Length:
26.0 km/16.2 mi [shorter options available, see below]
Ascent/Descent:
416/429m
Net
Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness:
7 out of 10
Take
the 09.00 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo, change at Woking onto the 08.54
stopping service from Waterloo to Alton (09.24/09.30).
That train calls Clapham
J at 09.01. Train arrives Bentley at 10.02. Buy
a Bentley (Hampshire) return.
Return
trains from Farnham are on xx.28 and xx.58 (direct). There is also a xx.04,
changing at Guildford.
This
is a varied walk on the Hampshire/Surrey border, incorporating ancient forests
(Alice Holt Forest, Farnham Heath and Bourne Wood), some large and popular
heathlands on Frensham Common (with several large ponds, one of which has
dedicated swimming areas, and the Devil's Jumps) and the more remote Hankley
Common, a large Scots Pine and heather-covered area including the heathland
ridges of Kettlebury Hill and Yagden Hill, which make for some very scenic
views.
On Hankley Common you have an opportunity to explore a D-Day training site with
a replica section of The Atlantic Wall and assorted other defensive structures.
From the picturesque village of Tilford, north of Hankley Common, with its pub
and cricket pitch on the green you follow quiet woodland paths and lanes (with
the occasional steep ascent) to Farnham.
Walk
Options:
Bus
19 (Haslemere
to Aldershot via Farnham, hourly Mon-Sat) to/from Great Pond Car Park (after
9.1 km of walking) enables a very short walk or a late start or a circular or a
‘Lasso’-style route.
A
Shortcut from Frensham Little Pond to Tilford cuts out the Flashes area of Frensham
Common with the Devil’s Jumps and all of Hankley Common. [cuts 6.8
km/4.2 mi and 136m ascent, rated 4/10].
An
Alternative Ending from Tilford along the Greensand Way and the River Wey cuts
some steep ascents.
Lunch: Several options for elevenses (see the pdf) plus two principal pub stops.
They are the Bel and the Dragon in Churt (13.7
km/8.5 mi, food served to 17.00) or The
Barley Mow in Tilford (12.6 km/7.8 mi into the short walk, food served to
15.00).
Tea: a café en route along
the short walk, a pub and a village store in Tilford on all options, plus three
pubs in Farnham at the end. See the pdf for details.
For
walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml
files click here.
T=swc.184
2 comments:
One of Britain’s largest spiders, the Great Fox-Spider, has been discovered on a Ministry of Defence training ground in Surrey, having last been spotted in 1993 on Hankley Common. It has 8 eyes and wraparound vision!
5 off the train and 4 car drivers, so n=9, with the rain starting the very moment we stepped off the train and getting harder and not stopping until 1 o'clock. By then the lunchers on the full walk (3) had reached the Bel and Dragon, where we had very good meals and soaked up the fireplace-generated warmth. Meantime, the sky broke and it started the relentless improvement of weather to mostly blue sunny skies. The 2 picnickers on the main walk had already moved on and they caught the 16.28 train, us 3 the 16.58. 4 walked the short walk, cutting out Hankley Common. w=hard-rain-to-1-then-improving-to-blue-skies
The ground: not very muddy at all, just as I had hoped, considering the amount of wet we've had. Mainly tarmac and cycle-track-ready gravel paths in Alice Holt Forest anyway, then two mud-prone stretches in the wood and along a bridleway from Frensham Mill to Great Pond, but they were not too bad, no slipping and sliding certainly, no depth to the mud. Plenty of standing water on the sandy heaths of course, but easy to navigate around and never a problem for boots. The rest of the woods were fine as well.
The autumnal colours: very good. Alice Holt is mainly oak forest and conifer plantations but interspersed with plenty broadleafs so was lovely. The heaths were really interesting, with plenty of birch in colour, brownish grasses and reeds, even the dying bracken adding to the mix, so together with the dark purple heather, sandy soil and green conifers it was quite a picture, especially in the sun. Finally, the woods nearer Farnham were a fine mix of colours.
Also: Massive numbers of mushrooms, almost everywhere. A gaggle of swimmers at Frensham Great Pond (where are the SWC swimming-aficionados when you need them?). No dog walkers while it was chucking down, but a handful of other walkers. No Great Fox-Spider spotted, maybe it was too sunny?
All in: a fine autumn walk, I thought.
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