Hiking in England

How long do you want the walks to be? There aren't any serious hills near London that are in reasonable travelling distance for day trips. There are, however many great locations for hikes of a few hours.

You could take the train to Maidstone in Kent and walk the pleasant 15 miles or so along the river to Tonbridge and take the train back to London from there. Check out Canterbury.co.uk for walking options around the city. Take the train to Faversham and walk around the Oare Marshes and look at the old gunpowder mills

The South Downs has gently undulating hills - take the train to Seaford for walks around the Seven Sisters cliffs and the gorgeous village of Alfriston. Take the train to Eastbourne and walk up to Belle Tout former lighthouse.

Most counties have good websites that detail walks of 3-15 miles - good areas to look would be Kent, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. The list is too long to list here!

Closer to London, look at Epping Forest.

As an American living in Ireland, let me suggest you call them WALKS not HIKES. I'm in two walking groups and we've had broken shoulders, broken wrists, muscles popped from shin bones - but these are not hikes!! The are walks!! (enter sarcasism emoji here).

BBC Radio has a fantastic podcast for walking. I first heard it on British Airways flying over to LHR in March. Clare Balding, a famous horseracing journalist, does this podcast. One episode I heard was an amazing walk in London and Clare kept saying "this is right in London? this is amazing!!!"

Here's a link to the podcasts. I found it searching "podcasts walks rambles england"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xrr2/episodes/downloads

Susan

I agree with the previous poster. Hiking in the UK is strenuous walking/climbing across hills and mountains, something I doubt your two kids would be too keen on. A gentle stroll through the countryside is classed as a walk.

So helpful! Thanks for the input - I will look into the suggested WALKS. I'm learning so much before I even depart for the trip!

There is a great book I bought on Amazon. 10 Great Day Trips From London,
some of them have walks. If you want to spend the night some place and do at least a couple days of hiking/walking. I would recommend HF Holidays.
They have wonderful trips and some are just a couple days long with great lodging.
I love hiking in the Cotswolds.

I would say a hike needs to be at very least 10 miles over tough terrain. Between 4 and 10 miles it's a ramble. Under four miles it's a gentle stroll.

I have just made up these entirely arbitrary distinctions but the point is, British people love a country walk and are hardy souls so if you ask for hiking recommendations we'd probably send you up a mountain.

do Americans do country walks?

I mean I know all about hiking in the great outdoors, trekking across the wilderness and being chased by bears, but I never hear of walking on local paths, crossing farmers' fields then stopping off for a cheeky pint in a country pub on the way back home.

It may be different in other parts of the country, but in the western United States, no we don't do British style walks. Part of it has to do with sheer distances and the size of things. There isn't an interesting village just a few miles down the road and no tradition of public access across private lands.

The best hiking in England IMHO is up in the Lake District! Not an excursion for a day but since you're there for 5 weeks you could take a 3-4 day trip up there...it's one of the prettiest places you could ever go to...lots of beautiful farms, sheep, lakes (obviously), and lovely people. PM me if you want more specific info...you won't be sorry you went!

While I don't have Anita's breadth of experience to say that the best English hiking is in the Lake District, I can agree that hiking the Lake District fells is a great experience. The Lake District is a compact area reached by train from London and served by local bus service. A spectacular hike from Grasmere or Patterdale (or from Grasmere to Patterdale) includes Helvellyn and Striding Edge. Striding Edge is definitely hiking, not walking. See: https://www.walklakes.co.uk/walk_41.html

And if you just want to do fell walking without exposure, Angle Tarn from Patterdale is one of England's prettiest tarns. https://www.walklakes.co.uk/walk_170.html

Walks from Grasmere: https://www.walklakes.co.uk/walks_glenridding-patterdale.html

Walks from Patterdale: https://www.walklakes.co.uk/walks_glenridding-patterdale.html

We really liked the Peak District and the train path we biked on called Monsal Trail. Not sure I would call it a day trip , more an over night . But can see a 12 and 10 year old on the Monsal trail having a great time. Bike rentals on site. http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/trails/monsaltrail

Ramblin,

re country walks in America, no not the way you do in England. But that's what we love about England. We have miles of beaches and some trails in the hills where I live. We have a vast amount of land and mountains in the Pacific Coast Trail.

Have you considered a riverside stroll? Pretty much the whole of the south side of the Thames from Victoria Bridge to Greenwich is accessible and has points of interest.

One of our favourites is to get the tube to Roherhithe station. Your about five minutes from the river which is signposted. You'll hit the river at the Mayflower pub. This is a nice place for lunch or a drink depending on time of day and has a jetty jutting out over the river. It also has a bit of history: this is where the Pilgrim Fathers set off from in the Mayflower in 1620. Something to show your kids?

History aside it's a nice little pub and not too expensive.

http://www.mayflowerpub.co.uk/

Just around the corner is the small Brunel Museum, which would have fascinated me when I was a child.

http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/

From here you can walk downriver to Greenwick or back into the centre. I'd probably head back and you can then walk past Shakespeare's Globe, the new Tate museum etc.

