Ancient woodlands, low hills and riverside paths in the Darent valley.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, | Farningham Road to Eynsford | 9 | bright and warm day | |
| Sat, | Saturday walk - Farningham Road to Eynsford (or Otford) | 17 | perfect sunny day | |
| Wed, | Wednesday Walk Farningham Road to Eynsford | 11 | pleasantly warm and sunny | |
| Sat, | Saturday Walk Farningham Road to Eynsford | 20 | hot sun with a light breeze | |
| Sat, | Famingham Road to Eynsford - "Stop and stare" in a pretty corner of Kent | 30 | blazing hot sun | |
| Sat, | Saturday Walk – New parts of the Darent valley | 5 | a sunny day with clear skies |
Length: 17km / 11m
Toughness: 4 / 10
Transport: Take the 9:42 from London Victoria arriving in Farningham Road at 10:20. Return trains from Eynsford at xx:05, xx:11, xx:35 and xx:41. Buy a day return to Farningham Road.
A lovely walk in the Darent valley. There will be opportunities to forage for chestnuts. There are plenty of shortcuts.
7 met at the station and walked to Farningham with a short stop to pick up some chestnuts. 5 ate at the Pied Bull (food rating: so,so) while 2 picniced and joint us afterwards for drinks. 1 left after lunch and 2 more walkers joined us at Sparepenny Lane in Eynsford. Since it was such a bright and warm day any talk of shortcuts was dismissed. We did the full afternoon walk and caught the 16:05 back to London. 9
Nearly everyone on this walk will be coming from London: we are a London-based walking club.
Re the engineering works: this is another of those annoying last minute engineering works that Network Rail seem to have gotten fond of lately: it was definitely not showing on the timetable earlier in the week.
But it only seems to affect the Thameslink service - ie Otford, Shoreham and Eynsford to Blackfriars, NOT the Otford to Victoria service, or the outward train to Farningham Road.
If you are walking from Farningham Road to Otford, as I suggest, no worries: just come back on the Victoria train, which is the fastest one anyway. If you want to end at Eysnford, you will have to take the replacement bus, which looks like it could be all the way to Bromley South, but which is only timetabled to take 17 minutes, which is not devastating.
Or you could either walk back from Eynsford to Farningham Road along the Darent Valley Way (see the Circular walk for a route).
But my advice is, walk to Otford.
15 at the station, joined soon after by two who came by car, so a very respectable 17 on this walk on a perfect sunny day A pleasing amount of heat without being too overpowering, the countryside all at its best: “peak green”, not yet tarnished by the beiges and untidiness of summer.
There were no orchids to speak of (none I noticed anyway) but plenty of floral interest for those so inclined (ie me...). Birdsong is fading a bit. Lavender was not yet out. But the oxeye daisies at Lullingstone put on a pleasing display.
The main pub in Farningham was supposedly all booked up, though it had acres of empty tables and I hear one or two persistent types squeezed in. Many others had sarnies by the river, but six of us went to the other pub, an honest independent establishment which had a perfectly decent menu, which we sampled in the garden. The Lullingstone Visitor Centre was open for tea but had removed most of its outside tables, so I am not sure how many stopped for tea there. But some of us did.
After all the brouhaha about emergency engineering works affecting Thameslink services, it seems that there were not any by the afternoon, so maybe many or most of the group successfully terminated the walk at Eynsford (do file a separate report if you did). At least six of us went on to Shoreham, which was having a “drive your car down a village street for no apparent reason” festival. Two took the train from there, while four carried on to Otford.
Once on the downs I was suddenly not in a rush, so I let the others go on and lost myself for a delightful hour looking for butterflies and moths - common blues, five-spot burnets in abundance, three dingy skippers and a possible grass rivulet. But the most exciting sighting were absolutely tiny small blues (which are brown). Also nice to hear a yellowhammer singing.
Several people had tried to book lunch tables via the web site and had phoned in advance but told to try just turning up. 4 of us managed to get a cancellation table at the Lion hotel but due to a staff shortage only one third of the tables were occupied and we were not allowed to move any chairs to enable anyone to join us for a drink!! Vintage inns needs to address this issue as they are a large group and the food is usually good as it was today.
