10.00 Thameslink train from London Bridge (you can also get this train at 9.45 from St Pancras, 9.37 Finsbury Park or 10.17 from East Croydon) to Merstham, arriving 10.32
Best ticket: Merstham is annoyingly one stop outside zone 6. You can use Oyster (and contactless) but you get charged full fare with no railcard discounts. Best buy a one stop extension from Coulsdon South. At the end of the walk, Tattenham Corner, Tadworth and Epsom Downs stations are in zone six, but Epsom is now designated zone nine: this means you can use Oyster (and contactless) or a zone 1-9 travelcard, but LT free travel passes are not valid (you would have to pay for a one stop ticket to Ewell East or West: and this station DOES have barriers...).
This walk often gets trotted out in winter, but deserves a June outing. In its early stages it climbs to a beautiful downland escarpment with wonderful views (and perhaps some nice flowers and butterflies). The less scenic part after lunch crosses green fields - my records say these are good for buttercups, which are now at their best - and also goes past a World War I centenary wood, which this year seems to be over-run with ox-eye daisies. Finally you get to Epsom Racecourse, which out of season (ie most of the year) looks like some great ruin of a former civilisation.
Lunch is available after 5 miles or so at the Sportsman in Mogador (or Mogadishu as the spellchecker insists on calling it) or there are further options a bit later in Walton. Quite early in the walk there is also a charming tea kiosk on Reigate Hill, worth a stop for a coffee. At the end, as well as sundry pubs (see the walk home page), there is a nicely situated tea kiosk by the racecourse.
Options include to extend the walk at the end down to Epsom (11.3 miles) or Epsom Downs station (10.8 miles), or to shorten the walk by finishing at Tadworth (7.3 miles)
Trains back from Tattenham Corner are at 15 and 45 past the hour and from Tadworth at 19 and 49 past. From Epsom there are six trains an hour, going variously to Waterloo, Victoria and London Bridge, while from Epsom Downs station there are trains at 08 and 38 to Victoria, taking an hour.
1 comment:
I'd forgotten how pleasant this walk was ... through Gatton Park and up to the Downs escarpment with its magnificent views to the south. The first day it truly felt like summer with plenty of wooded areas and hedge lined paths providing an interlude from the direct sun. A cooling breeze oop top helped keep the heat bearable The morning's cloudless sky was later replaced with a few white fluffy clouds tempering the heat a little more.
Well done to Walker for selecting this walk and oh, the metrics, 7 gathered at the station and were joined by a SB walker (they were doing a walk later on from the same station) and a latecomer meant n=9 and the weather? w=reet_hot_but_with_a_cooling_breeze
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