Wednesday 22 June 2011

Horsley circular

Jane Rosoux writes...

I attach photographs taken on the Joint Hampstead and Northwest London group 13.5 mile circular walk from Horsley on Sunday, 19th June led by Stephen Bird



[Stephen Bird is pictured Centre].


There were 17 of us in the party and we were fortunate with the weather. Stephen led us on an interesting route which started off by taking us past several 'Lovelace Bridges', which were constructed by the 1st Earl of Lovelace in 1860s in the hilly woods of his estate as part of a network of gently-graded tracks which were laid to facilitate the transport of timber on horse-drawn carts.




The lunch stop was in the very attractive village of Shere, the Parish Church of which is noted for the remains of an Anchoress' cell where Christine Carpenter was immured for several years in the 14th century. She had a squint built into the church wall so that she could see services and she was passed food and drink through the outer wall.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Wealdway- Buxted to Berwick

Jane Rosoux reports...

I attach photographs taken on my walk along the Wealdway from Buxted to Berwick Station on Saturday, 4th June.

There were 10 in the party at the start (plus a dog)...



and we were fortunate to have good weather for the walk - and dry conditions underfoot - because it ended up as 22.3 miles instead of the intended 20 miles as a result of a combination of navigational errors and footpath diversions.

We were somewhat behind schedule by the time we stopped for lunch at the 'Kings Head', East Hoathly at around 1.50 pm, where one member of the party dropped out, speeded up to some extent between there and Horesbridge Mill (on the northern edge of Hailsham), where a further three participants dropped out, and really pushed up the pace thereafter to arrive at Berwick Station at 7.05 pm.

Despite the distance it was an enjoyable day over gently undulating terrain with attractive villages, good views and mostly good paths.