This walk is one of the most treacherous for mud due to the cattle hooves churning up the ground. I’ve only managed to keep my balance by using trekking poles and have had enough of this terrain so won’t be coming this week.

Recent reports on walks in this area - Leigh to Sevenoaks (5/2) and Hever to Tonbridge (22/1) - did not suggest ghastly levels of mud similar to our Otford Round walk last month. With very little (if any) rain in Kent for some weeks now I'm hoping conditions will be manageable underfoot today. The post walk report on this Saturday's walk Hever to Dormans (12/2) might give us a further clue on what we might expect on Wednesday 16/2.

The Hever to Dormans walk report is now in, and there is no mention of excessive mud.

However, since the walk on Saturday there has been an afternoon and night of very heavy rain in Kent, with more rain to come later this afternoon, so might I suggest we play safe this Wednesday and wear gaiters and bring along a trecking pole or pair of poles.

Nine walkers alighted from the train at Hever, and one more joined us outside Chiddingstone Castle, so that made 10 for today's adventure.

The sun shone as we left Hever in very mild conditions, unseasonably so. Later it clouded over, and the wind increased as Storm Dudley swept into Scotland and Northern England, with lesser impact on the south, so I will report sunny spells clouding over later . Infact, after lunch it briefly tried to rain but it passed over us. During the morning we had the company of a walk leader - first name John - a Scotsman from Ramblers, Westminster & Chelsea Group, and good company, too. He left us at Chiddingstone, where we found the Castle Inn closed, so on we continued to Penshurst.

Conditions under foot could be described, in horse racing parlance, as soft going. After seventy two hours of steady rain in this part of Kent, paths were muddy and waterlogged. The mud was slippery at times, but never as bad as we encountered last month in Otford. But muddy it was today.

Arriving in Penshurst we made for the Leicester Arms, where six of us enjoyed a good lunch, served efficiently and with a smile. The sandwiches were particularly good. The others all popped in for a drink. After settling up the bill I called in to the downstairs gents and on my return upstairs, to put my walking boots back on, I found the others had all buggered off, leaving me behind. All I will say is I would never be so inconsiderate on a SWC walk and I would never, ever dream of setting off without a full complement - but I'm afraid this is rather typical of the SWC - one of the unattractive sides to it. Fortunately, as the walk updater, I knew the route and all was well, but I'm not sure what would have happened if my companions had set off leaving a new walker behind.

Leaving the pub the wind increased and rain threatened for a while as I made my way to Leigh. Some of my erstwhile companions stopped for refreshments in the Fleur de Lis pub, under new management and open afternoons now for drinks - which is good news. I met up with some of them at the railway station and I believe I was remarkably polite to them, all considered. We only had a few minutes to wait before our trains arrived to take us back to town, some via Redhill and others via Tonbridge.

Today's walk is an excellent one, for its variety and interesting sites and sights and although it was muddy in places I believe we all enjoyed it.

But a shame about my companions behaviour.

25 or so walkers set out on this well known but still lovely walk

fine overcast without rain was the weather for the day.

Lunch was taken at The Castle or the Leicester Arms or picnic or cafe.

Someone recently mentioned that too many walk reports were too long if they weren't funny

I trust that this is not too long

Intend going and will travel from Clapham Junction to meet the Uckfield train at East Croydon

Will be going on this walk from London Bridge Marian

Hever to Leigh

6th April 2019

24 grey but fresh .

Hever to Leigh

6th April 2019

24 on this walk. The day was grey but fresh. This is a lovely walk and I think most of us did the traditional version. Lots of wild garlic which is not yet in flower, some wood anemonies towards the end, and even a faint scattering of bluebells.

We noticed that the chickens and pig had gone, but there were 5 alpacas in the adjoining field. We spoke to the owner who gave us information about benefits of keeping alpacas.

There is a slight change to the route – para 11 states ‘In 150 metres you cross a lane on a wooden bridge’ the wooden bridge has disappeared, and there is a slight diversion – we actually walk on the lane for a bit rather than crossing it but stay parallel to the original path.

Lunch at the Castle Inn (very nice) was had by 13 of us, and the others I believe had packed lunch in the Church grounds opposite. The group broke up somewhat after lunch. About 6 of us stopped at Leicester Arms for teas and coffees and then completed the walk back to Leigh.

A lovely walk as usual.

You mentioned the benefits of keeping alpacas. Please tell us more. Is one lamb protection? Thanks.

