Box Hill Circular T=swc.64
Length: 10.1 miles (16¼ km). Four hours 40 minutes walking time
This short but strenuous North Downs walk traverses a series of hills in a clockwise loop north and east of Box Hill & Westhumble station: Norbury Park, Mickleham Downs, Headley Heath and finally Box Hill itself. There are many fine viewpoints and in several places you can see your earlier route from a new perspective.
Trains: Get the 0925 Horsham train (Clapham 0932) from London Victoria, arriving Box Hill & Westhumble at 1019. There is also a 0924 Dorking train from Waterloo (Wimbledon 0940) arriving Box Hill & Westhumble 1011. The Waterloo train is more expensive. Return trains are xx33 (Waterloo) & xx39 (Victoria)
Lunch: King William IV (food all day) or the Running Horses (food all day), both in Mickleham (6.2 km/3.8 mi).
Tea: There is a popular café inside the National Trust Visitor Centre at the top of Box Hill. The Stepping Stones pub (open all day), a short walk from the station. Pilgrim Cycles at the station seems to be closed at weekends according to their website.
6 comments:
Is it Box hill and Westhumble station or Dorking st. please?
The clue is in the walk name, but I've updated the post
Hi PeteG, I'm new to the site and was planning on coming on this walk. I just missed the train and the next one is in an hour. I will try and catch up with you all.
I made it to the King Will lunch pub if anyone is around (I'm dressed in black with square glasses). Otherwise I will have to catch you on another walk.
The route has been very good so far!
Our train seemed to be the only one out of Victoria that was not cancelled, so that was a good start. At Box Hill about 70 walkers disembarked. Most belonged to other groups. Ours possibly numbered 14 or possibly more; I counted but did not write it down. Two late starters joined us later, so let’s say n=16.
At the start it was misty, and a fog also descended on our direction finding. First we went a different way to evade an epic-sized meet-up group, and then we missed our way and ended up on a path I have never discovered in twenty years of exploring this area. Eventually we climbed a steep zigzag path to get back on piste, but at the top got lost doing an extra loop on Fetcham Downs that the walk author has added in so we don’t get to lunch too early (thanks!). We went right round in a circle and came back to our starting point, so I suppose it achieved its purpose.
At the William IV the landlord showed mild alarm at the arrival of customers, and when we admitted we had not booked, warned that he was “old”. But a youth from the village took our order with reasonable dispatch and the food was not ridiculously slow in coming. I was glad to have got there before the big walking group that turned up half an hour later, however (damned walking groups!)
While we ate the sun snuck out. So w=mist-clearing-to-sun. It was then a lovely golden afternoon, but someone seemed to have stolen my leg muscles. Never be fooled into thinking that this is a fairly short walk. It is a positive Eiger. If it goes up hill, it immediately goes down dale. Its creator takes a positive delight in seeking out the steepest climbs. The near vertical pull up onto Box Hill itself is particularly cruel so late in the walk.
We had a sit down there amidst the noisy kiddies. I then persuaded the others to eschew the National Trust cafe and go down the slope to Ryka’s instead. I was justly blamed because the latter did not have good cakes. Faced with 50 minutes to the next train (Southern and Southeastern seemed to have waited until passenger numbers returned and then cut the service frequency) some of us did an extra loop via Burford Meadow and the North Downs Way. Some got the 17.33 to Waterloo; the cognoscenti waited for the less busy and more modern 17.39 to Victoria. A pity that with just two trains an hour they have to leave within six minutes of each other.
So back to the mad maelstrom that is London on a Saturday night in the tail end of the Covid pandemic. Did it used to be like this? Have I forgotten?
Shri here - lovely to meet you all (Margaret, Robin, Francis and others) on my first outing with the group. Hope to see you guys and others another day, another time. Uploaded a few (half-decent) pictures from the day...
cheerio, S
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