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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.

Saturday 9 April 2016

Third Saturday Walk

Book 2 Walk 13/SWC 57:  Guildford to Gomshall with Chantries Hill Start from SWC 57 – Historic Guildford, Glorious Escarpment Views, St. Martha on the Hill Church, Picturesque Shere and the North Downs Way

Distance:  11.8 Miles (19 kms for those metrically minded) with an option to extend to 13.8 Miles (22.4 kms) by continuing on to Boxhill

Difficulty:  5 out of 10

Train:  Take the 9:30 Portsmouth Harbor train from London Waterloo to Guildford, arriving at 10:03.  Return trains from Gomshall are at 15:53; 16:04; 17:53; 18:04; 19:53; 20:04; 21:25 and 21:55. If doing the extension to Boxhill return trains are at 28 minutes past the hour until 18:28; then at 01 past the hour until 22:01.  Buy a day return to Gomshall via any permitted route. 
This walk begins with a gentle stroll down the Wey navigation before launching steeply up Chantries Hill to St. Martha on the Hill Church.  Once on the escarpment there should be lovely views to the valley below.  The south facing slopes of the escapement and the woods on Chantries Hill are also great places for early bluebells – so keep your eyes peeled for these little beauties.   The route then continues to the charming village of Shere where there is a choice of pubs for lunch.  After lunch, the route then ascends to the North Downs Way for a loop near Gomshall where there should also be some nice bluebells on a diversion described in the walk directions before dropping back down to Abinger Hammer, near Gomshall.  For the more energetic, you can continue the walk to Boxhill.  You will need to follow the instructions from SWC 57 to point 25; then pick up the instructions from Book 2 Walk 13 at point 23.  The walk instructions and more details are available here (for SWC 57) and here (for B2W13).
There is a choice of two pubs in Shere, the White Horse (01483 202518) and the more Gastropub William Bray (01483 202044), 5.7 miles into the walk. Large groups should call ahead from the Station.
The recommended tea stop is the Abinger Tea Rooms in the village of Abinger Hammer near Gomshall.  The Compasses Inn in Gomshall is also a nice place for post walk refreshments while waiting for the train which only runs every 2 hours!  If doing the extension to Boxhill, Denbies Winery is a good a tea stop and the Stepping Stones Pub near the station also provides refreshments.
Enjoy the walk!


5 comments:

Unknown said...

I fully intend to join this walk, this will be my first SWC walk and I will be solo, anyone interested in teaming up just let me know!

Anonymous said...

Don't worry there will be others, some you may meet on the train, generally middle carriage, the group will congregate for introductions just through the automatic ticket barrier before the exit doors to the station, expect 10-20.

tartanrug said...

The White Horse pub, one of the lunch options on this walk, are offering a free starter or a pudding voucher if you sign up to the Chef & Brewer newsletter.

Anonymous said...

Alexander, I hope we didn't miss you. We congregated at the station entrance, by the ticket machines before setting off.

Walker said...

n=20 on this walk, including two who materialised at lunch, having started at Gomshall (does this count?). The weather was w=chilly-with-some-sun-and-one-brief-shower. Bluebells were about a third out on Chantries Hill and a little over half in Old Sim's Copse. Lots of signs of leaves coming out on bushes and trees. Sightings of green woodpeckers.

Most lunched in the White Horse in Shere but some of us tried the adjacent William Bray, which was worryingly empty but served reasonable food (though the vegetarian mains were more like starters - why do pubs assume vegetarians are not hungry?).

The group fragmented after lunch but I know one or two, possibly a lot more, rushed for the 4pm trains, while another set off alone to walk to Box Hill. Five of us did option c, the only slightly longer circular walk, which is recommended, and had a nice tea in the quirky Abinger Hammer tea room before catching the 6pm.