3 Men on a walk 2017: Along the Forest Trail

Groombridge to East Grinstead along the Forest Trail

Not a very nice day with heavy cloud and the constant threat of light drizzle, although this never appeared and we actually had a dry walk. Heavy rain over the weekend led us away from the fields and we decided on a nice stroll along the old railway line trail that links Groombridge to East Grinstead. This path is well drained and not overly muddy and being pretty flat we can skip along it at a good pace.

We parked up at Groombridge and "Plan A" was to catch the 10-00am bus to East Grinstead then walk back to Hartfield to give our old friend "The Anchor" a look in. However, the bus failed to arrive - we think because it broke down on the inward journey - so we quickly put "Plan B" into action and started the walk the other way around going from Groombridge out to East Grinstead with a bus ride back home later.

Whilst this path is good underfoot it's not the most interesting having no hills and in places is perfectly straight for several miles. Still we made good time and had to wave at "The Anchor" as we passed it well before opening time. Our next target was to get to the great little town of Forest Row where we also knew of a watering hole, so at 12-45 we arrived at "The Coach and Horses" ready for a spot of lunch. This is a lovely pub but apart from us three there was only one other customer in it and it goes to show how hard it is for local publicans to make ends meet these days and why so many nice country pubs are closing down.

We could have caught a bus back from outside the pub but we decided to carry on and do the additional 3 miles to East Grinstead making this one of the longest walks we have done this winter. There is a moving statue in East Grinstead as a memorial to Sir Archie McIndoe, the famous pioneer of "Plastic Surgury" who did so much for the badly burnt and disfigured fighter pilots of WW2. (See Archibald_McIndoe ) Sir Archie set up his clinic in East Grinstead and whilst many of the airmen had severe disabilities and needed long-term treatment at the nearby hospital, the residents of East Grinstead took these men to heart and treated them as normal neighbours, buying them drinks in the local pubs and respecting the sacrifices they had made. Photo of the statue below shows Sir Archi with an RAF pilot.