From Eridge station I turned left, past The Huntsman pub, and turned left again to start walking along this country lane. It is not obvious from this picture just how steeply this lane climbs for maybe the first half mile.

After walking for about a mile I reached a T junction and noticed these signs saying where I was (they were 30 - 50ft apart so I have stitched them into one picture with a line of red dots standing in for the gap between them). I had been walking from Eridge along Groombridge Lane, and was heading towards Groombridge on Eridge Road. I guess that makes sense.

After walking a mile and a half, or so the sign says, I found this signpost, and I had another mile to walk to Groombridge. The outward of my journey was to be slightly shorter than the return leg.

I wanted to take some pictures of the rolling hills around these parts, but I found few good vanatge points to take such pictures. This was one such view, and it would have been a lot better without the cattle feeder in the foreground, and if it was sunny instead of overcast. Unfortunately I had no control over those two bad points.

Here's something you definitely don't see anywhere in London. Just take your eggs and leave the money in the jar. Such arrangement would only work in the quietest parts of the country. In London the money would be stolen within seconds, and the eggs smashed to pieces at the same time. I saw one other example like this on my walk, but only this place had any eggs left.

As I neared Groombridge I was able to walk down a public footpath between fields. On my left I passed a field with hourses in it. All were in coats and laying down like this one. It's my guess that they had recently been racing. It's less of a guess that they were all mares because in the field to my right.....................

I wonder if he was just pleased to see me, or if he had just found a particularly sexy bit of grass to chew on ??????

I have already remarked on just how many hills I had to go up and down. One thoughtful touch is this seat near the top of the hill on the way out of Groombridge. I was on my way down the hill when I took this picture, but I passed the seat again on my way back, and I was almost tempted to use it.

Once I had had a look at the station at Groombridge I fancied a quick pint before starting out on the walk back to Eridge. Happily The Junction Inn is almost adjacent to the station, and I had a pint of Harvey's Best in there. The pub was deserted when I went in, and the barman had even turned off many of the lights. Later in the day, when all the commuters were returning home it would, the barman said, get quite busy, but for my drink I had the place to myself. The pub was once aptly named. Prior to the mid sixties when so much of the rail network was decimated, Groombridge was indeed a junction station with three platforms, and services from Tunbridge Wells to Lewes and East Grinstead and beyond. (more information about that here).

The route I was taking to go back to Eridge followed the river valley, or so I thought. Seeing as flooding does not normally happen on hill tops I was reassured that my route would be fairly flat and even when I saw this sign as I left the village of Groombridge. It turned out that I was wrong, very wrong. The road veered away from the river by further than I thought, and so began  another series of hill climbs, but I did pass  through the bottom of valley, and saw where the flooding could esily happen.

As I approached the top of another hill I came across this elaborate entrance gate. I thought it was probably for a church, but it was miles from anywhere, and no buildings were in sight. Looking over the wall I could see some gravestones in the distance.

Another hundred feet further on, and just round a bend in the road, I could see the gravestone better. I don't think I was aware of any particular tradition of siting cemetaries a long way out of town (or village). I previously only associated them with being adjacent to the local church (apart from the big metropolitan cemetaries). This cemetary was about a mile, or a mile and a half, outside of the village, and in a very isolated spot. It looks like there are plenty of spaces for new bodies. So if you want your eternal rest somewhere very quiet (apart from the rumble of passing trains - the national rail line runs in a cutting alongside the cemetary just beyond the trees) you know where to go now.

Many of the properties I passed in the lanes had some very colourful gardens with the first flowers of spring. This particular place, Conyer Lodge, had even planted lots of bright colourful stuff on the grass verge alongside the road. My photo here does not do justice to the entire colourful spread I witnessed.

I have to say that the loacl council does a good job looking after some of the older signposts in the area. This one shows I was only a mile and a half away from Eridge station. The picture also shows just how steep some of the hills were. I was glad I was going down this bit of hill because by this road junction the hill was really, really, really steep !

Not too many miles from here runs The Bluebell Railway - so named for all the woods it passes full of bluebells in the spring. Where the hills have not been cleared for agricultural use the woods are full of bluebells here as well. Like many of the pictures here, it would have been more dramatic if the sun had been shining. I had to artificially enhance this picture to try and make it look like what I could see with my own two eyes, but it is still poor in comarison to real life.

My final picture is of this unidentified bird. It just sat on the hedge posing for me. Once again, in real life, it was really colourful, but the colours seem a bit muted in this picture taken under dull lighting. I took the picture when I was just a few hundred yards away from the station. I didn't realise that at the time although I knew I was getting close to the station. As the lane twisted and turned I passed one more bend and there was the station in front of me.  Overall it was a pleasant walk with a lot to see, but I think I still prefer my walks along the coast where the vistas are wide open, and you can see for miles. If you haven't seen the accompanying railway pictures that I took on this walk, click here for them and a bit more commentary about my walk.