With rain on the horizon, this was perhaps not a day we would usually choose to go for a walk. However, it had been three weeks since our trip to Hawkhurst and we were both feeling the need to put some miles under our boots. We grabbed our coats and went for it. Since our last walk, the frost had thawed and there had been a considerable amount of rainfall. That combined with today’s forecast, meant we left expecting it to be soggy both underfoot and overhead.
We arrived at the starting point for the day, Groombridge Village Hall, at just gone eleven o’clock. This was a new route, although having done a couple of different walks in the area last year, we were bound to encounter a few familiar paths along the way. In fact, this was the case straight away. This being the same starting point as last summer’s Groombridge Circular, we began today’s walk by exiting the car park across the edge of the green along the same path we had returned to the car along at the end of the former. Conditions were immediately muddy and waterlogged, and things quickly got worse as we came across a large path-wide puddle. This was one of the rare occasions when Beth was happy to break the rules by hopping over the fence to walk alongside, where the ground was (slightly) drier. Soon after, we turned right along an avenue of lime trees and onto paths untrod. Unfortunately, we soon came across yet more path-wide puddles, and this time they were unavoidable. We did our best to cling to the edge and tread on the small grass tussocks pocking through, however this quickly proved futile. By the time we had navigated the worst of it, we both had wet feet. Beth did not know whether to laugh or cry, and indeed in the end did both. The situation was slightly rescued by a flyby from an unexpected Red Kite, which settled in a nearby tree, where it began to call softly.
The following path was less waterlogged by comparison, but still very muddy and challenging. We made our way beneath the railway just after a steam train had trundled by and crossed a stile onto farmland. On the other side was another large puddle, and its slippery mud required careful navigation. Fortunately, conditions did pick up a little after this. The path led slightly upward, through a long stretch of open land. Whilst mud and standing water were still present, the elevation was just enough to take away the worst of the pooling. The day was overcast, however a thin ray of sun did shine through as we made our way through the fields, making the puddles glint. We crossed over a rushing stream through a small patch of woods and along further high-grounded farmland. We spotted the steam of another passing train rising from behind the trees at our backs, before going through a small kissing gate. On the other side, we found two things. Firstly, a large, dead rat. Secondly, a sign for Crepes and Coffee. This was quite unexpected, being on a footpath and all, however it caught our attention. We walked on with curiosity, soon finding the unexpected “Black Bird Coffee” on the Birchden Farm complex, but not before walking past a house where two Golden Retrievers made me jump by suddenly appearing and barking at us surprisingly loudly. It was worth it though, because we treated ourselves to a mocha each. It looked like they did some good food too – may well go back and would recommend!
Distracted by this unexpected stop, we initially missed our path directly over the road and had to double back. Once we had returned to the route, we found ourselves entering the Broadwater Warren nature reserve. On the signpost, there was a concerning sign which read “WARNING! Risk of Unexploded Ordnance”. We had never experienced bomb threats on our walks before, and it was slightly alarming. Fortunately, the mud was there to distract us, as we focused on picking out a path and staying on our feet. Actually, a lot of the paths through the nature reserve were fairly easy to navigate, given how much rain we had experienced recently, and we began to make steady and easy progress. We made our way past an area of bracken, which is one of my favourite smells, reminding me of The New Forest, which led on to a discussion of our favourite smells. The resulting top fives (in no particular order) were as follows
Matt’s Top Five Smells
- Bracken
- Wild Garlic
- Flowers
- Daisy (our goat, who smells a bit like a box of crayons)
- Frying Onions
Beth’s Top Five Smells
- Castrol Oil
- Woodsmoke on a cold day
- My aftershave
- Daisy
- Fresh Laundry that’s been dried outside on a sunny day
This naturally led on to our top five sounds…
Matt’s Top Five Sounds
- Princess, Marmite and Daisy (our goats) aka the babies
- Great Tits on a sunny winter’s day/early spring
- Swifts
- Lambs
- Babbling streams
Beth’s Top Five Sounds
- Death in Paradise Theme Music
- The train announcement saying ‘nach Kleine Scheidegg’ in Switzerland
- When you’re one of the first to go down a freshly pisted slope and it makes the crrrch-whoosh sound
- My keys in the door
- When Daisy yells hello to her
I don’t know if this is normal, but if we’re honest, we probably aren’t. Also, how Middle Class are Beth’s favourite sounds lol.
