Length: 19.6 km (12.2 miles) 3/10
A surprise if you haven't been here before - Oxshott Heath and Esher Common constitute a huge area of open heath land only a few stops from London. The club usually seems to do this walk in the winter when the latter part can be very muddy (and a railway underpass flooded on one occasion) so I thought it would be good to try it when the heather is in bloom. After leaving the heath, the walk is mainly in forest with some more open sections on Epsom Common.
The directions describe the finish at Ashtead but you can finish at Epsom as shown on the map.
Travel: Waterloo 1003, arriving Oxshott 1038, should fit in with the lunch pub. 4-5 return trains an hour from Ashtead and Epsom. Buy a return to Effingham Junction where the Oxshott and Ashtead/Epsom lines meet.
Lunch: The Star, Kingston Road, Leatherhead is large and has a beer garden. It is reached after 13.1 kms. Tel: 01372 842416. Prince's Coverts and Ashtead Common (just before and after the pub) have picnic areas.
Tea: The Woodman, 238 Barnett Wood Lane, Ashtead. Tel: 01372 274524. With an Epsom finish you could try the Cricketers 01372 729384 which is on the walk route to the station.
Shortening the walk: the walk directions make a number of suggestions including a finish at Claygate (making a walk of 11.9 km/7.4 miles) but the simplest short cut is to go straight through Ashtead Common from the Star to Ashtead station, missing out Epsom Common and cutting 4.3 km/2.7 miles.
PS The Oxshott Heath/Esher Common part of this walk was done in the evening fairly recently but there is almost no overlap with the Horton Park/Epsom/Ashtead walk posted for the evening of Thursday 24.
For walk directions, map and GPX click here
T=swc.178
3 comments:
When I last did this walk in March, the Cricketer's Pub on Epsom Common had a range of ciders as well as tea and coffee options...
If you are planning to end in Epsom, TFL bus services also run from there to some parts of London: https://bustimes.org/search?q=epsom
Ashtead station is on the edge of the common and far superior if you ask me!
#N=21, #W=Sunny, After a very wet July and early August it was good to see blue sky and feel the warmth of the sunshine. Even with GPS we had some difficulty following the route through the common, taking the wrong side of the Black Pond and not getting quite on to the ridge after the Mole. Its been a very good growing season for the bracken now over 2m tall and obscuring the section of path under the pylons. It's quite a long way to the Star and most stopped for a picnic. Three of us took a four wheeled short cut and had lunch, slightly formal, table service only, but good food and well kept beer. The picnicers joined us for a drink including two who were on a later train. After the pub some did the full walk and others took a shorter route to Ashford Station.
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