A Country Walk in the Borough of Croydon

For our next walk we will head south along forest tracks, a chalk road, country roads with lunch in a country pub. You’d think we were in deepest rural Surrey, but the whole journey stays within the borough of Croydon. Our stop for lunch is the Wattenden Arms. Before that we use leafy tracks in Woodcote, stop at the top of Farthing Down for views and there are also clean, landscaped toilets. We walk along the beautiful Ditches Lane to Chaldon village, then return along the tree-lined Green Lane to Coulsdon Common and our lunch stop. We then take side streets, mostly downhill, to Purley and arrive at Queens Gardens.

There are dirt tracks full of gravel and uneven terrain, so narrow tires are not suitable. We have lunch at 13 miles and our stop on Farthing Downs is 8.6 miles. It would be nice to have something to drink and something to munch on there.

We will start from Queens Gardens CR0 1GY at 10am. The total journey time will be around 4 and a half hours, maybe 5, returning to Queens Gardens between 2.30 – 3.00pm.

The ride is 19 1/2 miles, about 3 hours of cycling. Please bring a bottle of water. You will need to stay hydrated. Also an inner tube. If your tire valve is Schrader (short and thick, like a car tire), you’ll also need a pump.

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