Hiking Around London

Getting out of London is an important part of living in London. My girlfriend and I have been attempting to do some hiking in the nearby area. The main constraint is that the start and end have to be accessible by train.

Our main resource so for has been the excellent Saturday Walkers Club website, but we have found a couple of other hikes as well.

Hikes

Below are the routes we have done so far and some thoughts about them:

Tring Circular 17/04/2017

A beautiful walk with some good views from the ridge.

Seaford To Eastbourne (Seven Sisters) 29/04/2017

A classic and extremely beautiful. Very popular but the route is wide for much of its length so it never feels crowded. I managed to get a one sided sun burn walking in the same direction all day so maybe walk a bit of it backwards (or apply sun cream).

Folkestone To Dover 21/05/2017

Less busy than the Seven Sisters but has much of the same appeal. The final section squeezed between the motorway and the sea on a precarious cliff is quite bizarre.

Haslemere Circular 24/09/2017

Boxhill Circular 19/11/2017

Pitsea To Leigh 25/02/2018

A non SWC walk and still very worthwhile. Sunny but extremely windy and a bit cold. This section of the walk takes you out along the estuary as it starts to really widen so you get some good views across the river. The final section has a good climb up to a ridge with a castle and more stunning views.

Princes Risborough To Wendover 08/04/2018

Hastings To Rye 22/04/2018

Another stunning south coast walk. This one was extremely tiring because of the steep bits at the start and I think we had to deal with some irritating replacement buses at Rye. Still the cliffs are beautiful and so are the fields you descend into for the second half of the walk.

Princes Risborough To Great Missenden 19/08/2018

I think this is the walk where I nearly ate my bodyweight in blackberries and felt very ill. 5/5 would do again. The walk was good too.

Wimbledon To Kingston 16/09/2018

A walk well within civilisation. The parks are pretty and the deer are numerous. We had to cut our walk short but it was mostly enjoyable.

Rye, Dungeness and Lydd-on-Sea 21/10/2018

One of my favourite ever walks. If you can get low tide, the Lydd firing range being closed, and some good weather all at the same time then you can walk along a completely deserted beach for several hours. The feeling of isolation is excellent, especially for the South East of England.

Also they really don't like it when you take photos the nuclear power station.

Chorleywood To Chesham 06/01/2019

Sunningdale To Woking 13/01/2019

Another non-SWC walk. Surprisingly good, considering its just about in London. Varied scrub and woodland, quite natural and the main roads are mostly not audible :P. The cafe at RAF Fairoaks is a highlight! Cheap food and plenty of planes to watch.

Hitchin Circular 24/03/2019

Nice varied walking through woods and fields. A highlight is coming down from the ridge at Pegsdon. Very cool landscape and good views. There was a serious abundance of animals! We saw rabbits, pigs and red kites, many birds including red kites and pheasants, and horses.

Arlesey To Letchworth Garden City 14/05/2019

A surprisingly tiring walk considering its flatness. It is 25km but we've done more than that before. Lots and lots of walking in fields, some very pretty, and through picturesque villages. The latter third of the walk was a let down through an old hedge enclosed lane (Hambridge Lane) where you couldn't see much.

Route viewer

In addition I made this interactive map that shows the route from the hikes (and their elevation if you click the track).