Through the Speldhurst Bluebells

Speldhurst loop to the "Spotted Dog" and back

The Bluebells are at their peak just now and with Ivan busy packing for his holiday, Trevor and myself decided that there is no better sights than a wood full of Bluebells and the "Spotted Dog for lunch! Actually this was a "Fancy Free" walk and new to their web site but we of course had walked most of it one way or another over the past 4 years. However, the interesting thing was that we were walking it the other way around to our normal jaunts and this made it like a completely new walk.

We parked up at the village of Speldhurst, walked down the hill and then into Harwarton woods where the Bluebells were amazing. It is truly a wonderful sight at this time of year and no matter how many years you have seen them before, they take your breath away each year.

The trails we were following were a mixture of the Wealdway; The High Weald Way; and the Tunbridge Wells Circular, all of which we have completed over the past 4 years of walking. We dipped in and out of Bluebell woods as we made our way across towards Penshurst and Smart's Hill where our old friend "The Spotted Dog" resides. In places this is a very steep walk and we felt we deserved our lunch-stop break.

After lunch we stepped out to Poundsbridge and Stockland Green before turning back into Speldhurst and the car home. The weather forecast hadn't been good for the day but whilst we had to wear waterproofs it didn't actually start to rain until we were about a mile form the end so we didn't get as wet as we thought.

The two best sights in the world are a wood full of Bluebells...

... And a descent pub !

Stats for the day were once again a little compromised by not turning the damn walkmeter off at the end of the hike. My only excuse is that it was raining and so in a hurry to get the waterproofs off and me back in the car. Still, fortunately its easy to estimate details from the split timings...

Finished Hike: 3 May 2017, 15:07:19

Route: Speldhurst loop 3

Weather: 

temperature	8°C
humidity	93%
wind	12 mph N

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20170503-1027

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20170503-1027.kml

Hike Time: 3:43:42

Stopped Time: 55:58

Distance: 10.1 miles

Average: 2.9 mile per hr

Fastest Pace: 14:29 min/mile

Ascent: 1905 feet

Descent: 1913 feet

Calories: 1125