Saturday First Walk - a pre-Christmas favourite

Book 1 Walk 49 - Box Hill to Leatherhead
Length: 11.5km (7.1 miles)
Toughness: 7 out of 10: two steep climbs and one steep descent

10.31 train from Victoria (10.37 Clapham Junction, 10.59 Sutton) to Box Hill & Westhumble, arriving 11.21

You can also catch the 10.24 from Waterloo to Epsom, arriving 10.57, picking up the above train there at 11.09.

(Hopefully the Victoria train will not be disrupted by the current union work to rule, but if it is get any train to Clapham Junction. From there there is a South West trains service to Dorking at 11.03, arriving 11.43. Come out the station, go down the station approach, turn right up the main road, and walk for about 500 metres to get to Denbies Wine Estate on the left: at the far end of this turn right to join the North Downs Way, cross the Stepping Stones (or bridge) over the River Mole and join the walk directions in paragraph 8.)

For walk directions click here.

In the old Book 1 rota days this walk was a well-beloved pre-Christmas ritual. It is not long but packs plenty of climbing and fine views into its morning, including the popular climb up Box Hill.

For lunch there is a choice of two pubs in Mickleham, the posh but well-worth it Running Horses or the slightly more bohemian but equally excellent King William IV. Both are very popular and both are worth ringing to try and reserve a table. If both are full, you could try the earlier option of the Smith and Western Bar and Grill.

After Mickleham it is a short and gentle walk to Leatherhead, where the usual high street tea options await. It is a fairly ordinary place, but in the dark with the Christmas lights on usually manages to look quite cheery.

Trains back from Leatherhead are plentiful and you have a choice between Southern ones to Victoria and South Western ones to Waterloo. The Victoria ones are at 05 and 33 past and the Waterloo ones at 11, 23, 41 and 53: all of them take around 45 minutes and all of them, as far as I know, stop at Clapham Junction.