Moving swiftly on 2 of us decided to walk to Eynsford taking a shortcut to the Roman villa as we wanted a shorter walk. The 15.05 train to Blackfriars was cancelled so we took the next train to Sevenoaks and changed at Otford for the Victoria service at 15.25 thanks to B navigating through the train app for options. I then had to get more trains from Victoria changing at CJ for Richmond due to engineering works and then a bus home to Brentford taking yet another hour due to chock a block traffic.
11 walkers: 10 on the train plus another who drove to the lunch pub then walked back to meet the group. Other than a very brief rain shower as we arrived at The Lion for lunch this was a pleasantly warm and sunny day. A few ate an adequate lunch in the delightful river-side garden while most picnicked nearby. Two took the shortcut from the Roman Villa to the station; four had a drink in the Five Bells (the Malt Shovel being closed from 15:00 to 18:00) - unsure what happened to the others after arriving at Eynsford.
I'm coming on the next train.i expect to arrive at 11,25am. I will certainly miss the pub, but I may see you when you finish your lunch.
My number 07594325538 Rachel
16 got off of the train in hot sun with a light breeze and so it stayed. Wonderful walking weather and an awesome amble with views and woods and gentle gradual gradients. This is choice chestnut season and some of us foraged to our hearts and haversack fill with the first trees giving some fullsome fruits.
Lunch was had by half the group in the Lion Hotel. A nice looking venue but 'so so' food and two late comers joined us as we waited and waited and some waited some more.
Darent river is another one of those 'clear as gin' rivers refreshing to walk by and great to see fish swim by, they were dace apparently.
After lunch it was similar walking but more fields and this time with hawkers flying Harris Hawks and long horn cattle relaxing with their calves and a magnificent Roman Ruin across the way and often The Viaduct partially revealed.
5 of us took a (10.1 miles in total) shortcut
to shortbread and tea where we met another 2 walkers so 20 in total. A Jerryattric from Hackney found an even shorter route beating us.
So off home again now and there are a load of old people on the train laughing and generally having a good time, how annoying, - Oh it is us, and me included.
Best wishes to our favourite walk reporter, Mr M Tiger who is hopefully feeling better.
Bridie
30 escaped from the maelstrom of Victoria, with its immense ticket queues, to do this walk. 29 of us were lucky because one late starter got caught by a "person under a train" incident at Bromley South and was very delayed.
Despite warnings of motorcross events and busy roads in the walk directions, there was widespread enjoyment of this outing. I thought it a delightful new route through familiar territory. After a few flat fields, Farningham Woods were interesting and the view from the hilltop when one came out of them was stupendous. There was then a nice section along the River Darent into Farningham and only here was the motorway noise really noticeable. But the crystal clear stream and its charming surroundings were adequate compensation.
The Lion Hotel in Farningham is a lovely place for lunch with a beautiful riverside garden but the staff got 'nul points' for their unsmiling service and none either for accommodating vegans: about a dozen vegetarian options on their menu and none without dairy in them. The village itself is very quaint, a real find.
After lunch there were long stretches along the upper side of the Darent Valley with some really magnificent views. Around Lullingstone woods provided relief from the blazing hot sun : surely hotter than the official 23 degrees?
By this time we were separated from the main group, if one still existed. I know some took the afternoon shortcut and finished quite early, possibly after tea in Eynsford. We did the whole walk and had a leisurely tea at the Lullingstone visitor centre and still got to Eynsford about 5pm. We dangled our feet for a long time in the stream and had a drink at the Plough and caught....was it the 6.43 train? All in all a really lovely summer day out.
Four of us got to Eynsford at 4, where the Riverside Tearoom kindly stayed open for us (the Lullingstone Visitor Centre having been a bit busy when we passed). Didn't see anyone else at Eynsford but others were definitely ahead of us. Thanks for suggesting a good walk for the nice weather, and not too tiring to do another one the next day . . .
The oxeye daisies at Lullingstone should be at their best now - the slopes to the west of the visitor centre are carpeted with them at this time of year. The farm just to the south usually has some lavender fields
5 walkers on a sunny day with clear skies for this new walk which featured a number of sections of shaded woodland and several glorious vistas. The Lion was an enjoyable location for lunch being right on the walk and having a large garden by the river which featured a unique cattle screen.