9.50 train from Victoria (9.57 Clapham Junction, 10.10 East Croydon) to Woldingham, arriving 10.26.
Buy a day return to Oxted
For walk directions, GPX and map click here.
Having been parachuted into this slot at the last minute at the request of another walk poster, I canvassed ideas on the train back from Whitchurch last Saturday, and this is the result.
This is a simple and pleasant walk up onto the North Downs, starting on its northern side in a tranquil valley, then climbing up onto the ridge, following it for a distance before descending to Godstone, where there are three pubs and a cafe for lunch.
The afternoon is a bit more low-lying, though still gently hilly, and delivers you to the familar delights of Oxted. The early-closing cafes here encounter severe competiton from the Weatherspoons-run Oxted Inn by the station, with its bottomless hot drinks and ultra-cheap desserts. (They also serve beer...)
Trains back are at 20 past to London Bridge and 23 and 53 past to Victoria, the London Bridge train being quite a bit faster than the 23 past and slightly faster than the 53 past.
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N=10 on this walk on a w=grey day, promised sunny intervals not materialising - but at least it was fairly mild and did not rain. Mud was sometimes a bit tedious, but mostly slithery rather than gloopy (some gloop though).
A surprise for me on the North Downs ridge in the morning was the number of bluebell woods in evidence: also one wild garlic wood. Obviously it will be a couple of months before they flower, but it was nice to contemplate the happier times ahead.
In Godstone we went to the Hare and Hounds - basic but friendly, and with a nice menu (lasagne, veggie curry). Four ate, one sandwichista came in for soup, and two had drinks. That left three who did something else: we did not see them again.
After lunch lots of ponds. Also some primroses, daffodils and a huge area of snowdrops in a wood just beyond Godstone. Birdsong included mistle thrush, great tit, blue tit, and (near Oxted) a blackbird. Just before lunch we heard two woodpeckers.
There were divergent views about the best route into Oxted. Four of us simply stayed on the Greensand Way once we had joined it (with more bluebell woods evident). We met a fifth in Oxted: not sure which way he came.
It was only 3.30pm but the independent Oxted cafes were already closed, closing or “only doing takeaways”. So Wetherspoons it was. Three of us had no problems with this, one had to overcome his distaste for the chain owner’s position on European integration, and one decided he could not overcome such scruples and set off to find refreshment somewhere else.
The four of us got the 4.20 train. This arrived back at London Bridge at the criminally early hour of 4.50pm. Now what am I going to do for the rest of the evening…?
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