Length: 19½ km (12.1 miles). Toughness: 4/10
10:07 Basingstoke & Alton train from Waterloo (Clapham Jct 10:15, Wimbledon 10:22), arriving Fleet at 11:04. You need to be in the portion for Basingstoke (usually the front half).
Trains back from Fleet are half-hourly at xx:02 & xx:32. These pause at Woking to allow the Alton train to attach, and on the xx:32 it looks like you can save 10 minutes by nipping across to Platform 2 for a faster train (CLJ & WAT only).
This walk is somewhat longer than I'd usually pick for a Sunday, but it's not tough and there are long shady sections alongside Fleet Pond and the Basingstoke Canal which will help on the off chance that it's a hot sunny day. There's also a long stretch through heathland and woodland in a large MoD training area, including a hill where you walk alongside a water channel faintly reminiscent of a Madeiran levada.
There are several possible lunch pubs on or around the walk route, but the one closest to the walk's midpoint has sometimes had a rather limited food menu. If you definitely want a pub lunch, check the walk notes and decide which one you fancy. If you bring your own provisions you'll find the pubs are well spaced out and make good watering-holes, with the final one being just across the road from the station.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.318 page. There are several places where the walk notes offer an alternative route, so don't be surprised to see some adventurous souls deviating from the GPS route.
1 comment:
Ten off the train met two arriving independently, so n=12 set off in w=dry-and-partly-sunny weather. Two or three wanting a pub lunch had been unable to get through to The Windmill so stopped off earlier at The Tweseldown. The others carried on to Ewshot and discovered that its slightly chaotic pub was in fact open and serving food, but just had their sandwiches in the churchyard and/or a quick drink. As luck would have it we all met up again and more or less stayed together until the Fox & Hounds, where half carried on and half stopped for a mid-afternoon refresher.
I expect most got home in good time but my little group of three dawdled along, aiming for the 17:32. We arrived at the station to see a much delayed 17:02 pulling away, then watched the indicator with wearisome resignation as ours went through the all-too-familiar stages of late, delayed and (a minute before it was due) cancelled. The next one was also late. Not for the first time I wondered why I hadn't come by car and got home before nightfall.
Apart from one overgrown footpath there were no problems with the walk and it was good to see plenty of locals taking advantage of public access to the MoD lands. Not unreasonably most of the group stuck to the main (GPS) route, but after neglecting this walk for a couple of years I was pleased to discover that most of my fiddly little ventures off piste still just about worked.
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