Hi, we are somewhat new to the SWC. We will take the 09:55 from London Bridge to Petts Woods, is that fine?

Well, the group will take the 10.40 train from London Bridge, as specified in the post above, and will meet on the platform at 11.07. If you want to get an earlier train and come back to the station at 11.07 and meet the group, that is up to you. You may be able to intercept the group mid walk, but that is a lot more uncertain. The best way to meet the group is to be on Petts Wood station at 11.07.

Ah, I misread. We will be on the 10:40, thanks!

13 people on this pleasant woodland walk today, despite its comparatively late posting.

It did feel away-from-it-all with only the tfl bus stops at Chislehurst to remind us that we were still in Greater London.

Most had lunch at the Bull's Head, others had a picnic in the churchyard just behind.

On the afternoon route, 2 looped back to visit Scadbury Manor, others ambled on to tea at Coffee X or real ale/cider in One Inn The Wood. It would be good to hear about Scadbury Manor from those who visited.

Forgot to say, it was sunny and warm but cool in the woods

Six on the specified train, two drivers, and one on a later train makes9 for this short and easy walk. Early on one experienced walker inexplicably headed off in the wrong direction and was not seen again until the lunch pub. Four stopped to eat packed lunches then joined the other five in the pub where the roasts looked good. This walk is mostly in woodland which provided relief on this warm and sunny day. Very little mud.

One departed after lunch, one veered off to the caves, one for the train, two drove off, two for coffee, and two for the micropub which was very pleasant with a good selection of beers and ciders at reasonable prices.

5 people. A very mild dry day .

15 on this enjoyable walk, very festive with snow lingering on the trees and a bit slippery underfoot. I had thought I'd done this walk before, but it turns out I hadn't. Five of us got to the pub a bit after 12 getting served quite quickly, but it was second drinks time before the food arrived. By then, 4 more had arrived and I guess the rest were having a picnic in the snow? A great little walk for a short winter's day.

4, sunny and mild , muddy in Petts Wood,but better later. We were unable to book A table for lunch but Youngs have a policy of keeping some tables for walk in customers and we all had a light lunch served efficiently with the excellent winter warmer dark beer.

Six of the most dedicated evening walkers plus one newcomer, making for 7, met at Petts Wood station in a moderate but persistent shower . The shower continued unabated for most of the first hour through Petts Wood along winding paths. Fortunately, the tree cover kept us from getting completely drenched. Given the weather conditions, we opted for heading straight to the pub rather than doing the full outer loop of the walk....The pub was warm, dry and inviting with very good food....The skies eventually dried and 6 continued on the walk back towards Petts Wood with 5 taking the shorter option to Chislehurst and one carrying on back to Petts Wood. The second stretch of the route was also a delightful mix of woodland with some more open pastures -- again with a very rural feel...A very enjoyable evening notwithstanding the weather....

This walk does make for a pleasant evening stroll in pretty woodland only a short distance from Central London, but with a very rural feel. However, better suited for a proper summer's evening in June or early July...when the evenings are longer (and preferably warmer and drier)....

If you finish early and want a bit more, the Crofton Woods circular walk is nearby and worth doing. It's about 10-12 mins walk from Petts Wood station, just to the south west. Go along Queensway, left onto Ryecroft then right onto Shepperton Rd to the recreation ground.

A map of Crofton Woods can be found at https://www.bromleyparks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Crofton_Woods_Circular_Trail.pdf

18 walkers turned up in overcast skies. About 12 had lunch in the Bull's Head after which the group splintered in unknown number of subgroups and all further proceedings are lost to history.

6 walkers,

most enjoyable company.

Weather dry and bright.

My extensive network of spies tells me there were 6 people. It was dry and bright

Doing this one sounds lovely, thanks Sean

does this go past the 'Wilberforce oak' ?

No. Typing 'Wilberforce' into the Search box reveals that the Oak is passed on the Hayes-Knockholt walk.

9 on this attractive half day woodland walk including the walks inspector whom we met just after the start. Attractive trails which were not too muddy and the walk author wisely in my view mainly kept us off the busy and muddier London Loop although there were a couple of times when the path was a bit over-complicated and a simpler route would perhaps have been preferable. Also the minimal written walk directions seemed to work reasonably but I would hesitate to rely on them exclusively and a map or gps was a real help. There are numerous notice boards en route and the walk notes would benefit from more information about places of interest, many of which we missed.

Two walkers got detached from the main group and ended up doing most of it in reverse but we met up at picnic area with seats (worth mentioning this) about 2km before the pub: none of us went to the pub as we all ate there.

We got back to Petts Wood about 2.30pm and found a superb cafe - the Arabica Coffee House just before the short turn off to the station. 4 of us had excellent tea. coffee and cakes there. Its open until 4pm on Sundays and 5pm on Saturdays and weekdays. It could be open later in the summer.

A fine winters walk with much laughter and chat making for an excellent short day out. With a bit of tweaking and shortening this could make an excellent summer evening walk. There are pubs near the station. Oh the weather: it was w= cloudy-with-flashes-of-sun.

Two walker

It looks to me like Petts Wood is in Zone 5

Intend coming and catching the 10.08 train from waterloo east

21 walkers set off from Petts Wood station on this cold sunny day . Apart from a few muddy patches, conditions on this woodland walk were near perfect, sheltered as we were most of the time from the raw east wind. The walk meanders through Petts Wood, Scadbury Park Nature Reserve and Hawkwood, passing Willetts Memorial sundial, with its Latin inscription (horas non numero nisi aestivas = I count only the summer hours) in tribute to William Willett, who campaigned in the early 20th century for the introduction of daylight saving, only to die in 1915, a year before it was introduced. Later we walked past Scadbury Park Moated Manor House, another site of historic interest. Most walkers stopped at the Bulls Head Hotel in Chiselhurst for lunch. This new walk lies well within the London zones and yet feels remarkably rural in nature. The directions were generally easy to follow.