If you scan through the recent comments about this walk you'll see that I had to change the 'short afternoon route' a few months ago because a permissive horse ride through Broadwater Forest has been blocked off. The current directions and GPX are fine, but if you bring along an old set you might well have to climb over a locked gate or two.

Thanks Sean

5 off the posted train were caught up at lunchtime by a walker who took a later train making a total of 6 on this beautiful walk on a mild mainly sunny day with occasional looming clouds keeping out of the way. After several days of rain, paths were unrelentingly slippery with squelchy spattering mud but we coped with it and all enjoyed the day.

Three lunched at The Neville Crest and Gun and were very enthusiastic about the food and service. The other three picnicked on a sunny bench in a sheltered spot in the churchyard before joining the others for a drink. All set off on the afternoon stretch together and were accompanied by the whistling of the Spa Valley Steam train which was chugging back and forth at a great rate. We got good views of it going over the bridge at High Rocks.

One made it to Tonbridge Wells station in time for the 16.40 train, five caught the 17.05 after picking up some sweet treats at the Pantiles.

I’m new to this but I notice they sell rail passes for the days of the festival. Am I right in thinking that for many non-SWC attendees it’s like a pub crawl but you’re taking the train between pubs?

I think that's the general idea. I can't imagine crowds of walkers!

What if they posted a beer festival walk and nobody came? DID anyone else come? Did anyone decide to dispense with the walk and go directly to the festival?

Whatever, only 2 of us got off the specified train. We looked around eagerly for the others, but there were no others. Doors hissed (shut). Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came on the bare platform. What we saw was Frant, only the name.

Maybe the weather forecast had put them off. It had changed since I last looked at it, certainly. It rained frequently . But not unkindly rain: instead lively showers with generous dry patches in between and some intense patches of bright sunshine; the streams (and some paths) gurgling with happy torrents of water (on their way to the sea!!); temperatures mild.

Neither of us were interested in beer festivals, so we simply did the 9.4 mile standard Frant to Tunbridge Wells walk. We eschewed Eridge, cold-shouldered Groombridge, and instead had a nice veggie lunch (albeit that the vegan option was a bit small and dry, apparently) on the covered terrace of the Nevil Crest and Gun, the usual lunch stop on this walk. Strangely it was busy - so few pubs have been recently, so this place in the middle of nowhere must be doing something right.

After lunch we crossed Broadwater Warren, seeing some interesting fungi (including three stinkhorns, picked and laid by the path - why?) and having more pointed out to us. Leaving the RSPB reserve we came to a locked gate with a very decisive No Public Right of Way sign on it. There being no viable alternative - and reasoning that no one patrols woods in the rain - we ignored it, and hopped the gate. We encountered no more barriers, though a few more signs.

Approaching Tunbridge Wells there was a really impressive locomotive sound. I am no steam train geek, but this one sounded like a big main line engine giving it some welly. We glimpsed it atmospherically through the trees, its big plume of smoke pulsing upwards.

Passing Tunbridge Wells West, we yielded to curiosity. What is a beer festival like then? There was a big room full of portly men (a very few women): a big pub basically. We fled instead to the Pantiles for a leisurely tea and got the 6pm train home.

The website at the Nevil Gun and Crest shows there are no tables available at 1pm. Worth booking some tables for 12.45 or 1.30 in advance?

In the past we have always been able to sit in the garden, which is nicer if the weather is fine. But I suppose they might not be serving food there at present, so I have booked for eight people on the “covered terrace” for 1.30pm. Note that in order to book they ask for a credit card and charge £10 per person if you don’t show and don’t inform them in advance (!!!), so if anyone wants to indicate in the comments that they definitely do plan to attend and want lunch, that would be nice….

For those living on the Northern Line, Bank Branch: you can also take the 9.30 Southbound Thameslink train direction Brighton at St Pancrass and change at London Bridge. 9min for platform change.

Lunch for me please, thank you.

Mina

Well, we had our lovely sunshine . There were plenty of signs of spring, including at least a dozen chiffchaffs, a scattering of butterflies, and bright green grass thrusting eagerly towards the sky.

