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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.

Saturday, 23 December 2023

Saturday Walk - Farnham to Godalming

Length: 21.3 km (13.2 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 246/271m
Net Walking Time: ca. 5 hours
Toughness: 4 out of 10

Take the 09.24 Alton train from Waterloo (CJ 09.31, Surbiton 09.42), arriving Farnham 10.25. 
Missed the train? Take the 09.30 Portsmouth Harbour train and change at Woking (09.54/10.00). 
Return trains from Godalming: xx.12, xx.25 and xx.40 (from 40 mins journey time).  
Buy a return to Farnham. You will also need to buy a single from Godalming to Guildford on the return.
 
This walk starts and ends along the River Wey. It follows the start of the North Downs Way through a narrow forested valley, passing close to the ruins of Waverley Abbey (English Heritage), and goes through woods to The Donkey, the suggested walker friendly lunchtime pub in Charles Hill (booking advised). After lunch, there are further sandy bridleways through woods before entering the open parklands of the Peper Harrow estate which has its own church and cricket pitch. Then continue along a narrow wooded valley beside the River Wey to tea in Godalming's ancient centre.
Because many of the paths (particularly after lunch) are sandy bridleways, the walk tends not to be as muddy as other walks can be in winter. 
 
Lunch: The Barley Mow in Tilford (7.0 km into the walk, food to 15.00) or The Donkey in Charles Hill (9.7 km into the walk, food to 14.30). 
Tea: various options in Godalming, check the webpage or the pdf.
 
For walk directions, map, photos, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=1.12

1 comment:

Walker said...

Only four of us on the train at Waterloo, but n=10 assembled on the platform at Farnham, so a nice sized group after all. There was a bit of sun, but it didn’t last, so basically w=cloudy-and-mild. Paths were VERY dry for the most part, making this a good choice of walk for the time of year.

Five expressed interest in a pub lunch: the others presumably had sandwiches and carried on to Godalming. The morning passed pleasantly. When we got to the Donkey, we found it moderately busy and nice and cosy. The food was delicious and in ample portions - very seasonal, with lots of “hygge”.

After lunch, two went on to Godalming and three looped back to Farnham using the Farnham Circular route of the Guildford to Farnham walk. We reached there at 3.30pm - perhaps a little early. One got the train straightaway to watch the footie. Two of us went to the town centre for tea and a look at the Christmas lights. I pen these lines on the 17.28 train, which is taking an odd route home due to a broken rail near Woking…