The Anchor Inn should be open all day. Pooh corner is likely to be busy.

Capital walkers are doing the long walk the same day. What are the chances!!

There are 10 Inner London Ramblers Groups and most post a Walk every Saturday, so maybe the odds aren't quite so high?

Anyhow, I thought I'd just mention that SWC posters can can get a heads up about these walks at https://www.lwug.org.uk/events (if they're keen to avoid duplication).

Just make sure you've clicked the Show Inner London Ramblers Walks button at the top of the page .

Click on the Title of any walk to see the walk synopsis and then follow the Red link to get the full details of that walk from the Ramblers

The Capital Walkers are taking the train an hour earlier and not stopping at the lunch pub in Withyham. They're continuing over Ashdown Forest to Buxted so won't be competing for tables in the tea room either. The only time you might bump into them is on the train home.

We did that walk a few years ago (I had a hand in it) and it was a long, hot, dusty day. There's not much shade on the top of Ashdown Forest.

8 at the station on a day that started cloudy turned sunny

A couple were up for the long walk but most opted for the main walk.

Nearing Withyham, who should we encounter but the walk’s author, bringing our number to 9

And so to the Dorset Arms, which turned out to not be doing food. At least, not yet. We sat on n their garden and drank.

Then, after a look in the church, off on the remainder, the author’s beady eyes watching out for anyone attempting the short cut . Nobody dared.

At Pooh Bridge, some amused themselves by chucking sticks in. Others just watched. The long walkers rejoined us there. By the time Hartfield was reached, hunger had set in and an unhealthy obsession with cream teas drove most to Pooh Corner. No cider there, I can tell you.

Here the walk’s author relented and offered to let some of us off the rest of the walk and drive us to Oxted. Two leapt at the chance, of which your correspondent was one ( this isn’t really cheating because if we’d wanted to cheat, we’d have done the short walk).

Opting for the lift may have been the wise choice because it looked like a tree on the Uckfield line was causing cancellations .

The 2 who did the extension met walker number10 when they got back to Ashurst Station.

11 people, including 1 new walker. 1 on the short route, 1 did the long version and the rest of us stuck to the medium route.

Everything was looking very lush and green. It was a warm humid day so the shady woods scattered along the route were very welcome.

Most stopped at Withyham for lunch, either picnicking or enjoying offerings from the BBQ and Pizza Oven in the garden of the Dorset Arms.

In the afternoon, iced tea and scones went down well at the Pooh Corner cafe in Hartfield before the 4 mile stretch to Ashurst.

The giant field of barley just before Ashurst station was looking splendid in the later afternoon sun but wasn't quick to navigate as the footpaths around its edges hadn't been mown. It's worth allowing a for bit of extra time there to avoid missing the hourly train.

You could skip the last four miles by taking the 291 bus from Hartfield to East Grinstead. They're every two hours on a Sunday, last one at 17:08 (there's a link to the timetable in the walk notes). In my experience the station staff at East Grinstead will let you through the ticket barrier if you ask nicely.

7 on the walk with two catching up the earlier group. The weather was warm with some sunshine . Three opted for the shorter walk with two having succeeded in reserving a table at the Anchor Inn in Hartfield. The remaining four picnicked on the benches outside Withyham church before continuing on the main walk. The Dorset Arm's was fully booked. The benefit of the recent rain was evident with the fields now back to green and plenty of fungi to be seen. Playing pooh sticks was a highlight as was the sighting of two deer. The late afternoon sunshine brought a happy end to the day with two stopping off in Hartfield for a beer before three eventually caught the 1658 back to London.

The Anchor Inn couldn't trace a booking from the short walkers but it didn't matter as they had plenty of space in the garden. We opted for a mix of starters which took a while to arrive but were worth waiting for. In the end the timing worked perfectly as we got back to Ashurst with 5 minutes to spare for the 4pm train. The last 15 minutes were a bit of a struggle as the huge meadow beside the Medway had recently been ploughed up and the grassy verge was overgrown, but hopefully this was only a temporary aberration.

Train is showing as cancelled for the leg between Hurst Green and Ashurst.

I fancy doing the Walk Tomorrow. And looking forward to going to Pooh Corner. Winnie the Pooh. And if you have seen Great British Railway Journeys by Michael Portillo. He was talking about it on the program.