26 assembled at the start. Having been forced to give my credit card details to guarantee a pub booking @ £10 per person in the event of no-shows, I took particular care to establish how many wanted a pub lunch. The count came to 12, and we adjusted the booking accordingly (another walker had also booked a table for eight, so she halved that booking).

We had also been told tables were not available at 1pm, and so had booked for 1.30pm. We got to the pub at 1pm nevertheless, and found it fairly empty. The “covered terrace” where we had booked was completely empty apart from us. Several more than twelve of our group had lunch.

All of this was a bit bewildering to my aged brain. Who are these people who have pub lunches when they have been repeatedly asked if they want one and said no? Why deny us the right to book for 1pm when the terrace was empty? If staffing was a problem, why were so many flitting round behind the bar? If the pub was half empty why insist on credit card guarantees for no shows?

The pub redeemed itself, however, by letting us order at the bar (yay!) and because the food came with reasonable speed. It was a bit cold under the covered awning, notwithstanding some roof heaters, and I cast longing glances at the sunny garden, where we could have just sat at unbooked outside tables. One or two of our group did decide to do this. But mostly we had a nice congenial lunch, so no complaints.

After lunch I tried in vain to interest the majority in the longer afternoon walk. Instead the standard walk won out. I understand many of this contingent had tea at the High Rocks pub terrace and saw a steam train go by. It was one of those days when it was chilly in the breeze but summery when sheltered from it: the terrace was in the latter category, apparently.

Only three of us did the long walk - or perhaps a fourth, but if so she went on ahead and we never saw her. I have to say that pleasant though the whole walk is, I do think this long afternoon is the loveliest bit of it. There were fairly good displays of wood anemones at Harrison Rocks, lots of enthusiastic young rock climbers on it in the sunshine, and Groombridge Place was a sea of daffodils. I was footsore and weary by the end, though.

We met two of the main party for craft beer in the Pantilles and then had some wine on the train. So all in all a lovely spring day, and hopefully the first of many.

14 off the train for a lovely walk with a bit of mud to navigate. mostly sunny two short showowers . We got a bit separated after lunch, with a shower scattering the picnickers. My group of 4 arrived at the bridge at Goombridge, perfecly timed to see the arrival of the steam train, and then briefly met the lead group of 4 at the station café, before they set off again. A second short shower after High Rocks and the 1809 train, resisting the Pantiles Gin Festival in Tunbridge.

Please take instructions with you to be independent and not needy.

As on all our walks, everyone must bring the walk directions, GPX or map, yes: links in the walk post.

18 on this walk on a day of sun and cloud . Two elected to do the short start, three or four did the long walk in reverse to maintain social distancing, and the rest of us split into three groups to do the main walk.

Clearly given the split, the rest of this account will be somewhat partial and prejudiced (apologies to Jane Austen). My group got lost in several places, but this was not the fault of the directions, as we had all forgotten to bring them, and none of us were very good with the GPX. But in due course we got to Frant, where the George looked utterly empty (though perhaps had some customers in a garden not visible to us). We in any case carried on past it to the village green, where two of the earlier groups were lunching, well distanced from each other. We joined them, ditto.

After crossing Eridge Park three of us stopped at the Nevil Crest and Gun, where it was easy to get a table in the garden for drinks, albeit that they came rather slowly. The reverse walkers were at another table 30 metres away, but we eschewed them religiously. I am told by someone who went in for the loo that it was fairly empty inside. People are reluctant to eat indoors, it seems.

Back in Tunbridge Wells the Pantiles has more outside tables than an Italian piazza. Almost every establishment was offering drinks there, with table service. Again the drinks were a bit slow to arrive, but the wait was pleasant - “the nearest we will get to a Mediterranean holiday this year” as one of our number remarked. We had more drinks, this time courtesy of Sainsbury’s, on the train home.

Note to future posters: this would make a good heather walk. There was lots of it in Broadwater Warren, but as yet only a tiny bit of bell heather was out.

I don't recall any of us counting at the station, but I guess that there were about 16 on this walk. Warm and humid but no rain . Extensive mud made it feel much harder work than usual for 12-13 miles.

