Wednesday Walk Dorking Circular - out along the North Downs escarpment to Wotton, then back through woodland, a fisheries and the Nower

SWC 274 - Dorking Circular Walk 

Length: Short Walk omitting Friday Street:  16.3 km (10.1miles)  For longer options - see Directions 

Toughness: 4 out of 10       One steep(ish) ascent of the Nower, remainder gentle ups and downs. Some overgrown paths in afternoon 

Either

London Victoria: 10-11 hrs   Southern service to Dorking (Main)   CJ 10-18;  Sutton 10-43 hrs

Arrive Dorking (Main): 11-07 hrs

or

London Waterloo: 10-24 hrs   Southwestern service to Dorking (Main)   CJ 10-33; Wimbledon 10-40; Epsom:10-58 hrs

Arrive Dorking (Main) : 11-14 hrs

Would Victorians please wait for Waterlooers in front of the station

Note: you can travel on an infrequent train to Dorking West or Dorking Deepdene and avoid the start of the walk, but for most it is an easier journey from London to Dorking (Main), and the start of the walk is not unpleasant

Return

Dorking to Victoria: 17 & 43 mins past the hour 

Dorking to Waterloo: 32 mins past the hour (or take the Victoria bound train and change at Epsom)

Rail ticket: buy a day return to "Dorking Stations"

I suggest we do the short version of this walk today, given the main walk (11.7 mils) goes via Friday Street, where the lunch pub there remains closed. The long version of the walk (14.1 miles) goes via Abinger Common. But the short walk should be plenty for SWC mid-week walkers - and I like it the most !

Leaving Dorking Main you soon walk through Meadowbank Recreation Ground as you make your way past Dorking West station to Denbies Hillside, for a woodland stretch. This comes out on to the Old Carriage Road on the North Downs Ridge. You stay on this track all the way, in and out of woodland stretches, until you reach White Down Lease, in the open.  Here you turn left away from the ridge track along a field edge, to go under the railway line (Redhill to Guildford) and through a farm to come out onto a country lane. This takes you to grassy fields below the church of St John the Evangelist, Wotton. Climb up the grassy bank to the church and take the surfaced drive down to Wotton. Cross the busy A25 road and opposite you is the Wotton Hatch pub - your lunch stop today.  If you want an easy day today you can catch the hourly 32 bus from here back to Dorking.  

After lunch, on the short walk, you take a minor road to the side of the pub before taking a sunken lane in and out of woodland, You turn off this lane down an often overgrown path to Longmore Lane before this leads to Bury Hill Fisheries. From here it is a 1km undulating leg to Milton Heath, where you start your climb of the Nower on the Greensand Way. At the top you pass an ornamental temple. From here the walk continues on a broad grassy path along a ridge then down to the outskirts of Dorking. On through the town, stopping for tea (see the Directions) before you walk back along the edge of Meadowbank Recreation Ground to Dorking Main railway station. 

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Walk Directions are here: L=swc.274