We came to a crossroad of footpaths, and found our one to be a little one that we hadn’t even spotted. It led away from the main tracks into the woodland, and Beth found some very funky orange mushrooms attached to the side of a dark-barked tree. In fact, throughout the day there were plenty of moss and fungi on display, which made Beth very happy. The path brought us to a “wet woodland”, which is an area of the woods which is permanently underwater. This is a unique, swampy-looking habitat home to a specific selection of plants and animals. It was navigated with a series of raised platforms and bridges, which was cool, and the water was also an orange/red colour, due to the iron-rich earth. This was confirmed on a notice board, which meant only one thing – I was correct. We continued through the muddy tracks of the woods, climbing up a hill back toward the road and the nature reserve’s car park. On the other side of this, the reserve turned into an area of open heathland, where a sign informed us that a herd of feral goats were being grazed. Unfortunately we didn’t see them today, and I also wondered about how goats and the aforementioned unexploded bombs could possibly end well. This line of thought was interrupted by the discovery of a likely-looking lunch spot, a bench looking out over the reserve. Naturally, it was rather damp, but this was solved by the debut use of our new sit-mats, which we got for Christmas (shout-out Mum and Dad). We settled down for a comfortable, dry-bummed lunch. I ate a chicken, BBQ and Jalapeno-cheese sauce wrap, and Beth had a cheese and dill pickle sandwich – both were extremely tasty.
As we got going again, we found we had cooled down a little, and a slight breeze was blowing over the open high-ground we were crossing, but as we again dipped down into the trees, the problem solved itself. As we neared the end of the reserve, we came across an impressively large log stack at the edge of a coppiced area, before walking up the churned track and into the neighbouring Eridge Rocks Nature Reserve. The path ran alongside a series of towering rock formations to our right, many of which were covered in a blanket of moss. One particularly intriguing-looking rock had a hole at the base, forming an inviting tunnel. I clambered up the bank, ducked and began to crawl through. With the bag on my back, this was slightly trickier than I expected, and I had to crawl low on my hands and knees with the bag being squished along the rock above. Fortunately, I am not still there and did manage to pull myself out the other side, although both the bag and my trousers were significantly dirtier than they had been pre-crawl.
After waving goodbye to the rocks, we found ourselves returning to another long swath of farmland. We could see the long, straight path stretching away in front of us, and we could also see that a small stream was actively carving its way right down it. Like the first stretch, these fields were also waterlogged, but by now we were well and truly re-acquainted with these conditions. However, eventually this brought us to a road which led to a farm track, which turned into a path, which turned into a deep, wet mud into which we sank once again – oh well! We then headed downhill, and on the way I found another natural tunnel to crawl through. This time it was formed by the protruding roots of a tree growing from the bank. Whilst it was a little easier to get through, it was arguably trickier to clamber out of, requiring careful manoeuvring and clinging to roots – once again, my trousers did not fare well. The path led down toward the trainline to our left, and for the second time, we picked up a footpath which we had walked previously, on last winter’s Eridge Circular. The path was narrow and slippery, and when we reached the eaves of Birchden Wood we found the path ahead again flooded. Fortunately there was a path in the woods just on the right, which would meet back up with the route shortly. Whilst it was still muddy and water-logged, it wasn’t totally flooded – or so we thought. After navigating the tricky woodland path, we eventually arrived at what, in other times, would probably have been a gently trickling stream. However, today, it was truly flooded. I identified the best spot for crossing, two trees on opposite sides, and used their roots for footholds and their trunks for handles. We both made it over without falling in. I think this highlights what I enjoy most about winter walks – the challenges.
From here, we were on the outskirts of Groombridge and very much on the way back in. The route map wanted to take us down another footpath we had done previously, however last time it was flooded ankle deep, and it was likely to be worse today. We therefore bypassed it by sticking to the road, which ultimately led us all the way back. On the way, we spotted one final train, before crossing over the village green and back to the car. We gratefully removed our wet boots and socks, and sat in the car with the aircon blasting at our feet, whilst we enjoyed a kitkat and shared a hot chocolate from our thermos.
I am glad we went out today, despite the conditions – although in the end it didn’t rain! This was one of those walks that we look back on with a retrospective pleasure, and makes you appreciate the eventual arrival of Spring that much more. This was also a great route, and it was fun to try some new paths. It worked well for winter, although I would suggest that maybe next time we don’t go just after a long period of heavy rain, to avoid the worst of the initial flooding!
Matthew G. Huggins 