Despite the cold grey weather (and the early train!!) 15 assembled at the start of this walk. Mr Party Pooper (me!) pointed out that with the morning of the walk being only 2.2 miles, we were in serious danger of getting to lunch too early. So all but one of us started off on the book two Stonegate Circular walk route to add a bit of length. We switched to the specified route at the railway line crossing.

Alas, we still got to Burwash at 11.35, with the pubs not opening till midday. Most of the group did I know not what here (or indeed hereafter), but six (seven?) of us hung around for a pub lunch. Two of us visited the church and found it en fete, with rich Christmas decorations and a tea urn on the go. There is a memorial plaque to Kipling’s son Jack, killed in WW1. One or two others visited a (very small) farmer’s market.

Back at at the Rose & Crown we barged in the doors at 11.53 and inveigled the barman into taking our orders. We had a cosy seat by the fire and the pub to ourselves for most of our time there. Nice food. A huge slab of steak and kidney pie.

In the afternoon the sun tried to struggle through the murk at times and briefly succeeded towards the end of the walk. We trudged along, finding the ground soft in places but not ludicrously muddy considering the season. The scenery was very pleasant and there were occasional dribs of colour on the trees. The time passed pleasantly.

We got to Robertsbridge in what passes for daylight at this time of year. Some got the 4.10 train. Myself and a companion were a bit behind and decided to instead go to the Ostrich for tea (two mugs each!) and chocolates. A third hung back with us and we had a cheery chatty ride home on the 5.10 to the Christmassy confusion of London.

7 today for this pleasant outing in the High Weald, on a mild to warm day with intermittent sunshine , making for good autumn walking conditions. The morning leg was uneventful but enjoyable, in mostly open countryside, offering some fine views, with the coming of autumn well in evidence, with oaks and beech trees showing good leaf colour. Lunch was taken at the community owned pub, The Rose & Crown in Burwash, with six of us sitting down to enjoy some very good food and down some well kept beer, with our seventh walker joining us for some beers. She left us after lunch to visit Batemans, to then head home for some dance appointments in the evening.

After lunch my remaining companions agreed to join me on a variation to the written route directions, on a way I had taken ten years earlier which I thought offered better views to the written route. All would have been fine if I had not made a total Horlicks of following "my route". My colleagues were very patient as we went back and forth, off piste, trying to get on route. After some major diversions and some trespassing we managed to get back on route on the drive to Old Brick farm. We might have been off piste (but like Mr M Tiger, not lost !) but the countryside we traversed was glorious with more leaf colour. Later the enclosed path above lakes between Socknersh Manor and Wyland Wood was delightful, and although by now an hour behind schedule we made it from here to the quirky Ostrich pub shortly after 5 pm. Drinks were enjoyed by the six of us, with four of us taking the 17-44 hrs train, whilst our two beer connoisseurs settled in at the pub for a session.

This was my first SWC walk in more than four months and it was lovely to be welcomed back by my companions today - so my thanks to them.

Plus 5 on an earlier train.

Thanks Joe, so that makes 12

3 off the train but one lady accepted an invitation to join a meet up group, so2 in hot and sunny weather. A pleasant hour was spent in the garden of the Ostrich pub before catching the 1714 home.

The religious community you walk through right at the end of this walk was featured in a BBC documentary in August called "Inside the Bruderhof": alas, no longer available on iPlayer, but if you Google it you can find out more about them.

Intend coming and doing the shorter morning option but would like a pub lunch

Stonegate to Robertsbridge

24

cloudy with sunny periods

This walk is lovely as ever. We broke up into groups of 6 in the station forecourt, and people decided in their groups whether to do long or short versions, pub or picnic. My group had lunch on the two benches on the grassy slope just before the church in Burwash, with lovely views (and a white squirrel. We went through the grounds of the religious community again with great views - and quite a few people had tea or other drinks in the Ostrich pub - split up into small groups of course. Due to being in small spaced out bubbles I don't know who had pub lunches or what their experiences were, so please add to this comment if you wish.

From an SWC Facebook posting I think there were 5 on this walk. Please correct if wrong.

Hi,

I am interested in joining the walk and have gone through new members' instructions. I understand thisis not a led activity but not sure how to meet others who are going for the walk. The instructions says "look around you", I am not sure that would work in London Terminals..

I really don't fancy going for a walk alone in this weather :)

We meet up on the platform at the ARRIVAL station, in this case Stonegate. Trust me, no one else will get off here - it is a remote country station - so the group should be obvious.

Thanks

Which train are people taking? It seems there is no 9:50 train from London Bridge but at 9:01 or 10:01.

Thanks Cool - dont know if I put in the wrong times or the time table changed but they are now showing as Charing Cross 9:52 London Bridge 10:01 Return time unchanged.

Thanks,

See you tomorrow

Oks, sontrain has been cancelled.. is there a bavkup plan?

Sorry I havent got a crystal ball. You could check twitter https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23swcwalks to see if anyone else has a plan. My soggestion would be to get a later train and do the short Stonegate Circular. You might be on your own though. And be aware Stonegate has little by way of facilities while waiting for a train back

You were very unlucky. This almost never happens. For the record, I would have got the next available train and hoped some other walkers did too

As Cool reports, the specified train was cancelled, as were all others heading in the same direction until at least 1036. Website bulletins estimated that the problem would endure until 1115.