Three of us at the back took lunch at the George Inn at Frant. Portions not huge, prices not cheap, but warm service and an interesting menu that included pheasant crumble which tasted good if noticeably salty. No sighting of the faster majority of the group who presumably forged on to the later pub.

The three lunchers plus two others converged at the Cake Shed in the Pantiles just as it was closing.

Intend coming and have booked for 6 for lunch but the pub web site wouldn't accept a ressie until 1.45pm so expect them to be really busy. Tables in the garden are not bookable so should be warm enough to sit outside as long as they can serve us.

I very cleaverly missed the london bridge train by a hair. Am jumping on the 10:39 from London Bridge to Tunbridge and will hopefully be able to figure it out from there.

I’m hoping to catch a bus from bus stop T Tunbridge Wells to the recommended pub having missed the train due to engineering works. Any idea of your ETA? I booked a table for 6 but walkers will probably want to sit in the garden. Look out for me at TWells Marion

30 of the scheduled train, plus the two late starters who commented below (assuming that they both made it) and one serial offender who joined us part way through the walk and bunked of early after lunch, making 33 or so. Gloriously sunny and warm with the odd bit of light cloud made for a pleasant days walking. Plenty of wood anemones, celandines and primroses, and large patches of bluebell and wild garlic plants holding out the promise of some spectacular displays in the next few weeks (unlike Thomas on his perambulation around Petersfield very few of the bluebells that we saw were in bloom). Strangely, given that we were further south, there seemed to be far fewer leaves out in the hedgerows than on my home turf at the northern end of the Metropolitan Line. I did however, see my first lamb of the season, not long born by the look of it, and a white deer that rather gave away the location of the rest of it's herd (the second that we had seen that day).

Many of us stopped at the Nevil Crest and Gun for lunch, all I think choosing to sit in the large garden. The first group to leave separated up soon afterwards when some split off to do the short walk. The five of us who formed the vanguard of the group doing the long walk passed through the Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells without stopping, drawn onwards by reports of riches to be had at Juliette's tea room. Alas, it was not to be as the place was jam packed and no table was to be had for at least twenty minutes. Two then headed of for the station, leaving three of us to seek solace (and tea) in a nearby Café Nero. On reaching the station we encountered another some other short walk participants who sang the praises of a café in the Pantiles called the Cake Shed which served large (too large in the opinion of two of the group) portions of very sounding home made cake. One to remember out for future walks perhaps.

A fine day out.

The initial bit is along a short section of winding road with limited visibility and no pavement. There's not too much traffic but it's fast moving when it comes. You can avoid this by doing the alternative start from Tunbridge Wells – see Tunbridge Wells Circular.

N - about 8

W - hot and humid

8

hot and humid

Intend going.

I may join anonymous on this walk as I have an unexpected gap in my diary, although I'm still chuckling about the "annual rutting walk" and as it's on my doorstep I might do that one instead.

Sounds like a proper walk in the countryside - Anonymous 2.

Hi Sandy,

Long time no see or news hope you are well. Demanding Monica will be attending this walk. Hopefully see some familiar faces. been busy past 6 months.

Regards,

Monica

Sorry Sandy thought you meant Tunbridge wells. Enjoy the 'rutting' season.

Monica

Anyone starting from Frant?

If anyone wishes to start at Frant perhaps they could sit in front carriage of train (second if front carriage is first class). If I attend, I may then finish the walk via Groombridge.

Sorry Monica, I did mean this walk but was out late last night and haven't got up in time for the Tunbridge Wells train, so Richmond it is!

Hi everybody. I am On the train at Cannon Street. Where should we meet? Look forward to it

Ten off the train at Tunbridge Wells and a further three started from Frant so 13 in all. Weather fine sunny and dry . This excellent ramble attracted a good Sunday turnout and we enjoyed perfect walking weather. The notoriously muddy stretch just before Eridge Park was err muddy but you can walk in the heathland off to its right a lot of which has been cleared to enable you to avoid the track which bitter experience has taught me is a nightmare in winter.

