Backup Only

This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday 22 November 2015

Sunday walk 1: A walk in the Surrey Hills

Effingham to Westhumble Book 2 Walk 14
14.3 km 8.8 miles
Difficulty 5/10

Hidden valleys pretty woodlands, and gentle pastures evoking echoes of a golden yesteryear. The estate of Polesden Lacey is a prominent feature.
Trains:  9:57 Hampton Court train from Waterloo . Change at Surbiton for the 10:32 Guildford train (platform 1) arriving Effingham Junction at 10:50. You can catch the first train at plenty of intermediate stations, inc. Vauxhall 10:01, Clapham Jct. 10:06, Wimbledon 10:13, Raynes Park 10:16.
Return to Victoria from "Box Hill & Westhumble" at xx:17 and xx:47.
Trains leave Dorking two minutes earlier, should you wish to finish there.
The start and end stations are on divergent lines. A return to Effingham Junction will probably be accepted for the trip back but you could be asked to pay extra for the short hop to Leatherhead where the lines re-join.
Lunch: National Trust tea-room Polesden Lacey. This is accessible without paying the entrance fee. If you do want to visit the gardens, it's £8.50 (free for NT members). The house itself is closed today.
If you prefer a  pub, there are directions to the Sir Douglas Haig 01372 456886. This adds a further 1.2 miles on to the walk.
Tea:  The Visitor centre at Denbies Vineyard does tea. They also have a gift shop and sell their wine. Denbies is open till 5 in winter. There's a caff in the Pilgrim Cycles shop at Box Hill & Westhumble station that closes at 4 and, nearby, you have the Stepping Stones pub.
Directions: There are directions in Book 2 but it's best to use the improved online version available here. (Access details for Polesden Lacey have changed and other sections have been amended or clarified).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pilgrim Cycles say "We are happy to open evenings by request at no obligation. Call or email to arrange" tel: 01306 886958 email:hello@pilgrim-cycles.co.uk

JohnE said...

About n=12 of us. Weather w=dry_bright_cold_still. Very pleasant conditions for this varied walk. In the woods, the autumn leaves are now mostly on the ground. Later in the morning we had hazy views of London in the distance - the Wembley arch was visible and the Shard could just be picked out. Most lunched at Polesden Lacey, which, although busy, had ample capacity. By this time the party had fragmented and 2 finished (as they had pre-arranged) at this stage, while the rest completed the afternoon in several groups. After pausing to look back at the Polesden Lacey House from the hill opposite, walking across Ransmore Common and admiring the view from Denbies Hillside, my sub-group of 3 took tea at Denbies Vineyard, where we encountered one walker who had started an hour later than the rest of us but, by a combination of speed, short cuts and a short lunch break, had got there before us. Others had finished the afternoon with tea at Pilgrim Cycles at Box Hill and Westhumble station where the whole party apart from the lunchtime dropouts reassembled. 15.50 train home.