Bewl Water
Background
Bewl Water is the largest inland water feature in the South East. Holding some 6900 million gallons of water, it is a reservoir supplying parts of Kent and East Sussex but it also offers walks, sailing, fly fishing, horse riding and, of course, cycling.
It is situated to the West of the main A21 road (London to Hastings), between Lamberhurst and Flimwell. It is signposted from the A21 and there is plenty of car parking, although, at £4.50 (as at July 2002), I think this is a bit steep. Or is it for a day out?
It boasts a Visitor's Centre from where you can pick up the brochure I've used in these pages, eat, drink and find out more about the reservoir. It also has a good playground (in case you don't wear out your children through cycling), the usual boating paraphernalia and a Ferry boat.
The Round Water Route is 12½ miles and can take 5 hours to complete on foot, 2 - 3 hours by bike or longer, although I've done it in 1 hour at the crack of dawn, when there's no one to run over! If you don't want to do the whole lot, there are two recommended routes, East and West, or of course you can just head off and turn round when you need to. For cyclists, the route can be closed during the winter (Nov to May) so please call first to avoid disappointment: 01892 890661 / 890352.
If you just want a short, leisurely ride, I'd recommend doing the first couple of miles of the West Route (see link below), turning round when you've had half of enough.......
You might want to download and perhaps print the map from The Map Page (it's 133Kb but should already be loaded by now, due to a sneaky bit of programming).
Click on the bike for the East Route ride.................
..................or on this one for the West Route ride!
Animated cyclist image Copyright Microsoft Design Gallery
Page last updated 08/02/2003