Book 1 Walks 42 and 49: Surrey Peaks Challenge -- Holmwood to Box Hill t=1.42
Distance: 17.8 miles (28.7 km) for the full challenge;
shorter options available – Holmwood to Gomshall as written (10.4 miles/16.7
km) or Holmwood to Box Hill (without going up Box Hill (about 10.8 miles/17.0km)
Ascent: 914 meters
for full challenge (coincidently, just reaching Munro status)
Difficulty: 12 out of 10 for full challenge; 6 out of 10
for walk to Gomshall and 8 out of 10 for walk to Box Hill without ascending the
Hill
Train: Take the 9:28
AM Horsham-bound train from London Bridge
arriving in Holmwood at 10:31. Given the length of the full challenge, some
planning to do the full route, may wish to start an hour earlier by taking the
8:28 AM train. Return trains from Box Hill & Westhumble are at 35 and 39
past the hour until 23:35 (plenty of time to finish the full route!) and from
Gomshall at 17:21; 17:31; 19:21; 19:39 and 20:37. Unless walking to
Gomshall, buy a day return to Holmwood. If walking to Gomshall, buy a “any permitted”
day return to Gomshall.
I have been keen to post this walk combination
for years and had originally planned to post it prior to the 2020 Scottish trip
that did not take place. It takes in several “local” peaks to make a “Surrey
Challenge” and with 914 meters of total ascent is the perfect warm-up walk for
those heading to Braemar in May. The walk route is bookended with two Book 1
favorites – Walk 42 (Holmwood to Gomshall) and Walk 49 (Box Hill
Circular option). There is a map-led middle section across the valley and up to
the North Downs Way along the escarpment and across Ranmore Common
before descending to Denbies where the route of Walk 49 can be picked-up. A temporary GPX file (in bright light blue) has been added to Walk 42
showing the route. You can find more information about the two
component walks here and here.
The recommended lunch stop is the Wooton Hatch
pub in Wooton (about 7 miles/11 km into the walk). Tea, afternoon and/or
evening refreshments can be enjoyed at the café at Denbies or the Stepping
Stones pub near Box Hill station or at the Abinger Hammer Tea
Rooms or Compasses Inn in Gomshall.
Enjoy the walk!
4 comments:
Just tried to book a table at the Wooton Hatch it seems to be fully booked for 2 hours each side of 13:15. Best bring a sandwich. The Stephen Langton Pub is still closed although available at the very reasonable rent of £45,000 pa!
I have a booking at 1pm for 8. Perhaps the garden is open on a first come basis?
Can I still come to Scotland even if I do not do the training?
Austen
This was a very eventful day -- so it is hard to know where to start....But, I think first off will be a big congratulations to the 8 completing the full First [Annual] Surrey Peaks Challenge (Leith Hill (294m); Ranmoor Common (189m); Box Hill (200m); White Hill (150m) and Norbury Park (120m))-- well done team! With an equal big thank you to everyone assisting with the rescue effort when one of our challengers went over on her ankle on the last 500 meters of the route -- a real team effort. Hopefully our injured companion has a smooth and swift recovery...
From the appointed train, the day started in chaos with probably near 50 people crammed onto the small Holmwood platform from a combination of at least three different walking groups....Somehow, the 18 saturday walkers managed to separate themselves from the throng, run through our usual formalities and set off on the alternate start route ahead of the other various groups....The day was w=a-perfectly-clear-and-sunny-walking-day. From our first summit of Leith Hill you could see from Canary Wharf to the South Downs from one spot...really amazing...After inspecting our onward route, up to Ranmore Common and Box Hill, the front runners set off to the pub -- just as the next group were arriving and settling in for a proper elevensies with a hot drink from the kiosk. In the pub, we encountered three others who had taken the earlier train, making for n=21 in total. The pub admirably fielded the 12 or so of us who turned up in dribs and drabs for our 8 person booking with no one going hungry....10 people set off from the lunch pub for the full challenge in a group of 3 and a bit later a group of 7....One of the first three succumbed to a quick tea break at Denbies and we were not sure if we would see her again (but we did at the William the 4th)....most of the rest regrouped at the summit of Box Hill to admire our route from the clearly visible Leith Hill tower....Various routes were take across Box Hill, down Juniper top, up White Hill and down to the William the 4th in Mickleham....where we all but 2 (who went to catch a bus just before the White Hill ascent) regrouped for some refreshments before the final ascent up to Norbury Park. On our final descent we reconnected with 2 who had done a valley route from lunch. Sadly on the final 500 meters one of our group badly twisted her ankle providing an unplanned exercise in rescuing an injured party....with a good show of team effort, we attained the road where we were able to ask a motorist to give her a lift to the pub just down the road where we all waited with her (enjoying some food and drink) until her lift home arrived.
Most of the challengers seemed to enjoy the route which had great views and a number of nice stretches of wildflowers...wood anemones, a good showing of early bluebells, celandines, stitchwort.....Also spotted, one deer on Box Hill and some lambs that had quite literally just moments before our passing by had just come into this world...remarkable to see....Hopefully, their first night was not too cold.
I believe about 3 or 4 people did the walk to Gomshall, 5 did a semi-valley route to Box Hill, 1 a full valley route and 1 a bus to Dorking....certainly feel free to supplement the report...
One last point.....a number of personal items were accidently been left behind at various points along the walk...but, I am happy to report that everyone was reunited with their belongings....even after the better part of the day had passed....
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