Two of the three connecting trains to East Croydon were cancelled due to overhead line damage on Thameslink (one of the more hapless of London railways), and trains at East Croydon were still in chaos from this at 8pm. But the Ashurst train left on time, and 25 assembled for the start of the walk, several having come by car. Judging by a straw poll, two thirds intended to do the Ashurst Circular and only a third the walk to Buxted. But it may have been more like 50/50 in the end.

The countryside looked gorgeous and there were demoiselles and butterflies flitting around, but everyone took off like a rocket slid on rails and propelled by greased lightning, so even attempting a cursory glance at such things soon cost me the company of my fellow walkers. I was resigned to doing a 14 mile walk with only nature for solace. But four walkers later waited for me (thanks) before streaking off again, and I learned after a while that two had stopped in the Dorset Arms for a drink and were behind me.

Then, entering the 500 Acre Wood I got enmeshed with a party of female walkers, and to escape them I dived up a lonely forest track. I had a nice walk in what I assumed were open access woods, until various Private Keep Out notices persuaded me otherwise. I got to a road and walked up that and emerged onto the heathlands of Ashdown Forest to find myself back in the middle of the group again. So it seems I did a bit of a short cut.

I had hoped for a pub lunch at Poundgate, but everyone on the Buxted walk had been adamant that they had brought sandwiches, so I ate my wrap on the heath, hooked up with the two Dorset Arms drinkers, and we walked on to the pub (passing a near full out area of bluebells by the way). At the pub eight SWCers were lunching in the garden (so much for everyone having sandwiches), including one who had walked from Buxted. My party also stopped to lunch. The pub was not over-busy to my surprise, and service was efficient enough.

Ashdown Forest is interesting, but maybe not always beautiful. I was personally relieved to descend back into the pretty greenery, the tall meadows dotted with buttercups, the hills and woods. The weather had been sun and sultry cloud , but the cloud now started to melt away. All the world looked lovely. But my legs felt mysteriously feeble. This section was only supposed to be 4.5 miles but felt much longer.

Towards Buxted one is given a choice of routes, but not told why. What are the benefits or otherwise of the two options? Since the alternative was a bit longer than the standard route, I guessed it might be prettier and did that.

Arriving in Buxted at 17.40 I expected everyone would have gone home. But three remained on the patio of the Buxted Inn and we had a pleasantly hour’s chat. Three then got the 18.48, while one went to do an extra loop and enjoy the glorious evening sunlight. I would have liked to join him but had to be home not too late in order to prepare for a trip tomorrow. So, regretfully, home.

The pub can get busy so worth booking and/or staggering lunch times.. Rich

17 on this walk. The weather was cloudy and humid for the most part, relatively brief flashes of sun in the afternoon only adding to the stickiness. A pleasant walk through pleasant territory, but spring is definitely over, with the meadow grasses seeding and overtopping the remaining buttercups and the glorious displays of verge flowers gone. Some good clusters of foxgloves in places, though, and once - incredibly - I heard a cuckoo.

We had a table for 8 booked at the Dorset Arms, a wise precaution by our walk poster, but squeezed a couple more in. It was a very red meat-laden menu and yet the steak in one dish was so tough as to be almost inedible. The vegetarian risotto also lacked excitement. So perhaps another example of a pub trying to be too gastro for its own good.

After lunch 3 of us, plus another two presumed, did the long walk - a tough slog up to Ashdown Forest in the sticky heat but nice views and an ice cream when we got there. Disappointingly no sight of the heffalumps for which the area is supposedly famous. Several of the main walkers got a bus from Hartfield to East Grinstead. Presumably some completed the walk to Ashurst, as did we three long walkers - a dogged yomp against the clock through waist high grass, but we made the train with several minutes to spare.

The Dorset Arms has a raised garden at the rear. You can access it via the steps to the right of the pub's main entrance. It had plenty of free tables on Saturday and staff were bringing ordered food up for people who were seated there.

Some added info: Four of the 12 milers enjoyed superb "piglet" fruit scones with jam, cream and proper tea cups -totally yummy and just 4 pounds! We allowed 85mins for the last beautiful stretch of the walk and alerted 3 pub-goers (inc two 15 milers) of our intention to catch the 17.56 train. At a purposeful pace three of us made it with a few mins to spare and were followed onto the platform by the two 15 milers who must have done the stretch in a little over 70mins- damn fine effort this.