The owner said that Alpacas are very good at guarding chickens from foxes - they surround the intruder or chase it away. Also, if anyone is harrassing one of the alpacas, the rest of the alpacas will gang up on that person.

Alpacas are good for 'mowing'the grass; only cost about £150 a year in special diet, and their wool is better and more expensive than sheep's wool. However, you need more than 5 alpacas to make selling the woolen financially worthwhile.

Hello MARCUS I HOPE YOU ARE BACK WALKING BY NOW .tHIS IS NOT the right place I know but Itried to do Walk 41 last week having missed the train by 2 minutes. I found that some of the identifying signs seemed to have been covered up and the path which led to the A5 had been completely blocked by brushwood.Of course you had probably already done an update but just in case anyone else ventures out with an old version of the walk

Best,

Jane

Hi Jane

Reference Book 1, Walk 41 - Bow Brickhill to Leighton Buzzard, please e-mail through to me the paras.in the Directions where you had difficulty following the route, due to missing signs, waymarks etc.and I will check the Directions, updating them where necessary.

Many thanks

marcusDOTperryATbtinternetDOTcom

Marcus

Six off the train in Hever 6 dressed for a walk in the rain. As it turned out the rain held off until we got back to London so the muddy fields weren’t as bad as they might have been. Only one slipped in the mud but managed not to break a wrist or a leg or dislocate a shoulder or end up in A&E with a black eye – have I missed anyone ?

We reached the first pub, the Castle Inn in Chiddingstone, at 12.00 but, however enticing the interior, it was just too early for all but one to stop for lunch.

The mild weather conditions mild and- overcast caused one to top up her water supplies in the oldest shop in the country (fact check needed) and then we pressed on to Penshurst. Three had an excellent leisurely lunch in the Leicester Arms and failed to catch up with the two picnickers but not because we found the one hill on the walk too challenging.

Back in Leigh everywhere was shut apart from a shop which sold hot drinks to take away.

A short but pretty walk which curiously failed to entice those who prefer short walks.

Anyone wanting to do a longer option could of course continue on to Tonbridge. As for me, I can feel an afternoon snooze on a hillside coming on :-)

This walk is perfect, good for both a day out in the countryside and a night out in town. Thanks for posting this.

You can indeed extend this walk to Tonbridge using the morning of the Tonbridge to Penshurst walk in reverse: a pleasant evening stroll

23 on this walk on a day of sun and high cloud .

I was asked to call this report “Three Weddings and No Funeral” but I personally only saw two weddings, one in Chiddingstone and the other in Penshurst. The former almost put us off going to the pub as they were all drinking outside it. But in fact the pub itself was empty and positively begged for our custom. The fact that they only had four mains - they were working up a new menu, apparently - might have been one reason. We nearly all had fish and chips. It was grand sitting out in the very picturesque garden with the church spire behind.

In the afternoon the countryside looked parched: it will be time to break out the desert kit soon. Coming into Penshurst we passed wedding number two (or three) and found a small queue outside the Fir Tree tea room waiting for it to open at 2.30pm. We turned this into a big queue and I was all ready for grumbles from the proprietress as it became clear we wanted a table for fifteen or so. But in fact she could not have been nicer. Tables were moved, chairs were moved and we all sat in the delightful shade of a willow tree in the garden and were royally served. The tea - in pots so big they were heavy to lift - seemed inexhaustible. The cakes were gorgeous and all was dished up on proper china. There was even soy milk. We all agreed that this was the best SWC tea ever.

Passing the happy couple being photographed drinking a freshly opened bottle of champagne in the back of their chauffeured Aston Martin (I wonder how much all that cost) we carried on. Always nice to have a walk with a good stretch after tea to work the cake off. Most finished at Leigh but four of us went on to Tonbridge (one more having started with us but then changed her mind), adding 2.5 miles or so to the walk. In Tonbridge we rehydrated in Weatherspoons and went to a nice Nepalese curry house. There are worse ways to spend a day.

2 dry

40

sunny still calm day

I'm not sure if anyone actually counted how many but I'd say we were around 40. A lovely, pleasant walk in fabulous weather. Some lunched in the Castle pub or The Tulip Tree cafe in Chiddingstone, others went on the Leicester Arms or Porcupine Pantry in Penshurst and a few stopped to watch the rugby at the Fleur de Lys in Leigh.