Length: HOOP Route – from 10.3 km to 26.8 km
Ascent/Descent: from 215/169m to 623m
Net Walking Time: from ca. 2 ½ hours to ca. 6 ½
hours
Toughness: 8 out of 10 (full route)
Sunset in Haslemere will be at 16.34, so there will be
light for walking until about 17.10.
Longer versions possible by walking
to and/or from the Orbital Route along one of the spoke routes (see below for
more details).
Walk only parts of the HOOP and take a
bus back to Haslemere or walk back along one of the spoke routes (see below for
more details).
A later start (09.30 train/10.30 bus) would be enough to beat
darkness on the shorter walks).
Take the 08.30 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo
(08.55 Woking), arrives Haslemere at 09.21.
Then take Bus 70, hourly from opposite the
station (direction Midhurst) at 09.30, arrives Kiln Meadow, Kingsley
Green 09.41.
Return buses: xx.19 to 17.19, then 18.24 and 19.29.
Return trains: xx.02, xx.14, xx.30.
This is an interesting circular route orbiting around Haslemere,
covering plenty of areas and sights familiar from other SWC walks, but also
lots of new ground, for example Bramshott Common, the Waggoner’s Wells ponds,
Whitmore Vale, Grayswood, Ansteadbrook and the woods west of Black Down. The
Haslemere Outer Orbital Path (HOOP) was originally conceived by Neil Hook and
is featured – with written directions – on his website.
The route starts at a bus stop in Kingsley Green served by an hourly service (Mon-Sat), 3 km outside of Haslemere, but additional start or finish points can usefully be accessed either by other bus lines or on foot, along spoke routes from Haslemere Station, using some of the existing SWC walks. For details see below. Fully written directions for the spoke routes are available in the walk directions pdf linked on the SWC webpage.
Walk Options : four bus lines and six fully written up spoke
routes enable you to:
- walk just parts of the HOOP,
- avoid the bus journeys at start or finish by walking from/to Haslemere
Station.
For details see the webpage and study the route map.
Lunch and Tea : The Prince of Wales,
Hammer Vale, 4.6 km into the route; The
Fox & Pelican, Grayshott, 10.3 km into the route; Café Twenty5,
Hindhead, 12.6 km into the route; The Devil’s Punch Bowl,
Hindhead, 12.8 km into the route; The
National Trust Café, Hindhead, 12.8 km into the route; The Wheatsheaf Inn, Grayswood, 16.7 km into the route (currently closed); Harper’s Steakhouse & Bar,
Haslemere Station.
For summary, walk directions, map, height
profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.377
2 comments:
Contrary to my walk post, The Wheatsheaf Inn seems to be open again, and - I quote - "now fully refurbished to a high standard".
I do like their spiel on children in the pub restaurant: "We welcome well-behaved children to The Wheatsheaf Inn but the rest will be made into pies!"
Just n=2 up for this early start on a w=dry-with-misty-start day.
We got going at a quick pace and held that, not really much slowed down by modest amounts of mud. Admiring the orgy of green, brown and yellow leaves (on the tree, falling, or on the ground), while observing the plentiful mushrooms and fungi, we reached Grayshott before noon, ie too early for The Fox & Pelican.
We therefore called The Wheatsheaf Inn in Grayswood to book a table for 13.00 hours and marched on. We got there on time and found it indeed "fully refurbished to a high standard". The interior, the roof, the wet rooms...all brand-new. And a very generous outdoor area added as well. Service and food were good although food delivery was somewhat slow, which eventually would cost us the 16.19 bus back to H'mere.
Knowing we'd miss that bus by about 20 minutes, we improvised a longer ending to a bus stop nearer to H'mere and caught the 17.19, which - in contrast to most other times I tried the changeover - DID connect to the (fast) 17.32 train.
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