3 Men on a walk 2017: February 2017

Monday, 27 February 2017

A quickie around Crowborough

Crowborough loop in the wet

It was a filthy weather forecast with strong wind and rain sweeping across our region in late morning. We met up at Ivan's house and spent a happy hour or so planning walks and then a quick look at the Internet weather map showed a small break in the rain - hopefully - so we donned the boots and walked down the road to the pub for lunch!

Well it's not as bad as it seems because the pub was on the route and we needed to make sure the rain had passed. So 45 mins later we hot footed along the loop and for the first 3 miles the rain stayed away. Then we hit some showers including the odd bit of hail but generally it wasn't too bad and the 5.3 mile walk and its hills did us good.

Deer grazing alongside the forest

Daffodils are finally out - these were our first of the year in the wild

No electronic stats today as the machine failed. However, we know it was 5.3 miles from the map and we probably averaged our standard 3.0 mph especially after lunch!

Monday, 20 February 2017

Another North Downs Walk

Downe - Biggin Hill Loop

We really felt that Spring had arrived today as we walked in 17 deg Temperatures by the end of the walk and only one layer of clothing. Not wall to wall sunshine but breaks in the high cloud did give us a bathing in the golden stuff from time to time.

We have walked via Downe before but this trail was in a sector not trodden before and it turned out to be very pleasant with good paths and good signage. The North Downs are very different in topography to the South Downs and we found ourselves walking through woodland and open fields as well as steep valleys so this turned out to be a very good work-out.

We parked up at Cuckoo Wood, just north of Downe and set off on our anticlockwise route. It wasn't long before we reached the northern end of the Biggin Hill Airport runway and our path then led us south around and along the perimeter of the airport for about 2 miles. We then turned north to reach the village of Downe where we had a choice of two pubs for lunch! We chose the George & Dragon, a hostelry we have used before but not for a couple of years. It didn't disappoint.

After lunch was a bit of a roller coaster as we crossed a couple of very steep valleys. We knew it was coming as we have walked this section before but it still makes the heart pound struggling up the hills. We convinced ourselves that this is good for us old men but it was nice to eventually reach the car again.

The bright spring day up on the N Downs

The village of Downe

Downe Village

Lunch Stop

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 20 Feb 2017, 14:48:12

Route: Downe - Biggin Hill loop

Weather:

temperature	14°C
humidity	94%
wind	10 mph W

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20170220-1033

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20170220-1033.kml

Hike Time: 3:18:01

Stopped Time: 56:49

Distance: 9.71 miles

Average: 2.95 mile per hr

Fastest Pace: 13:38 min/mile

Ascent: 734

Descent: 837

Calories: 1012

Monday, 13 February 2017

Red House Common and beyond

Red House Common to Scaynes Hill loop

Hooray - it finally felt like Spring today. If it hadn't been for the cold wind it might have been an April day but the wind kept the temperature down to around 9 deg C. We didn't walk last week and so it was good to be out in the countryside again.

We headed towards North Chailey and parked up at a walkers car park at Red Hill Common. This is a new area of Sussex for us to walk in and it was very pleasant indeed. The common was a lovely upland heath area which gave us great views across the Sussex Weald.

This trail took us through a mix of open countryside and woodland and occasionally it was very soggy underfoot. Our on-route stop for lunch was scheduled to be "The Inn on the Green" at Scaynes Hill but yet again we found our chosen Pub Closed. Still we are only 2.5 miles from the end of the loop and so we hot-footed it around the rest of the loop and then drove to a delightful pub "The Bull Inn" in Newick.