As Walker has pointed out it was noticeably more humid than of late. I always find it a tad melancholy as we leave the vibrancy, freshness and sheer exuberance of Spring and head off into the comparative quiet and mugginess of deep summer. A wonderful day out and my pooh sticks skills remain undimmed, which is more than can be said of my legs!

11 sunny dry and still . Nice to do this walk now when it was dry underfoot. I thought it was a beautiful walk through gentle and peaceful countryside. Most of us had a very nice lunch in the Dorset Arms followed by equally good tea and cake later at Piglets Tea Room in Hartfield. At least one walker did the long version up to the heathlands of Ashdown Forest.

Free walk 29b Ashurst circular, Sun 27 Mar 2017

This walk comes in short, medium and long variants. It was the short one that was specified in the walk posting but the medium one that everyone chose to do today. Sunny but occasionally cool , with very little mud.

The 6 broke into three pairs:

- one pair taking lunch at the Dorset Arms in Withyham, newly refurbished under new ownership and now distinctly upmarket: nearly £18 for a main course, beer and service charge, a price justified by the quality

- another taking sandwiches but succeeding in getting a table later on in the Piglet Tea Room at Pooh Corner in Hartfield, a feat not achieved by the first pair

- another taking sandwiches but deterred from attempting the tea shop by the evident busyness.

Pooh sticking is such a fixture at the bridge that there was a literal logjam of detritus below it obstructing orderly passage of a quite a proportion of the sticks.

The second pair could be seen some way ahead of the first pair, taking a turn away from the station at the final approach to the Medway and were never seen again. The instructions here have "Bear left and go alongside the meandering river for 800m, initially heading N.", but might be yet clearer if they added that the river should be to the walkers' right.

Two taking later train: 10.57 from Victoria, changing at Oxted, and arr Ashurst 12.18, doing 8 mile version, and lunching at the Dorset Arms. Paths should cross!

Hi - I made a mistake and am currently at East Croyden - can I please

join you?

4

cold sun

m=mud some

l=lunch yes

Four walkers + dog on later departure. Good lunch at The Dorset Arms, as always. Lovely walk. Blessed by sun and birdsong. A great day out.

20 on the main circular walk with some of those opting for the shorter version. Sadly for the "long walkers" Pooh Bridge was closed for repairs until the middle of May but this did not stop the intrepid group from crawling under the barriers and by using the hand rail carefully made their way over the bridge to scramble on to the onward path.

I on the other hand was made of less sterner stuff and, foolishly disregarding the map on a fence showing an alternative route, I set off to find another way across fields following what I thought was an "old roman road". This turned out to be a disaster and I eventually gave up and retreated to walking along a main road until I found a route bypassing Hartfield across fields. (This main road trek did however ultimately prove to me that there are wild boar in Ashdown Forest as I came across a small, hairy "roadkill" piglet.)

After bypassing Hartfield I gave up on my futile ambition to catch the 16.56 train and took the cycle way route to avoid climbing up the narrow muddy path we had navigated down in the morning. This was the best part of the day as I ambled back to the station in the lovely Spring light. These High Weald walks are lovely; if only the soils drained better. At the current rate the paths will not be dry and firm until June!

I met up with the other walkers for the 17.56 train and we enjoyed a raucous and laughter-filled journey back to London.

Seven walkers from the main group opted for the shortest possible afternoon, in my case due to the need to digest a size XXX roast chicken taken on board at the Dorset Arms. As usual the pub was fully booked but very creditably served lunch in the garden to those who wanted it; the portions on some of their regular main courses were disappointingly small, however.

After a leisurely exploration of Withyham church a short stroll to Hartfield took us to Pooh Corner where some of us inexplicably found room for lashings of clotted cream with our scones. A slightly hurried departure at 3.30pm and a brisk final section got us to Ashurst station just in time for the 16:56. Well, we thought it was brisk but a mention in despatches must go to one of the main group who skipped tea and did this final 5¾ km in just 70 minutes, joining us on the train with seconds to spare.

Mud mud mud. But glorious.and a naughty crossing at pooh bridge. Tigger!!!

Historical duplicate/misleading attendance numbers cleanup project: 24