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Edenbridge Figure of 8 Walk

A gentle stroll on the Kent/Surrey border, with the option of doing the first leg of the Eden Valley Walk.

Easy Kent

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Sun, 24-Sep-23 Edenbridge Figure-of-8 8 partly sunny
Sun, 10-Oct-21 Edenbridge Figure-of-8 12 started cloudy finished sunny
Sat, 12-Oct-19 – Part 1 of the Eden Valley Walk (Edenbridge to Hever) 9 light rain all day but mild

Sunday 24-Sep-23

Sean
Extra Walk 344 – Edenbridge Figure-of-8

Length: 14¼ km (8.8 miles). Toughness: 1/10

10:51 East Grinstead train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 10:58, East Croydon 11:09), changing at Oxted (arr 11:33, dep 11:38) for the Uckfield train, arriving Edenbridge Town at 11:47.

Trains back from Edenbridge Town are hourly at xx:10, again changing at Oxted. If there are problems on this line there's another Edenbridge station with trains to Redhill at xx:24 (tickets are issued to 'Edenbridge Stations' and valid on both routes).

In the May timetable revision Southern unaccountably withdrew the Sunday service which connected with the 10:38 Uckfield train, which up to now has successfully dissuaded our Sunday posters from choosing any walks on this line. This short walk is one of the few which is just about feasible with the train an hour later, although it would be advisable to book ahead if you want a pub lunch: you'll arrive back at Edenbridge at around 1.30pm, peak time for Sunday lunch. The suggested pub is The Old Eden; I haven't tried Ye Old Crown since it resumed serving food but it looks like a reasonable alternative.

East Haxted Airstrip The walk itself is undemanding, with the first loop through farmland and meadows to the east of the town and the second through water meadows (and a farm airstrip) to the west. At the end there's a Costa Coffee on the High Street (open to 4.45pm) as well as the two pubs.

You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.344 page. You can save a page or two by clicking the Main Walk option.

  • Mon, 25-Sep-23

    Many SWC walks start off as a group which gradually disperses over the day. This was the opposite. On a partly sunny day only two turned up on the posted train, but several others arrived by car. All had parked in different places at different times and everyone found a slightly different route out of the town, so were only dimly aware that others on the horizon might be fellow SWC walkers. Eventually though a group began to form and 8 met up at The Old Eden for lunch, where it was warm enought to sit outside and so there was no problem about getting food.

    The walk poster had muttered something about only doing the first half of the walk but was shamed into staying the course, so we had perfect cohesion for the afternoon. No low-flying aircraft to contend with this time, but the lead walker did well to spot a viciously-placed trip-wire across the public footpath which might have caused some damage. Edenbridge's Costa was still open at the end of the walk but we gave it a miss and dispersed pretty quickly. As we'd just missed the 16:08 train the two non-drivers were dropped off at Oxted to catch the connecting Victoria train there.

Sunday 10-Oct-21

Sean
Extra Walk 344 – Edenbridge Figure-of-8

Length: 14 km (8.7 miles). Toughness: 1/10

10:51 East Grinstead train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 10:58, East Croydon 11:09), changing at Oxted (arr 11:33, dep 11:38) for the Uckfield train, arriving Edenbridge Town at 11:47. Unless you might want to do the optional extension to Hever (see † below), buy a return to Edenbridge.

Trains back from Edenbridge Town are hourly at xx:10, again changing at Oxted. If there are problems on this line there's another Edenbridge station with trains to Redhill at xx:41 (tickets are issued to 'Edenbridge Stations' and are valid on both routes).

This is an easy walk in the Eden Valley, with a morning loop through farmland and meadows to the east of Edenbridge, and an afternoon loop through water meadows (and a farm airstrip) to the west of the town.

The suggested lunch pub is The Old Eden. There are a couple of other pubs and a Costa Coffee as alternatives, and a riverside spot for picnickers. The Costa is open to 5pm and is the suggested tea stop.

† For a shorter walk you could simply do just one of the two loops. Conversely, the walk document includes directions for an optional extension to Hever station (trains at xx:07) on the continuation of the Eden Valley Walk. If you might want to do this extended walk of 18 km, buy a return to Hever.

You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.344 page. If you're not planning to do the extension you can save a page or two by clicking the Main Walk option.

