Length: 12.9 km (8 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10
London Waterloo: 10-00 hrs SouthWestern service to Haslemere Does NOT stop at Clapham Junction
Arrive Guildford: 10-32 hrs Change trains
Leave Guildford: 10-53 hrs SouthWestern service from Guildford to Farnham
Arrive Wanborough: 10-59 hrs
Clapham Junctioners - with senior railcards
Clapham Junction: 09-52 hrs SouthWestern service from Waterloo to Portsmouth & Southsea
Arrive Guildford: 10-24 hrs Change trains
Leave Guildford: 10-53 hrs SouthWestern service from Guildford to Farnham (as above)
Arrive Wanborough: 10-59 hrs
Return
Godalming to Waterloo: 15-12, 15-28, 15-40, 16-12, 16-25, 16-40, 16-51, 17-12, 17-25 and so on
Rail ticket: Today you will need to buy a day return to Wanborough plus an off peak single from Godalming to Guildford
Whilst our mid-week foodies are heading for the Pot Kiln for their pre-Christmas indulgence, the rest of us will give this short but lovely walk a go. Most of you will be familiar with it, so I will not bumble on, other than to say in the morning we cross open fields to pass Wanborough Manor and its tiny church. A steady but easy ascent takes us over the Hoggs Back, then down through a vineyard and on along the North Downs Way to Compton where we find Watts Gallery and Watts Chapel. Picnickers often stop here for their lunch, popping into the very good Watts Gallery tea shop for a drink, whilst pub goers will have to wait until they are back in Godalming - unfortunately, their usual pub lunch stop, the Withies Inn, in Compton is CLOSED until 28 December following an outbreak of Covid amongst the pub's staff.
After Compton we head through woods and over fields before dropping down to the River Wey, for a relaxing final leg beside the river, all the "way" into Godalming. Tea options are detailed in the Walk Directions.
This short walk seldom disappoints.
T=1.2
Walk Directions are here: L=1.2
10 comments:
Have any places been booked at the Withies?
Maybe no one is doing this walk . Most are going to the Kiln Pot!
Kiln Pot good, however went there two months ago
Hi Gavin, I suspect you are wrong. Best I know only a select number of Foodies have booked the Pot Kiln. I believe most mid-week walkers who want to go on a walk this coming Wednesday will opt for the Wanborough walk.
Covid update: The Withies Inn has just cancelled my lunch table booking due to an outbreak of the virus amongst its staff. The pub will be closed until the 28th December. So lunch today on this walk will be at the Watts Gallery caff - if open - or its a picnic job for all - or do this short(ish) walk in one go without stopping, and have a late lunch or early tea in Guildford.
For Guildford read Godalming
Pot Kiln still planning to open, currently has some vacancies.
Phone 01635 201366.
Yes, bring a snack and eat at Godalming. I know Godalming for pubs but not eating.
The Star is the pub i go to for beer. Stops serving food at 2.15.
However they have about 7 ales and similar live ciders.
There is a delightful coffee shop close to The Withies called The Farmm Shop, at Mellersh Farm, Losely Park, New Pond Road GU3 1HZ
15 off the posted train (which was bang on time - well done, South Western): then add the later starters and car drivers, and we mustered n=19 today: back to the giddy numbers of two weeks ago ! We were privileged - and it was a great pleasure - to have amongst us our SWC Webmaster, making a rare mid-week outing. We hope to see more of him in 2022.
We enjoyed a day which was w=intermittently-sunny-and-chilly-without-being-cold: in fact, the conditions were pleasant - and enjoyable - for an early winter's walk. The start was muddy, as expected, the afternoon not so bad. With the Withies Inn being closed, most of us stopped at Watts Gallery, with about 9 of us taking lunch in the Gallery's cafeteria, and the rest enjoying their picnics outside. The caff was busy but we all managed to find tables and although ordering for some of us was a bit haphazard, our meals arrived promptly: the soup looked good and the Welsh rabbit was excellent - nice and spicy !
The group - which had kept together as far as Watts Gallery - then became dispersed and fragmented as the picnickers left well before the lunchers had finished. The sun disappeared as most of us headed for Godalming - but reappeared briefly as late arrivals reached the town. I was alone and book checking latterly (my choice !) and after enjoying tea at Cafe Mila, I popped into Star Inn on Church Street, to find a number of our walkers in good spirits. They looked set in for the duration - they may well still be there as I write this twaddle ! So here's wishing them - and all our SWC walkers - a very Merry Christmas.
There were eight or so in the Star. A kind of family run pub under the guise of Greene King.
The burgers were as best as they can be, from 5pm serving very good food. There were about ten ales, and about four ciders and a perry, and a 12pc mead ale. Seriously, difficult to find mead ales anywhere since Henry V111.
The soup at the Watts Cafe was very good.
Post a Comment