9.54 train from Waterloo (10.01 Clapham Junction) to Bentley, arriving 11.02
Buy a day return to Bentley
For walk directions click here, for basic details of the walk click here, for GPX click here, for a map of the route click here.
If those who did the Alton walk last week can stand to take the same train again - only this time an hour later!!!! - then with a bit of luck this walk should hopefully deliver some decent amounts of flowering heather. Leastways, on the train back from Alton last week it looked as if the heather was coming out: but it is fickle stuff, and you can never guarantee.
The walk consists of a start through the ancient woodland of Alice Holt Forest and then comes out onto the heathlands near Frensham Great Pond. The latter supposedly has a wild swimming beach, but every time I have passed it at this time of year there has been a sign up warning of blue-green algae.
A little later, at Frensham Little Pond, on you have a choice of a longer route via Hankley Common (the 16.2 mile option), which includes various points of interest including a D-Day training site with a replica Atlantic Wall, or a more direct route (the 12 mile walk) to Tilford.
There are pub lunch options on either walk, but quite late on. (I suppose that I ought really to post the 8.54am train, but thought I would be merciful...) As it is, on the short walk it is 7.8 miles to the Barley Mow in Tilford: if you don't shilly-shally too much you might plausibly get there by 2pm, and as far as I can gather it serves food till 3pm, and pizzas all afternoon.
There also seems to be a snack bar at Frensham Great Pond (both walks: after 5.4 miles) and a National Trust Cafe at Frensham Little Pond (shorter walk only: after 6.7 miles)
On the longer walk only it is 8.5 miles to the Bel and Dragon in Churt, which seems to serve food all afternoon.
From Tilford there is a choice of endings, one more direct, the other reversing the start of the Farnham to Godalming walk in book one.
For tea, Tilford has both its pub and shop (serving hot drinks and cakes, apparently) if you have not lunched there. Or in Farnham there three possible pubs not far from the station...unless you want to schlep into the pretty town centre, where there may be cafes, if you get there in time.
Trains back from Farnham are at 28 and 58 past the hour
2 comments:
I am inclined to follow the travel advice on the walk: train closest to 09.00, if I can find it.
Austen
Well, after the apocalyptic forecast w=It-did-not-rain. Maybe a few drops at the start and a few at the Bariey Mow in Tilford, but that is it. I sweated in full waterproofs until lunchtime waiting for the lightening-riven deluges. They never came.
Let’s get straight to the second bit of bad news for those of you who didn’t come: the heather was wonderful, absolutely at its best. Rarely have I seen such glorious swathes of purple, darker and lighter hues creating a kaleidoscope of colour.
N=12 on the walk. Myself and another nature-loving companion got left behind, popping seeds on small balsam and seeing a rare Lesser Emperor dragonfly, among other delights. We also came across a nearly-free range piglet. He had slipped through the fence of his enclosure and had a chance to escape bacon-hood and be a wild boar. But then my colleague oinked at him and he fled terrified back to captivity.
All this meant that we had a dim idea of what the other ten walkers were up to, but several seemed to lunch, as we did, at the kiosk at Frensham Great Pond (menu: beefburger and chips or vegan burger and chips), and I think most (all?) then went on to do the long walk. We two did the shorter one, and stopped for tea at the National Trust cafe by the Little Pond (it seemed rude not to). In the woods we told some young ladies where to go (Don’t tell the Duke of Edinburgh people).
We met some of the longer walkers at the Barley Mow, which was doing its best to be a classic village pub - cricket on the green, locals talking about dogs. Almost as soon as we arrived the fast walkers pushed off. Nothing personal, I am sure.
They went the direct way to Farnham. We two took the slightly longer valley route. By now the sun had come out and a very pleasant evening it was. Some faster walkers got the 6.27 train. We lingered in the Mulberry and got the 7.57.
Post a Comment