Five of us had a picnic lunch under a superb oak tree on a hill just before the Nevill Crest and Gun lunch pub where we all met up for a drink. Here the group split with some lingering at the pub with at least 2 saying they were going to do the 14+ mile long walk via Groombridge. Four of us set off to complete the standard walk noting a fine Amanita muscaria in a wood along with a healthy population of spiders. We also picked some hops from a roadside bush.

Annoyingly all the Pantiles cafes closed at 4pm except one which was packed so I made do with a tea from a cafe Nero before catching the train home. A fine autumn day out.

Actually Pete 6 of us did the long walk and it turned out to be 28.5 km (16.8 miles) which we were all surprised but we all 6 thoroughly enjoyed it. Good sunny weather and hardly any mud after lunch. Expected autumn colours will be fully out in 10 days time and maybe the mud too!

Yes Sandy you miss a very good long walk at least you saw some deer. Thank you Pete and all of you who attended as its one of my best SWC day out. Love to do it again next spring if not sooner.

Monica.

Two of us thinking of doing the Short Walk, starting from Frant which is 9.3 miles, anyone coming with us please?

I will be joining the walk probably doing the middle distance option, perhaps the shorter version.

Re short walk 9.3miles, I am interested, are you ending the walk at Eridge?

If return from Eridge - Southern Train, will Frant return still valid?

It is not: different rail franchise, different line.

Hi Anony #1 yes we are planning to do the short 9.3 ending in Tunbridge Wells which is on the same line as Frant J+J

15 on this walk. A pleasant, brightish morning and the Nevil and Gun lunch pub was not over busy and served food efficiently. We even sat outside. In the afternoon most opted for the shorter 9 mile option: five of us decided to do the specified longer walk but changed our mind five minutes later when drops of rain were felt. This proved to be a wise choice as it then rained intensely for two hours , a truly shocking downpour, as bad as anything I have ever experienced on an SWC walk (though ironically by the time we got to Tunbridge Wells it had stopped and the sun later came out, making me wish we had done the longer walk after all).

In the Pantilles we ran into the other walkers, one or two of whom had not brought waterproofs and looked like drowned rats. Tea and fancy chocolate cakes revived us. Many then got shockingly early trains home: a few of us had a stroll around historic Tunbridge Wells, followed by a drink in a mouldy-smelling Opera House pub (it might have been all the wet clothes).

Three walkers stopped at High Rocks and took steam train back to Tunbridge Wells (£3.5 only), well worth the journey. Just outside Nevil and Gun, we met one other walker who started one hour early and was on her way out just as we walked in and we met her again at the Waterloo East station. She was the only person who managed to do the long walk today.

The Raptor Centre near Groombridge Place is worth a look. It's about 20 metres off the route. http://www.raptorcentre.co.uk/

14 off the specified train at Tunbridge Wells but another 6 either starting at Frant or coming on different trains so 20 in all. Lots of bluebells on South facing slopes but north-facing slopes still not showing at all. With firm underfoot conditions (and this is an important proviso for this walk where some stretches would be very difficult after rain) the long walk makes an excellent summer outing with some terrific views and attractive trails.

We lunched and drank at the Nevill Crest and Gun where the meals were generaly good except for a disappointing biryani where the rice and vegetables were wrapped in a cabbage leaf!

After lunch the group fragmented and six of us enjoyed the superb sandstone Harrison rocks - the centrepiece of the long walk - which are much better than the ones at Eridge and on this holiday Monday well-populated by climbers. I've also never seen so much wild garlic on a walk (no picking; its illegal.)

The six all had a drink at Groombridge station where two departed on the steam train back to Tunbridge Wells with 4 of us continuing on the final leg on the way enjoying the olfactory experience of a local sewage works! (Walks inspector to review the route here.). Arrived in Tonbridge Wells just after 5pm for trains home . A grand day out but the countryside badly needs some rain, foliage looking stressed and "tired". Weather dry cloudy with a cool breeze .

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Why is it called a 'free' walk?