Alan

Ramblin' on, sadly, we don't have anything like the country walks you describe. My choice is to walk in town (we are lucky to live in an older suburb with sidewalks) or drive to a park. Really good hiking is at least several hours away.

Perhaps that's why we use the term hike to describe a short, easy terrain walk or an all day affair over rough terrain. A hike is something I would do in a park, or land set aside for recreational use, like a national forest or privately held land with public access (land owned by a logging company) or land held by a conservation group.

It would be unusual to walk through a farmer's field. The only times I have done it would be to gain access to a park behind the field and only with the farmer's permission. In my case, I read about the access in a book of hikes in the area.

That's my experience. I would be interested to hear what others have to say.

You could take the train to Windsor and walk/hike along the Thames Path which runs beside the River Thames. The path leaves Windsor going out in either direction. Read about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Path

This website will give you maps and more information:
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thames-path/

You could do a walk from Windsor to another village, or a short walk out of Windsor, then turn and walk back to Windsor.
Beautiful scenery along the river.
Legoland is not far from Windsor, if that interests your kids.

The National Trails website sells maps and trail guidebooks if you need them.
https://shop.nationaltrail.co.uk/collections/maps/products/thames-path-harvey-map?variant=5889746693
https://shop.nationaltrail.co.uk/collections/maps/products/thames-path-a-z-adventure-atlas?variant=7567290565

Closer in to London, you could walk the Thames Path from Richmond (easy to reach by train) to Hampton Court Palace (easy train ride back to London). Or do this in reverse, Hampton to Richmond. (You could visit the Palace either before or after your walk.)
https://www.thames-path.org.uk/thames_richmond_hampton_court.html

Some ideas on this page:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/lifestyle/walking-route-planner/10770316/walking-routes-in-london.html

Check out the historic canals and their towpaths.

In the late 18th and early 19th century the British built many canals to support the early industrial revolution. These canal were built all over Britain. In the mid 20th century they were allowed to fall into decay. But many have now been renovated for recreational use. The canals go almost everywhere (a minor exaggeration) and are very scenic as they go through historical towns, peoples back yards, and far into the country. At many places along the canal there are pubs. The pubs usually have signs that say "dogs and children allowed". When we cruised a canal in a narrow boat last summer we saw people on the towpath who were walking, dog walking, jogging, and bicycling. The canals themselves are very interesting with locks and bridges. Along the towpath you will meet people who will be quite pleased to meet Americans in such a British environment.

It's probably not quick, but we saw a ton of train stations in Snowdonia NP in Wales (we were self-driving a rental car up there) and then there's a regional Sherpa bus service that connects villages and natural areas up there:

https://www.visitsnowdonia.info/snowdon_paths_and_sherpa_bus_service-98.aspx

Really beautiful area with lots of hiking and walking options. We're now plotting on how to get back there for a longer trip.

I will note that US Customs has a question about 'were you in contact with farm animals while abroad?' on the entry to the country questionnaire. We found ourselves having to explain to the ICE officer that, yes, it's common for livestock to be allowed to graze in national parks in the UK, but we did not bother, molest, or otherwise come into any direct contact with sheep there. Ended up getting sent to secondary agricultural inspection over that where our suitcases but not our carry on bags were sent through the scanner, and we were then allowed to go find our connecting flight.

I will note that US Customs has a question about 'were you in contact with farm animals while abroad?

We "checked the box". If you are walking across farms or in contact with livestock, US Customs will divert you to the agriculture inspection line. We wear our hiking boots during air travel so it simplifies sanitizing the boots that walked across the sheep droppings. I didn't bring up the topic of trekking poles but on returning home did a bleach solution sanitization of the poles.

I second the advice to go to Seaford or Eastbourne for a walk along the cliffs there. We made a day trip from London to Easbourne to walk part of the South Downs Way along the cliffs and it was one of my favorite parts of our trip. Be careful of the cliffs though with children. You have to obey the scant signs and use good judgement. There are no barriers or anything and the cliffs are chalk so do crumble into the ocean at times.

A useful website: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/south-downs-way/additional-walks
Another for all of the UK. http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/where-to-walk

I would add a link to my pictures from the walk but Photobucket appears to be having issues today.

As for the question someone made about walking in the US. We typically hike (we call it hiking if it's for any real distance outside of a city) in state or nation parks where walking trails are designated (usually mountain or coastal walks). You usually can't just go traipsing around due to property rights, and other issues like unsafe terrain and weather.

We do go hiking and some people camp and hike, but it's something you do with a plan. You don't just go rambling and I don't think there are any designated paths outside of parks like you have in the UK.

You can get a train to Dorking and walk on the North Downs--there are some terrific walks to do of varying lengths. You can climb Box Hill, scene of the picnic in 'Emma'. Go a stop further to Holmwood and there's a great walk up Leith Hill, the highest point in SE England; don't worry, it is only 920 feet and an easy walk past a great pub and one of the country's most scenic locations for a cricket pitch.