Length: 16.7 km (10.4 miles) 6/10 for the main walk to Gomshall
It's a good time of year to do this hilly and hopefully bluebell-bedecked walk around Leith Hill. But for those in training for the Scotland trip or other mountainous adventures, I suggest an alternative ending over Box Hill, finishing at Westhumble station. This is not the full Surrey Peaks Challenge undertaken by some on 9 April 2022 (although you can do that if you want of course) but should still be an invigorating leg stretcher of about 22 km (13.8 miles) with 600m of ascent, say 9/10*. There are approximate directions from the Wotton Hatch lunch pub to Box Hill and a link to a map and temporary (also approximate!) GPX file for the extension towards the end of this post.
For those not going to Box Hill, the walk owner recommends a short detour to visit the Leith Hill Rhododendron Wood.
Travel: 0941 from Victoria (Clapham Junction 0948, Epsom 1024) arriving Holmwood 1047. Return trains from Gomshall via Guildford at 1501, 1603, 1731 and 1831; or via Redhill at 1623, 1722 and 1822. For this option, get a return to Gomshall (valid as far as Dorking on the outward route and might be accepted to Holmwood, but you could be asked to pay a small supplement as Holmwood and Gomshall are on different lines).
Return trains from Box Hill and Westhumble at 35 past the hour to Waterloo and 46 to Victoria. For this option, get a return to Holmwood.
Lunch: the walker-friendly Wotton Hatch pub (tel.01306 887694) in Wotton, some 11.5 km into the walk. This pub serves food all day in comfortable internal and outdoor seating areas (both quite extensive) and has a good value set menu in addition to an a la carte menu.
Tea: For the Gomshall finish, the Abinger Hammer Tea Rooms are just over a mile from the end of the walk. Just before Gomshall station, the Compasses Inn (tel. 01483-202506) at Gomshall Mill has a pleasant beer garden with a stream outside (the Lavender Goose tearoom is closed but I think the Gomshall Mill pub has reopened if someone would like to check :-)).
For the Box Hill finish, we might not reach the Box Hill visitor centre cafe in time – it closes at 4.30. In which case it's the Stepping Stones (01306-889932) pub a couple of minutes before Westhumble station.
Shortening the walk: The route intersects the Dorking circular walk SWC 274 so if you want to finish at Dorking you could follow that from Friday Street or Wotton, a slightly shorter (15 km) route.
The easiest way to shorten the walk is to catch the hourly 32 bus to Guildford or Redhill opposite the Wotton Hatch pub. If you have tea in Abinger Hammer you can catch the same bus from there or, as detailed in the walk directions, simply turn right, westwards, from the tearoom and stay on the A25 to Gomshall Station.
Extending the walk to Box Hill: using a map, there is an obvious path north from the Wotton Hatch to reach the North Downs Way (but in more detail: cross the A25 with care, then instead of following the Gomshall route through St John's churchyard, cross a stile to your right after 80m. In 600m at Vale Farm, where a vehicle track veers right, take the footpath straight on through woodland. Keep on this path, crossing another track and the railway line, then continuing up through more woodland until you reach the clear North Downs Way path at the top of a steep rise). Then follow the NDW east all the way to Box Hill. From the Visitor Centre there, you can follow the very end of walk SWC.64 Box Hill circular via Mickleham to the station.
For the main walk, directions, map and GPX are here
For the extension to Box Hill, #/test/sandy/Wotton-to-Box-Hill.gpx
* Based on the shorter walk SWC.64 being 8/10
T=1.42
2 comments:
Footpath 153 Capel and Ockley that crosses railway line I’m main walk from 1 March awaiting repairs to required for public safety.
10 of us set off from Holmwood station after a discussion with a smaller group of ramblers who were going to Leith Hill via Coldharbour. We decided to do the non-railway crossing start, mainly to reduce the mud quotient, so apologies to Southern Explorer who was waiting for us in the village, but caught us up later. So #11 in all.
The threat of incoming rain put most off from going to Box Hill, in fact it started early when we got to Leith Hill. Three of us pressed on to do the longer walk or get home early; I hear three got a bus from the Wotton Hatch, while 6 headed for Gomshall in at least two groups. That left just two of us to carry on to the North Downs Way and Box Hill in #drizzle-with-one-heavy-shower. That hit us just as we reached the top of Box Hill but luckily the cafe was still open so we took shelter and had a welcome tea/coffee and cake.
Our timing was less good in terms of trains home so one walked to Dorking while I caught the 465 bus, pleased to have done the training walk in weather that really was't too bad.
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