3 men on a walk 2016: March 2016

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Into the Surrey Hills

Limpsfield Chart and beyond

After storm Katie over Easter and some of the strongest winds you are likely to see in the UK it was nice to see some sunshine although there was a sharp edge to the blustery conditions. This walk had the attraction of forming a triangle by using three separate national trails - The Vanguard Way; The North Downs Way and The Greensand Way. The area west from the Kent / Surrey border is known as the "Surrey Hills and looking at our stats it was easy to see why!

We parked up at the National Trust car park on Limpsfield Common and walked across the cricket ground to pick up the Vanguard Way walking North. This trail took us through mixed woodland and scenic countryside until we reached the vale of the M25 motorway. Crossing the Motorway on a footbridge lead to a noisy section as the traffic thundered by but soon we continued to walk North and climbed up into the lower reaches of the North Downs. Meeting the North Downs Way we turned West and followed the escarpment at the tree line for a couple of miles before we met the Greensand Way. We now turned South and walked down the slope, across the M25 again and into the old town of Oxted where "The Crown Inn" seemed to beckon us in for lunch. And very good it was too with local micro-brewery ale!

Getting the legs moving again after lunch is always an effort and as normal it was up hill from the start. We had to walk up onto Limpsfield Common and work our way Eastward to complete the loop and get back to the car.

Bright sunshine through the Surrey Woods

Lambing season is well underway

The view South from the North Downs across the M25 valley

Masses of Primroses out now in the woods

The first Bluebell of 2016 with the first wood anemone as well

Lunch stop - the Crown Inn

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 29 Mar 2016, 14:42:22

Route: Limpsfield Chart Loop

Weather:

temperature	9°C
humidity	71%
wind	14 mph WSW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20160329-1006

Import Link: Google KML link download

Hike Time: 3:22:13

Stopped Time: 1:07:45

Distance: 10.29 miles

Average: 3.05 mile per hr

Fastest Pace: 14:36 min/mile

Ascent: 817

Descent: 786

Calories: 1043

Monday, 21 March 2016

A "Yomp" across the Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest Loop

It has been dry and breezy for over a week now so we thought that a trip to the forest was on the cards to check the state of the ground. It was actually very dry and apart from the odd "bog-hole" we didn't encounter any muddy ground at all. Spring is definitely in the air as the wildlife was about - two Buzzards; a couple of Skylarks and plenty of rabbits and Deer at least - and the Gorse was in full flower along with the clumps of Primroses.

It was Ivan who chose the route and he clearly thought his legs wanted an outing after their 3-week trip down-under in Australia because this turned out to be the longest and hardest walk of the year so far at 14 miles. The Forest is quite steep in places and our annual trip to "The Foresters Arms" took us right across the middle of the rise - both ways!

Unfortunately the technology - low battery - gave out on the return so the final stats are best estimates and the full route not shown on the walk log weblink.

Much of the forest hasn't "Greened up" yet

Lunch at the Foresters Arms in Fairwarp

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 21 Mar 2016, 16:44:51

Route: Ashdown Forest Loop

Weather:

temperature	11°C
humidity	71%
wind	8 mph NW

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20160321-1007

Import Link: Download KML link

Hike Time: 4:34:08

Stopped Time: 1:03:36

Distance: 14.04 miles

Average: 2.92 mile/ hr

Fastest Pace: 8:23 min/mile

Ascent: 1167

Descent: 1171

Calories: 1438

Monday, 7 March 2016

Another section of the South Downs Way

Patcham to Upper Beeding along the South Downs Way

Very cold and windy but delightfully sunny - just perfect walking weather for the SDW. Having walked most of the trail east of Brighton today we parked up at Patcham and walked west. It was a long steady climb up from the car to reach the crest of the downs but once there we had wonderful views initially inland to the Weald to the north but later across to the sea at Shoreham as well.

The wind was biting and up on the top we were. pretty well blasted along in the exposed places but in any valleys or dells the sunshine had a decent warmth to it. We passed through the hamlet of Seddlescombe and then the climb took us up to the southern edge of the "Devils Dyke" valley with its amazing views (see photos below). From here the path took us to the top of "Fulking Hill" much to our amusement as we had already been up half-a-dozen "fulking hills" to get there!

The views to both North and South to the sea were stunning along this section. On reaching the communication beacons atop of Truleigh Hill (216 metres or 720ft) the highest point of this walk we started our decent down towards the river Adur and our finish at The Rising Sun in Upper Beeding. We caught a bus back to the car.