Walks you can reach from London St. Pancras International by train
Middlesex · South East England
MapA day hike is just a simple train journey away — plan your next day of green.
Folkestone Central to Dover Priory (Kent)
1 hour direct from London St. Pancras International.
Highly recommended: Coastal cliffs, chalk downland, sea defences, wild landslip area, wartime installations, ridge between valley and sea and town crossing.
Hilly: a third on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Coastal: four fifths along the coast.
Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.
Time: 4h–8h30
1 lunch spot: Camping Café (1h–2h30 in)
2 end-of-walk rewards: the Malvern, or the Priory Hotel
Warnings: Cracked sea defences.
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).
Sandling to Folkestone Central (Kent)
1 hour direct from London St. Pancras International.
Highly recommended: Chalky escarpment ridge, steep climbs, open downland with Channel views, cliff top promenade, shingle beach and historic harbour.
Hilly: two fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Time: 5h30–10h30
1 lunch spot: the Gatekeeper Inn (1h30–3h in)
3 end-of-walk rewards: Valiant Sailor, the Lord Morris, or the Park Inn
Warnings: Steep climbs near start.
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Folkestone Central Circular via Castle Hill (Kent)
1 hour direct from London St. Pancras International.
Highly recommended: Verdant coastal cliffs, rolling hills and suburban streets.
Hilly: a third on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Coastal: three fifths along the coast.
Time: 5h–9h30
2 lunch spots: Capel-le-Ferne (3h–5h30 in) — Cliff Top Café, or the Royal Oak
7 end-of-walk rewards: the Royal George, the Harbour Inn, the Kipps' Alehouse, the Samuel Peto, the Pullman, the East Kent Arms, or the Lord Morris
Warnings: Begins, necessarily, with a lengthy suburban segment, but then becomes very beautiful and surprisingly quiet. Particularly lovely on the walk along the cliffs east of Folkestone, where there are also a number of lunch spot choices. The narrow overgrown paths are best. But note that there is a LOT of steep ascents and descents on this walk.
Source: Trains2Green.
Bedford Circular via Stevington Cross (Bedfordshire)
30 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Largely flat riverside paths, fields, woods, parks and pedestrianised town centre.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Wellingborough Circular via Summer Leys Nature Reserve (Northamptonshire)
45 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
River Nene towpath, gravel quarry-edge paths, fishing lakes, grassy fields, nature reserve, four villages and Swanspool Brook parkland.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Kettering Circular via Pytchley (Northamptonshire)
45 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Villages and countryside.
Time: 5h–10h
5 lunch spots: Broughton (3h30–7h in) — Best Plaice, the Red Lion, Broughton Fish and Chips, or the Broughton & Cransley WMC; plus the Overstone Arms (1h30–2h30 in)
Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.
Market Harborough Circular via Braybrooke (Leicestershire)
1 hour direct from London St. Pancras International.
Time: 4h30–9h30
2 lunch spots: the Swan Inn (2h–4h30 in), or Waterloo Lodge (2h–4h30 in)
4 end-of-walk rewards: the Beer House, the Freemasons Arms, the Cherry Tree, or the Oat Hill
Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.
Rochester to Sole Street (Kent)
45 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Dickensian Kent and the Medway: Rochester's cathedral and castle, then Ranscombe Farm and Cobham Park to Sole Street.
Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.
The Rochester Cathedral: England's second-oldest cathedral, founded in 604, in the heart of Rochester.
The Rochester Castle: A Norman castle beside the Medway with one of the tallest surviving keeps in England.
The Ranscombe Farm Reserve: A nature reserve near Rochester protecting rare arable wildflowers on the Kent downs.
The Cobham Park: A landscaped Repton parkland surrounding Cobham Hall, with the Darnley Mausoleum.
Time: 3h30–7h
Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).
Wellingborough to Northampton (Northamptonshire)
45 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Riverside paths along the Nene, meadows, quarry lakes, arable fields, villages, urban riverside, nature reserve and raised flood embankments.
Warnings: Prone to flooding.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Market Harborough to Northampton (Leicestershire)
1 hour direct from London St. Pancras International.
Rolling hills of the south east Midlands. Brampton Valley Way: former railway opened 1859, closed 1981, converted to multipurpose path in 1993; one of the longest ex-trackbed paths in the UK; runs through former ironstone quarrying area.
Time: 7h30–15h30
Warnings: Two unlit tunnels (Oxendon Tunnel and Kelmarsh Tunnel).
Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).
Higham to Gravesend (Kent)
30 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Flat estuary landscape, gravel tracks, grassy paths, marshes, open water, mud flats, RSPB reserve, industrial heritage and big skies.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Pluckley to Ashford International (Kent)
45 minutes direct from London St. Pancras International.
Pastures, orchards, woods, commons, bogs, parkland estate and riverside parks into a town centre.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).