  • Sun, 10-Oct-21

    There were 9 at the station. The day started cloudy finished sunny and it wasn’t boggy, well, most of it wasn’t. We hadn’t got far round the figure of 8, barely a comma’s worth, when we were accosted by a shifty looking fellow on a bridge. Apparently it was the walk’s author come to check how we were finding it. “OK” we said. He can’t have been convinced because he followed us all the way round just to be sure. Honestly!

    After we’d done the first O it was time for lunch, which was had in the Old Eden. I can’t tell you what the others thought of lunch cos I didn’t ask them. The pub was short staffed so it was a long time comin. As were the two latecomers who joined us there. Which made us 12 Or was it 13?

    And so on to the second O.

    In the middle of the airfield, three of us were persuaded by the author to take a shortcut. (Singled out as troublemakers, obviously). “Ooh lovely” I thought, “short cut” thinking it cut off a field or something. It was some shortcut. Before I got a chance to whinge “are we nearly there yet“, I was back at the Old Eden. Another pint of cider, and it was off to the station and home. Most got the 17:10. One was delayed by a pint of beer.

Saturday 12-Oct-19

Sean
Extra Walk 344 – Edenbridge Town to Hever or Cowden
Length: 12¼ km (7.6 miles) to Hever, 16¾ km (10.4 miles) to Cowden. Toughness: 1/10 or 3/10

10:07 Uckfield train from London Bridge (East Croydon 10:22), arriving Edenbridge Town at 10:45. Buy a return to Cowden, or Hever if you will only be going that far.

Trains back are hourly, from Cowden at xx:00 and Hever at xx:05.

Kent Ramblers recently published a fine guide “Three River Valley Walks in West Kent” and two SWC walks this weekend give you the opportunity to complete the full Eden Valley Walk (EVW).

Those who showed up for this walk's début in July might recall doing a Figure-of-8 option starting with an eastern loop around Edenbridge. This newly-revised version does the western loop first, where you might well be buzzed by low-flying aircraft near the start of the EVW. If you make it back to Edenbridge for a pub lunch at The Old Eden or one of the town's other establishments, you can ponder your choices for the afternoon leg.

The contrarians amongst you might want to try one of the Figure-of-8 options, but the main route goes past Hever station and on to the next station down the line, Cowden. Those wanting to conserve energy for Sunday's continuation of the EVW from Hever to Tonbridge (or who just want a shorter walk) have an easy drop-out point, in other words. However, in both cases you'll want to time your arrival so that you don't have too long to wait for the hourly train as there are no convenient refreshment places near either station.

You'll need to bring the directions from this Edenbridge Town to Hever or Cowden walk page. If you click the word 'Main' on the Walk Options heading before printing you'll save a couple of pages of directions for the unnecessary Figure-of-8 options. T=swc.344
  • Anonymous
    Fri, 11-Oct-19

    The Henry VIII pub in Hever is about 1 mile from Hever station so not close but not too far away either, approximately 20 mins walk. If heading to Cowden, you'll pass The Kentish Horse pub at Markbeech, from where it's about 25 mins walk to Cowden Station.

  • Anonymous
    Sun, 13-Oct-19

    The weather was light rain all day but mild .

    The views were lovely but due to the weather all a bit flat and little autumn colour all being somewhat green.

    And there was mud in parts and very curious stiles / gates and bridges, none of which were particularly pleasant or comfortable to use

    However the airstrips (6 or so of them) were the most pleasing walking surface that I have used in years.

    Flat soft green and slightly springy - one day all walking surfaces will be like this.

    In the morning we did the 7 k loop back to Edenbridge Town where we had lunch and picked up three very late starters. There were 9 on the walk in total.

    Lunch was at The Old Eden, a lovely building with a limited menu but it suited the 6 lunchers.

    There were problems on the line with a broken down train blocking traffic for a good few hours after our morning arrival so in the afternoon we did another loop back to Edenbridge Town with a couple deciding to opt for Edenbridge Station instead. Thankfully our 16.09 did arrive.

    Prior to the train, 8 of us has tea at The Minstrel. They weren't closing till 4 but we and others who came in just after 3 were not welcomed. A quick check of trip advisor showed that this was not unusual behaviour. As we entered they declared loudly that there was no food and no food included NO CAKE.

    I wonder if they had cleared up and weren’t expecting to have to stay till 4. We were out by 3.45 so they could still get off pronto

    I doubt if the Minstrel rea room will last much longer, a great pity.