Notices implied that services were being diverted to and from Victoria, but it wasn't clear whether that applied to this issue or other weekend works long-scheduled. Three regular walkers recognised each other and together went to Victoria to find what we could. Nothing on the departures board there was going towards Stonegate. The help desk suggested going to Orpington and changing there, but we had little confidence that we weren't being directed to connect to the service that had been cancelled; and even if we completed the journey, we would likely arrive too late to complete the walk in the light.

So we zipped two stops up the Victoria line to Oxford Circus, and then rode the Central Line to its western end, where we did a 7.5 mile walk I reserve for foul-ups such as this, which included one of the best pub lunches I can remember. Notable roast potatoes.

I'm sorry this was Cool's first experience. I've walked with this group most weekends since 2001 and experienced complete cancellation of the service only about three times in that period. Please come and try us again.

There were problems with power supply, northbound, between Orpington and Charing Cross, so this affected those coming from central London and caused the cancellation of some trains. I had no problem getting to Orpington from Lewisham. The scheduled 10.21 Hastings train was there when I arrived (I think it must have started from Orpington). There were 13 walkers in total. 7 managed to get to Stonegate on the scheduled train and the other six caught a train an hour later. The weather was overcast in the morning but clearing nicely in the afternoon . Late January is the not the best time of year for this walk, especially a winter as mild and wet as this one. The first 2 miles or so to Burwash were heavy-going, but it was better after lunch. Three of the early group visited the graveyard of Burwash church and found graves with skull and crossbone, but otherwise illegible. Mention must be made of three Chinese PhD students on the earlier train who, despite only having trainers, made it through all the mud to Burwash and found long sticks somewhere en route to help them negotiate the unfavourable conditions underfoot. I'm certain they would have made it to the end, though they weren't on the 16.14 back to London. One of the highlights of the walk was Socknersh Manor, bought in the early 1960s by Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck, with its impressive grounds and stone barn. There were also some excellent views during the day and nice woodland. Towards the end of the walk, we went past the oldest Bruderhof (Anabaptist) community in Europe on the outskirts of Robertsbridge... very interesting. On the approach to Robertsbridge station, we wisely opted for the winter diversion. The low-lying (main) route was probably impassable. I hope this walk can be scheduled later in the year when the bluebells are out.

Some feedback on the walk: in para 11, the house passed is on the right (not the left). In para 14, the three-armed footpath sign is lying in thick undergrowth, so almost invisible. Paras 53-55 can be condensed into the following single paragraph: "40 metres past the barn veer left between two parallel black metal railings, which have been helpfully constructed to help walkers through the manor grounds". From para 56, the directions are correct.

Thanks for the corrections to the directions: the pdf has been updated.

Skulls and crossbones were actually fairly common on gravestones circa the 17th and early 18th century. They were a reminder that no one gets out of this life alive - our forebears were keen on correcting misbehaviour with such warnings. I seem to remember reading that there were pirates buried in the graveyard at Burwash, but I wonder if that was because someone these particular gravestones and thought they were Jolly Roger symbols.

Hello, thanks for posting this walk.

I am new to this place and not exactly sure how to navigate my way around by myself.

if anyone is going on this walk, i would love to join.

please let me know if possible to connect with any potential fellow walkers.

thank you.

Aritra

I will be joining the walk. Might be wet underfoot in parts. Just turn up at the station preferably with the walk notes.

Aritra, most people meet up at the destination. Just wait on the platform when you get off the train, and you should find people. Generally people stand in a circle and do introductions. You can try to identify fellow walkers on the train, but there are many people who go out walking so you may introduce yourself to people who are not going on the SWC walk. Definitely bring the notes though.

Hi all. It looks as though I'll be on a solitary walk as the train was cancelled from Charing cross and started instead from Orpington where I got on.next train not stopping at stonegate!still at least I have the instructions.

But of course you were not alone Liz, as a group of seven somehow assembled after lunch. A lovely walk with great colours and a lake! Sadly The Lilac Tea Room closes for good later this month.

There were also 5 people who got to Stonegate at the posted time by taking a connecting service (in my case changing at Tonbridge - not sure about the others). We separated before lunch, some going on to Batemans, at least one to the Rose & Crown. Lovely walk on a perfect autumn day.

so did the 7 include some of the 5 ? and also the solitary walker liz parker? or was it 13 in total, or even more? bamboozled...

Just to clarify, five walkers met on Stonegate platform, but the designated train from LB was cancelled which meant that three walkers were an hour behjnd but managed to catch us up after Batemans, as some of us had a look round! The sun was out and the colours of trees glorious. A great day out.

8 sunny

Will be there, weather permitting.

"mud is now drying out as the days lengthen" - Walker 27th Feb 2016

I should have sussed out there was going to be some major weather pattern changes when the Met Office started to name the storms coming in from the Atlantic. Anyhow suffice it to say there was a spot of bother with the river Rother which had become a veritable lake. In fact the whole of the Weald looked like a flood plain.

Anyhow 5 on this walk with the weather slightly overcast with a brief shower all made it to Burwash, had lunch and abandoned the walk.

I've never seen it so wet in that neck of the woods!

Apparently, Ladbrokes are no longer taking bets on when the next hosepipe ban will be brought in.