To Bullingstone from Haysden Country Park and return

In case you haven't just read the previous page, we were walking today's leg of the Wealdway slightly out of order, because we expected it to take longer than the walk described on the previous page, and we expected to have more time today than tomorrow. Well that's the theory...we were travelling from home, but that only takes two and a half hours...doesn't it? We were travelling to Sussex for the weekend, with one of the purposes being to hand over one of Richard's father's cornets to a relative. So when we realised, half an hour into the journey, that we'd left the cornet at home, we didn't have a lot of choice but to go back for it. Just over an hour later, we were back at the same place! The next delay was caused by an accident near the Dartford crossing. The hold-up was being advertised further back on the M11 and M25 as an hour, but thankfully (for us), the accident had been cleared by the time we got there and we were only delayed by about 20 minutes. We reached the Haysden Country Park (entrance at TQ573457) in time for an early lunch! We thought we might be here for more than 4 hours (and we were) so parking cost us £4 (it is just £1.20 for less than four hours) but it was a convenient parking place.

Our intention was to walk in a southwesterly direction from the Country Park on the Eden Valley Walk as far as Penshurst, then approximately south on minor roads to Bullingstone, where we would encounter the Wealdway AND the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk (thus providing us with a useful circuit for tomorrow) before following the Wealdway back to the Country Park. Things went just about according to plan until we were nearly at the end of today's circuit, and it was delightful, with more ascents and descents than I'd expected, but attractive, varied countryside and lovely buildings. It was just slightly warmer than ideal for walking, but OK, and there was no rain.

Our first problem though was to find the route through the Country Park. Eventually we just followed the signs to Haysden Water, which took us in the required direction, if not on exactly the route shown on the map. We passed underneath the A21 (which is raised at this point) and so to Haysden Water. There were initially a lot of people about, but we soon left most of them behind. We followed the north shore of the lake for a while, then, took a delightful path through the trees and past an attractive waterway, complete with swans. Soon we were on "Straight Mile" (a former railway line I think). The River Medway was close by, and eventually we got a decent view of the river, complete with cows on the opposite bank.

We continued to climb to the top of Killick Bank, and at the brow of the hill the father and daughter cyclist came past us again, but then followed the track around to the left towards Well Place Farm. Meanwhile we continued into the field straight ahead, disturbing a herd of cows. We were rewarded by a view down the hill in front of us, with Penshurst Place visible in the trees. We descended the hill, rejoining the track, and followed this to Penshurst. We reached the parking and cafe associated with Penshurst Place before the village then were able to peer through some gates to get quite a good view of the garden.

Penshurst village looks to be an attractive place too, though to explore it properly we'd have needed to turn right as we emerged onto the road, but we turned left, also parting company with the Eden Valley Walk. We now had more than two miles of road walking, but it wasn't unpleasant. The roads were not too busy and the countryside was very attractive, with some pretty buildings and masses of colourful rhododendrons in some of the gardens. We crossed the river then climbed Rogues Hill, passing the former country estate of Swaylands (now appartments after being a hospital then a school for vulnerable boys). We took a right hand fork at Marlpit Corner, stayed on the "main" road by the interesting house at Poundsbridge, then turned right down a single track road without passing places to Bullingstone. A sports car raced past us down the hill, with the occupants (following the route on a mobile phone) looking as if they were dressed for a wedding.

Our destination for today was unprepossessing, a low marker in the hamlet of Bullingstone indicating the route of the Wealdway and the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk (usually signposted by its earlier name, the High Weald Walk) down a passageway to the right. We carried on along the road for a short distance, then took a footpath on the left. We could hear the church bells ringing from the village of Speldhurst ahead of us, so we guessed there must be a wedding somewhere near, though if the people who had passed us in the sports car were going to Speldhurst they were going a long way round! For what seemed a very long way on the approach to the village we were on a passageway between houses. I was looking for somewhere to stop to change my socks (regular readers will know about me and my sweaty feet...) and there was a bench close to the path, but was it in someone's garden? We decided to wait until we reached the Church; surely there would be a bench there? There was, but there were also lots of wedding guests arriving, one of them sitting on the bench whilst making a phone call. Maybe not! Eventually we found a place for me to sit, on steps leading up from the road to the churchyard (at the opposite end to the wedding).

From Speldhurst we meandered our way past Stockland Green to the delightfully named Modest Corner, and so to Southborough Common. We climbed through a lovely wood and an open meadow, letting a dog walker go on front of us, then we reached another wood and descended. But this is the undulating high weald - from the bottom of the wood we could see Bidborough Church on the brow of another hill in front of us, and this was where we were going. Actually the climb looked worse than it was and we were soon walking past the interesting church, apparently one of the oldest in the area; they have had a rector here since 1218, and parts of the building date to the 10th Century.

We continued to climb through Bidborough then walked along the brow of the hill on the B2176, passing some more attractive rhododendrons in the gardens on the other side of the road, but it was the view to our left that was spectacular. We could see for miles, over lower-lying land, with the A21 close to Haysden Country Park clearly visible, even though it was slightly misty. So, downhill all the way...

Downhill, yes; straightforward, no. Route-finding was initially straightforward, as we descended through a wood, though I'd have found the descent itself easier if I'd had my walking poles with me. The descent continued more gently with woodland to our left and agricultural land to the right, then we cut across a field to a road. The onward route, presumably to a route under the A21, which we could hear and see a short distance away, was via a path on the opposite side of the road.. Bother - the path is closed because for some reason the Secretary of State doesn't want us to pass under the A21 (the path closure has been extended twice, so I suspect it is essentially permanent). The shortest alternative was to turn right onto the road and use it to pass under the offending A21, then loop around a housing estate on the outskirts of Tonbridge before turning left on the road that we had used to approach the Country Park by car. The walk did end on an amusing note though...as we walked down the approach road to the Country Park, a woman stopped us and went on about how she had never seen so many babies. We assumed she meant human infants (of whom there were a lot, including a mother out with two small children in the car parked next to us)...but no, she meant baby birds...

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