Toughness: 5 out of 10
Shorter options of 11km (6.8 miles) or 17.2km (10.7 miles)
Longer option of 23.4km (14.5 miles)
Catch the 9.30 train from Waterloo (the fast Portsmouth Harbour train, not the stopper at 9.33) to Guildford, arriving 10.02.
From Clapham Junction get the 9.27 Exeter train and change at Woking (arriving 9.45, departing 9.55)
Buy a day return to Gomshall ("any permitted", if given a choice)
OK, OK, I am not going to get a Grammy for original programming by choosing this walk, but it is that weekend of the year, when the autumn colour will probably be all gone, and there is nothing to do in the countryside but walk in it (most of you probably feel like this the whole year...) so I am opting for a familiar, comforting choice. If there is any leaf tint left, then this walk has plenty of opportunties to see it: otherwise it has nice views, a cosy village for lunch, some slopes to stretch those leg muscles.
I have also made a little change to the walk. Year in, year out, I advocate the beauties of the slightly longer ending via Abinger Woods, and everyone ignores me to do the "main walk". Well, now the longer ending is the main walk (this is what the pyschologists know as a "nudge" approach) . The less exciting former ending is still there as a short cut, reducing the walk to 17.2km (10.7 miles). You can also quit out of the walk just after lunch - the 11km (6.8 mile) version.
Some people might want to continue along the lovely wooded North Downs Way to Box Hill or Dorking stations. When I created this walk, back in the late Middle Ages, this 14.5 mile long option was seen as a big walk for a long spring or summer's day: but some of you are now capable of knocking it off on one of the shortest days of the year: in which case, be my guest.
I will leave you to look at the home page to disentangle the various lunch options, but note that the Lavender Goose (former Gomshall Tea Rooms) is long gone, and I have not been to the Abinger Tea Rooms since pre-Covid, so your tea option in Gomshall is probably one of the pubs. On the Box Hill extension, the Denbies Vineyard tea place shuts at 4.30pm. Pilgrim Cycles by Box Hill station (which used to do tea) no longer opens on Saturdays. So the Stepping Stones pub is your tea stop here.
Trains back from Gomshall are at 17.21 via a change in Guildford to Waterloo and 17.31 via a change in Redhill to London Bridge, both taking about 1 hour. The next train is then 19.21 via Guildford and 19.44 via Redhill, so unless you are stopping for dinner, you are getting the 17.21 or 17.31, basically.
Trains back from Dorking are at 30 past to Waterloo and 07 and 36 past to London Bridge (normally Victoria, but not this week). The 30 past and the 36 past stop at Box Hill three minutes later (so it has two trains an hour but they are within 6 minutes of each other!)
3 comments:
18 assembled at the Guildford station, but we acquired at least three more as we went along, so n=21 on this walk. Given the weather forecast I confess I had been tempted to stay under the duvet, but actually the only rain we had was a little shower late morning (the Met Office rainfall radar showed a lot more just to the east of us). The very cruel north wind was also only rarely evident. Whether I had by chance picked a walk well-sheltered from northerlies or whether the wind was intermittent, I do not know. But the weather was mostly just w=grey.
The ground was not too muddy. The scenery was nice. Still a good few leaves on the trees but lots of them dead (oak and beech can hang onto brown leaves well into the winter) so I was not sure whether one could declare leaf fall over or not. All in all, the consensus seemed to be that this made a good outing for the time of year.
One of our number rang several of the pubs and found them full. He finally booked tables at the Compasses in Gomshall. But another walker enquiring at the William Bray in Shere found it had a large table vacant, and seven of us ate there. It is a long time since I have been to this pub and I was impressed both by its handsome furnishings and the efficiency of its staff. No complaints about the food either.
In the afternoon we did the “new” afternoon route - ie with the former (slightly) longer ending with its lovely downland views - and we got to the Compasses Inn at 4.30pm or so. We expected to see some of the rest of the group there, but there was no sign of them. I had also looked in on the Abinger Hammer tea rooms on the way but they weren’t there either (it was heartbreakingly deserted, tables neatly laid for tea, but no customers). So they must have dashed to the 3.21 or 3.30pm trains. We got the 5.21, just one of us going to Dorking on the 5.30pm.
9 of us ate at the Compasses and were agreeably surprised at the high quality of the food and the friendliness and promptness of the service. Perhaps we should put this pub back on the list of possibles in that area. Some continued for part of the afternoon walk but planned to catch the 15.21. Two others abandoned the walk at that point and went to see their grandchildren.
The Compasses IS "on the list of possibles" in this area. It is listed as one of the possible lunch pubs for this walk!!
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