a beer.

After lunch we had the last few miles to trek, up and down hills of course, until we arrived at the car at Wadhurst.