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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 18 February 2018

Sunday walk - Sunningdale to Windsor or Runnymede

Sunningdale to Windsor or Staines
Length: 16km (9.9 miles) Toughness: 2/10

The original walk explores Virginia Water, Valley Gardens, Windsor Great Park and the Long Walk to Windsor Castle. A good part of the walk can be done on tarmac paths, which may be a welcome relief from the mud that currently afflicts many fields and footpaths.

Lunch is taken in a cafeteria overlooking the Savill Gardens. Those preferring a pub lunch could divert to the nearby Sun Inn (01784 432515) to which directions can be found in the Runnymede variation.

This alternative afternoon route diverts through fields and tracks to the historical Magna Carta monument at Runnymede meadows and then along the Thames path to Staines. The route is about 1km longer than the route to Windsor. Finishing in Staines simplifies your choice of train ticket, as you just buy a return to Sunningdale, rather then two separate tickets.

09:36 Reading train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 09:40, Clapham Junction 09:45, Wimbledon 09:52, Kingston 10:04, etc) arriving Sunningdale at 10:46. Note that these services are being diverted and not calling at Richmond. See the walk directions for train ticket options.

Return trains from Windsor and Eton Central to Paddington are at xx:02 and xx:22 (change at Slough, journey time 49 mins), or from Windsor and Eton Riverside to Waterloo at xx:01 (journey time 93 minutes). Trains from Staines to Waterloo are at xx:11 and xx:41 (journey time 59 minutes)and at xx:19 (journey time 75 minutes). All the Waterloo services are being diverted after Twickenham.

You will need to download the
walk directions, and also the Runnymede variation (see above) if you might want to do the alternative afternoon route.

T=1.18

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Going.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I am just wondering if you are sure that there's a 10:09 train to Reading on this Sunday.

My search says 9:36 Waterloo
10:46 Sunnindale

Anonymous said...

Yes, it does seem to be 9.36 from London to Sunningdale. Next train after that is 10.36 from London.

Sean said...

Thanks for spotting the problem with the train time. I've corrected the outward (and return) train info.

There are engineering works between Clapham Junction and Twickenham so trains are being diverted, with journey times about 20 minutes longer than normal.

PeteB said...

I think the last time I did this walk was some time in the late Cretaceous period in the SWC's history so I had forgotten virually everything about it. I decided to give it another go and n=7 of us set off on what is essentially a suburban/parkland walk and frankly at this time of year it is a bit dull although virtually mud-free (but not if you do the Runnymede option where a strip pf the field is very muddy). Probably better in Spring when at least there should be some decent flowers and shrubs to enjoy.
Most of us diverted to the Sun Inn which provided good quality meals really quickly. We reached the Thames where all except 1? ambled on to Staines along the Thames path. on this day the Staines option was preferable because of the better train service back to London and we reached the station to catch a 3.48 train to Waterloo. Weather w=dry-mild-with-some-sun.

KXwalker said...

We did this walk on Sunday (myself, my partner and a eight month old baby) and even managed to follow the section in the Rhododendrons where the wayfinding was complex to say the least. I do question, however, the distances in walk instruction 49 which are much longer than described.

49. In 130 metres exit the wood and turn right on a car-wide track, your direction 25°. In 160 metres your track joins an access track
and you keep ahead. In 60 metres you pass the entrance driveway to scout huts on your left-hand side.

We had lunch in the Savill Garden tent restaurant and finished between five and six. We arrived with the main party but didn't walk with them as we had some immediate baby related business to attend to right at the start!