Length: 15 km (9.3 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10 Some ups and downs but nothing too steep
Either
London Waterloo: 09-45 hrs Southwestern service to Portsmouth & Southsea CJ 09-52; Woking 10-13; Haslemere : 10-49 hrs
Arrive Liphook: 11-01 hrs
Or
London Waterloo: 10-00 hrs Southwestern service to Haslemere does NOT stop at CJ
Arrive Haslemere: 10-52 hrs Change trains
Leave Haslemere: 10-56 hrs South-western service to Portsmouth & Southsea (as above)
Arrive Liphook: 11-01 hrs
Return
Haslemere to Waterloo: 4 fast trains an hour at approx 00, 15, 25 & 37 mins past the hour
Rail ticket: buy a day return to Liphook
If you like woods, this is the walk for you. Apart from Valewood Park in the afternoon, today's walk is almost entirely through mixed woodland of oak, beech and chestnut trees. We might be lucky and catch some autumn leaf colour before leaves finally fall.
Lunch is taken in the village of Fernhurst at the popular - and usually good - Red Lion pub. It is under new management so let's hope the previous managers high standards are maintained. The picnic spot for our sandwichers is just down the road in the recreation ground.
After lunch we have to negotiate some uphill bridleways which can be notoriously muddy if it has rained persistently during earlier weeks. Once through them we have a pleasant leg through Valewood Park in the open before one final uphill section on a sunken, woodland bridleway takes us into Haslemere. Tea is usually taken at Darnleys or Hemingways, opposite one another in the High Street.
T=1.6
Walk directions are here : L=1.6
5 comments:
Visited Red Lion in Fernhurst last Wednesday. New management, and they asked us to book as short of staff. So worth noting, praps.
Thanks Gavin
I have made a booking for six at 1 pm. This walk usually attracts a decent turnout (weather excepted) so no bad thing for someone else to make a reservation if they are planning to have lunch at the pub.
I'm on train,needing food at Fernhurst, and an HSB or two.
Btw, 9.45 train from Waterloo stops at CJ, and accepts cheap day return.
n=13 of us alighted from the train at Liphook. No car drivers today. It was raining in London as we made our way to Waterloo or Clapham Junction but by the time we reached western Surrey, the rain had passed through, leaving us with a w=lovely-sunny-late-autumn-day-turning-to-sunshine-and-showers-after-lunch, in temperatures around 12 degrees C - ideal for country walking.
The autumn leaf colours did not disappoint: rich colours on the ground to soften our tread or in the trees, with leaves soon to fall. The going under foot today could be described as "soft and wet", with some mud. The bridleways after lunch, notorious for being a wet mud-fest in winter, were very manageable today - but soon they will be their usual 'orrible muddy selves.
On reaching Fernhurst 5 of us stoped at the Red Lion for lunch, whilst our 8 colleagues stopped at the recreation ground down the road from the pub to have their picnics. The pub lunchers did not see the picnickers again - we hope they enjoyed their afternoon. The pub served us promptly and we all enjoyed our meals.
During our lunch break it began to rain for a short while. As the lunchers set out along and up those notorious bridleways we had a fifteen minute shower which was just heavy enough to warrant the donning of. waterproofs. When the rain stoped the sun came out and we enjoyed sunny conditions all the way to Haslemere.
On reaching our destination town at 4 pm, 3 of our group headed straight for the railway station, whilst 2 of us went to Hemingways for tea and an indulgent slab of delicious cake.
On arriving at Haslemere railway station the information boards all showed trains to Waterloo as being delayed - problems between Petersfield and Liss - but luckily for us a train arrived within five minutes of our intended departure time and we were whisked back to London in comfort.
I believe the thirteen of us all enjoyed today's late autumn outing in better than the forecasted weather. Very nice SWC company, too.
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