Ashdown Forest circuit (Oldlands Hall to junction with Vanguard Way)
Walked by Sally and Richard, Sunday 21st October 2018.
7.2 miles of walking (3.5 hours) including about 3 miles on the Wealdway and 3.5 miles on the Vanguard Way
For more photos of this walk, click here.
We decided to walk this leg just two days after reaching the end of the Wealdway in Gravesend, choosing this walk for its proximity to Richard's parents' house and also to advance us slightly towards the southern end of the Wealdway. Yesterday we'd been tourists, visiting Hever Castle, and we'd wondered about visiting a National Trust property today, but we decided we'd prefer a walk. The weather remained excellent for walking, with nights getting cooler (and some mist) but dry, sunny days, and it was actually quite warm today. We left Hartfield around 9am and I expected it to be chilly, but I'd overdressed - first the fleece and then the jumper were removed as we were walking.
It's only a few miles from Hartfield to the car park that we were heading for, at TQ472303. This car park, called "Bushy Willows", is just north of the junction of the B2188 from Groombridge and the B2026 from Hartfield, on the B2026. There are a large number of car parks in this section of Ashdown Forest, and several of them would be equally good for today's walk. The photograph on the left shows the morning view to the west from the car park.
Our plan was to follow the Vanguard Way across the Forest to the southeast, then cut across from High Hurstwood on a footpath and then minor roads to the outskirts of Fairwarp, where we would pick up the Wealdway. We followed the road to the junction described above, then turned off onto the Vanguard Way, skirting the Kings Standing Clump.
We soon reached a clear if rather over-walked Forest track, and followed this, being overtaken by several other walkers. We descended quite noticeably then climbed again. The views were good in all directions, if difficult to photograph in the direction we were walking because of the Sun.
We reached the busy A26 and eventually managed to get across, then took a path through countryside that was distinctly different from that on the other side of the road, first skirting open fields near Newnham Park Farm then entering the delightful Newnham Park Wood. Before entering the wood we'd seen a herd of deer and as we walked through the wood we saw several deer making themselves scarce as we approached.
After passing Stroods, we encountered a diversion which, unlikely as it might sound, made our walk shorter! The route between here and High Hurstwood was closed because of a landslip, but the diverted route was straight ahead to the minor road that we'd been planning to join - so no need to go to High Hurstwood. The road we'd joined, Perryman's Lane, was a delightful undulating lane. Only one car passed us and we enjoyed this section of the walk as much as any of them.
We crossed the A26 again (with some difficulty), and took another delightful lane, Oldlands Lane, which descended through woodland, passing Oldlands Farm, crossing a ford (thankfully with a footbridge) and eventually reaching the rather grand entrance to Oldlands Hall. Here we joined the Wealdway, initially on a lane, but mostly on footpaths for the rest of the walk.
It is actually quite difficult to describe the route from here to the point where we crossed the B2026 close to Camp Hill. The route was convoluted, passing from one path to another through quite varied scenery, including wooded dells and more open landscapes with lovely golden bracken. The signposting was generally good, with a wide range of Wealdway signs from different eras, but occasionally, just at the point where we weren't 100% sure of the route, there the signpost wasn't. This is oh so familiar! (and, to be fair, it can't have been that bad because we made our way through this section without difficulty).
We approached the B2026 from a path running close to a link road from the A26, and near this road we found a tree trunk on the ground on which to sit for an early lunch. Traffic noise meant that it was not quiet, but it was secluded; not many people seem to walk this way. In contrast, once we'd crossed the B2026 and climbed up to Camp Hill, one of the highest points on Ashdown Forest with the characteristic clump of trees on the top, it was like a motorway, with any number of people following the route running north from here, parallel to the road. The views were lovely though.
To ensure that today's route joined up with the one we had followed back in August 2017 (described as the "Following leg" below) we followed the track right to the road then crossed to the other side for a short distance on the Wealdway, returning to the road (right opposite our car park) on the Vanguard Way.
