3 men on a walk 2015: August 2015

Monday, 24 August 2015

Rain stops play!

Torrential rain and thunderstorms stopped us walking today so we just had to retire to "The Crow and Gate" for a walk planning meeting!

Anyway, I thought it was time for an "Annual Review" of our walk progress this year so here is the summary...

Date	Village	Pub	Rating	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	George 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		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		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		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

Total Year so far				309	32,443	32,068

Mount Everest is 29.029 ft high so we have already ascended beyond that on this years walks. The average UK male takes in 2,550 calories a day so we have achieved nearly 13 days without sustenance and this has allowed our waist measurement to remain static during the year. So overall we are pretty pleased with ourselves!!

Monday, 17 August 2015

East Grinstead to Sheffield Park

Along the Sussex Border Path to Sheffield Park

What a great walk this was. We set off sharpish and parked up at The Bluebell Railway car park at Sheffield Park. The "Bluebell" was the first historic steam preservation railway in the UK and its now one of the biggest. Bluebell Railway History We caught the 9-45 steam train up to East Grinstead and a nicer way to meander through the countryside on a bright sunny UK morning would probably not be found.

Arriving at East Grinstead at 10-30 we set out along the Border path southwards. This walk was a great mixture of open countryside and woodland with some terrific views across the High Weald countryside to the South Downs in places.

Fortunately, after 9 miles, the path ran through the middle of the village of Horsted Keynes where we had the choice of two nice pubs and we chose to attend the "Green Man" and very good it was too.

After lunch we still had nearly 6 miles to go and it was hard getting the legs moving again - particularly up the hills! Still on we pushed - and finally we reached the car around 4-15pm.

Sheffield Park Station

Our Transport - makes a change from the bus!

The Children enjoyed sitting in their 1950's restored railway carriage

And they could even look out the window!

Lights on through the West Hoathly Tunnel

Approaching East Grinstead

The end of the line...

Great rolling countryside

Broadhurst Manor

Horsted Keynes Church

Lunch Stop

Early sign of Autumn - Fungi emerging

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 17 Aug 2015 20:06:16

Route: E Grinsread - Sheffield Park SBP

Weather:

temperature	20°C
humidity	52%
wind	8 mph NNE

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150817-1029

Import Link: Google KML download link

Hike Time: 4:45:42

Stopped Time: 1:04:04

Distance: 14.64 miles

Average: 3.07 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 13:08 min/mile

Ascent: 1541

Descent: 1814

Calories: 1547

Monday, 10 August 2015

Around Mayfield

An 8.5 mile walk around Mayfield

After last weeks deafening marathon we needed some peace and tranquillity and so headed out into one of the pretty villages in the Weald. Ivan couldn't make it so Trevor and I set foot around 10-00 parking up at the car park in the village center.

The weather forecast was warm and humid but with high cloud and just a small chance of a shower around the middle of the day. As it happened it was a great walk day with the sun burning through occasionally and a breeze that kept the humidity down.

We made up this walk from several sections we have walked previously but on all other occasions it had been wet and the ground here seems to hold water like a sponge and we had slipped and slid around the route. Today it was mostly baked hard by the summer sun but even now in places it was boggy. This area is criss-crossed by streams and so the terrain is very much up & down with small bridges at every stream. Still it is very pretty countryside and this turned out to be a lovely walk.

Reaching the edge of Mayfield on the return we had the decision about which pub to aim for but as the route took us past the Rose & Crown and it looked so levelly and inviting in the sunshine we were just drawn into it as if by magnetism! And it was only half-a-mile from the car....

The historic village of Mayfield

View across the deer park to the lake

Wonderful views across the Weald

The Rose & Crown, a great lunch stop

Stats for the day were...

Finished Hike: 10 Aug 2015 13:44:04

Route: Mayfield loop

Weather:

temperature	20°C
humidity	83%
wind	8 mph SW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20150810-0951

Import Link: Download Google KML file

Hike Time: 2:53:41

Stopped Time: 59:01

Distance: 8.38 miles

Average: 2.9 mile per hour

Fastest Pace: 14:24 min/mile

Ascent: 775

Descent: 809

Calories: 872

Monday, 3 August 2015

A Noisy walk to Copthorne

Kinsfold to Copthorne along the Sussex Border Path

Ivan is determined that we complete this 160 mile walk this summer even if it has been the bane of our lives for the past several walks. Today we had to endure N O I S E: lots and lots of N O I S E.

We started the day early because we needed to drive an hour to Copthorne where we parked up. Then three buses eventually got us to Kingsfold at 11-15 where we started the long 16 mile walk back to Copthorne. From the moment we left the bus to the moment we arrived back at the car we had aircraft noise a few hundred feet above our heads and this was because the border path route took a direct line to the end of the London Gatwick airport runway!

This wasn't a bad walk but it wasn't an epic one either. The countryside was good but stunning views were some how absent. Even the route around Gatwick Airport followed a river and was "countryside" even though about 200 yards away was one of the two main terminals. We lunched at the "Half Moon" pub in the village of Charlwood which was about half a mile from the end of the runway. As we sat and sank our drinks and ate lunch in the pub garden we were able to watch the planes fly over our heads. So much for a peaceful drink!

We finally got back to the car at 5-15 with tired legs as this was the longest walk of the year - and it felt like it.