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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday 4 October 2015

Sunday Second Walk - Surrey heathlands

Extra Walk 139, Tadworth Circular, via Box Hill
Length: 20.4km (12.7 miles) Toughness: 8/10 (perhaps less)

09:54 Tattenham Corner train from London Bridge (East Croydon 10:24), arriving Tadworth at 10:53.
Or 10:02 Littlehampton train from Victoria (Clapham Junction 10:08), changing at East Croydon (arr 10:17, dep 10:24) to arrive at Tadworth at 10:53.

The train from London Bridge makes numerous stops (18 in all) at south London and north Surrey suburban stations, so you might be able to pick it up en route if you live in that area.

Return trains to London Bridge are at xx:18 and xx:48 (journey time 62 minutes). Change at Purley or East Croydon for Victoria.

This walk over the National Trust’s picturesque Headley Heath to Box Hill (also NT) feels very remote even though it starts and ends in London’s Travelcard Zone 6. In the afternoon the main walk returns via the common, while a more strenuous longer option, adding 1 mile to the distance, follows the North Downs Way for a while, with splendid views southwards. There’s also an optional ascent of White Hill in the morning, offering more fine views.

After reaching Box Hill you could shorten the walk to about 7 miles in total by cutting out the return leg and dropping down to Box Hill and Westhumble station at the foot of Box Hill. This is outside the Zone 6 boundary and is on a completely different line, so you would need to buy a separate ticket if you do this.

The early lunch pub is The Cock Inn (01372 377258) in Headley, but most walkers will prefer to get a bit more distance under their belts before stopping at The Tree on Box Hill (01737 845966). The suggested tea stop is a small country pub, The Bell (aka ‘The Rat’), about 15 minutes’ walk from Tadworth station.

The Walk Directions consist only of a marked route on an OS map, but this is also available as a GPS route. You must take a map and compass. T=swc.139

4 comments:

PeteB said...

Just n=3 SWC stalwarts on this attractive walk in the Surrey Hills one of whom caught a later train and eventually met up with the two others at the Tree on Box Hill.Perfect walking in W=warm-and-sunny weather and the hills and woods looked glorious in the autumn sun. A tricky walk to navigate even with a map or GPS as there is a multiplicity of paths in some areas and even when you think you are on the right track you either later find out you should have been on a hidden adjacent path or the route file is taking you across terrain where there is no clear way ahead. It would be a major task to do a full write-up of this complex walk but unless there are some directions to accompany each map then it is unlikely to attract many SWC walkers which would be a pity as it has much to recommend it.
All three of us had a final drink in the woodland garden at the "Rat" before the short walk to the station.

JohnL said...

Just n=1 more. Attempted to join you for the afternoon. Joanna and I had lunch at the Tree on Box Hill and then I did an approximation to the morning route in reverse. Given its within Zone 6 and very attractive it is worth a writing up - may be we need to revise the GPS route a bit to make it possible to describe.

Anonymous said...

Did a slight variation of the walk, see http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=10995054 - only thing is I wasn't sure if the GPS route over Walton Heath is actually a public right of way (it didn't look like it was), so I chose the safe and slightly longer option around the golf club.

Anonymous said...

Historical duplicate/misleading attendance numbers cleanup project: n=4