As I recall, the term "free walk" is historic, dating from when walk directions were available either by buying books 1 or 2 or printing a "free" walk directly from the website. Nowadays we have all walk instructions available online.

1 on this, I hear: "I was the only person who got off the specified train and I didn't see anyone else. This is the first time this has ever happened to me on a SWC walk."

cloudy , with promised rain not really materialising.

Planning to go. Anyone else?

I'm hoping to go.

I'm not sure how to leave a report. There was one minor problem with the directions in Section 4 of the walk. Please insert the following: "Ignore the first gap in the hedge and, instead, take the next (smaller) gap in the hedge, go up a few steps and follow the left-hand edge of a second field"

but how many walkers were on it?

I took the train 30 minutes after the scheduled one, and followed the short cut that the write-up suggests gives an opportunity to catch up with the group.

Shortly before arriving at Frant, I saw a group of walkers some distance away. Its appearance was consistent with the SWC. The direction it was approaching, from my left, could not be reconciled to the directions, though it would be consistent with recovering from a confusion over hedge gaps before steps mentioned by David.

Since the spot was very close to the early lunch stop, I went there expecting to be joined by the group. They soon arrived, and hard to tell as it was from the distance, I thought I recognised at least a couple of regulars, but the group made no effort to stop.

So I had a happy lunch anyway in the George Inn, where the welcome was warm, the service rapid, and the roast functional. The place was pretty much full at 1225, and I don't think there would have been room for a larger group.

I looked in later at the later lunch stop, the Nevill Crest and Gun in Eridge Green, which is a much larger place and had plenty of unoccupied tables, but saw no walkers, which was perplexing as it was hard to imagine a group getting served any faster than I had been.

If this was our group, I would say that 11 , including me. A few early spots of rain and some later weak efforts at sunshine with most of the day in between .

At one point in the walk the instructions take one down three or four steps, along a path, then right into woods that lead over a walkway above marshy ground before crossing a stream. The GPX file is inaccurate at this point, and just displays a short direct line between the start and end of this sequence.

Arthur, are you going on this Wednesday walk?

Peter Gibson

Yes, I'm intending to go.

AD

Weather looks good and a handy Waterloo East train very convenient so I'll be coming.

I will coming up from Hastings, joining you on the train at Tunbridge Wells.

9 or 10 on this walk. The weather was bright and clear . A bit of a squelch in the morning through Eridge Park, although the clay wasn't cohesive enough to build up on ones boots.

Two more joined at lunch and the group fragmented with the pub lunchers dallying in the Neville.

Slightly firmer underfoot in the afternoon passing through RSPB Broadwater Warren with it's amazing collection of flora, fauna and wild life before the final leg passing High Rocks and following the Spa Valley into Tunbridge

Thought the unexpected High rocks and the lunch time pub were a knockout jfk

I think I can tell you how many were on this walk 14 and I wasn’t even on it. I sort of was, but not in the same way as everyone else. I was going to start at Frant but my computer had other ideas. Someone, either me or it, accidentally selected the “main walk”, which, let me tell you, does not print out the full directions. Having realised that Frant was crossed out, I had time to switch to the TW train at East Croydon. At TW, I realised that the shorter start was also crossed out. :( So I followed the long morning, possibly even the “gizmo” route, sulking all the way, and arrived at Frant well after everyone else had left. Shortly before Frant, I was overtaken by someone who started an hour later. Tell me I’m not that slow.

My “afternoon”, was shorter than the others’. Much as I would have liked to extend the walk to God-knows-how-long, my computer had said “no” and that was that. I was going via Eridge Rocks. And Broadwater Warren, desolate but passable.

At walk’s end, I had a quick look along the Pantiles for any stragglers but saw none. I admit, though, that I was reluctant to venture far inside any of the notorious tea dens.

I can vouch for the Pantiles Tap, a tiny little establishment selling real cider and beer. A well-earned half was quaffed in seconds.

Then on to the station where I actually met three stragglers, which is how I got the numbers. I also found out that quite a few bailed out at Groombridge and got the chuff-chuff. cloudy and sunny

2 things I think I learnt today:

a) check the directions after printing

b) always a good idea to bring a map