Fire! Fire! - at Museum of London

Discover London before, during and after the Great Fire of 1666 in an interactive exhibition marking the 350th anniversary of this infamous disaster. Did the great fire really start at Pudding Lane?  How did London cope with the devastation?  Come and find out more...

To book, please click here. Book 3:30pm slot.  Standard ticket £12, various concession available. Meet at the entrance to the exhibition at 3:25pm. 

Surrey Heathlands

Book 2 Walk 12c  Farnham circular

Length 16.2km (10.1m); toughness 3/10.

Trains:10.07 London Waterloo  arrives Farnham 11.13

Return trains from Farnham on the hour (may have to change at Woking and  at xx:30 (direct)

An attractive walk exploring the ancient man-made habitats of the Surrey heathlands.

Walk instrutions

Click here for the instructions for the Book 1 Walk 12 Farnham to Godalming walk and your two lunch pub options

See here for more details about this Book 2  walk. Click on the download walk pdf tab at the top of the page and refer to Section C  at the end of the pdf file  for information on completing the circular walk back to Farnham.

Greensand Way and a nature reserve

Book 3 Walk 135 variation – Hurst Green to Lingfield

Distance 16.3km (10.1m); toughness 3/10.

Train 09.47 London Victoria (Clapham Junction 09.53) to East Croydon 10.05.  Then 10.10 East Croydon (Plat 5) to Hurst Green 10.34

Return trains from Lingfield to London Bridge at xx.19. and xx:51 changing at East Croydon. Buy a day return to Lingfield

During this season of Rasputitsa I have been checking out some routes around the London Loop for a possible Sunday winter excursion but they don't really work - pubs closed down or not in the right place; too much tarmac and road walking so here's an attractive walk near to London for Sunday regulars

This walk variation  incorporates a section of the Greensand Way and in the afternoon there are some fine views across the Low Weald. You also visit Staffhurst Wood a nature reserve and a site of special scientific interest.

Your lunch-time pub is the Royal Oak Inn on the edge of Stafford Wood. Your best bet for refreshments in Lingfield is the Star Pub just outside the Old Town by the footpath leading to the station. Other options are likely to be closed on a Sunday.

Click here for details about the walk and scroll down the web page and click on Mi for the Hurst Green option.

Saturday walk - The Chilterns by Metropolitan Line

SWC Walk 81 - Chorleywood to Chesham
Length: 15.9km (9.9 miles) with shorter options possible
Toughness: 5 out of 10: some hills, lots of flat bits

9.57 Metropolitan Line from Kings Cross (10.05 Baker Street) to Chorleywood, arriving 10.46.

Chorleywood is in London Transport zone 7, Chesham in zone 9, so you can use Oyster or contactless. There once also was a zone 1-9 travelcard which you could buy from Underground ticket offices with a Network Card and get a 30% discount, but now there are no ticket offices, I have no idea how you get this.

For walk directions click here.

This is an easy and pleasant walk in the Chilterns with nice views in several places, during which you will also learn the origin various street names in Bloomsbury. It all feels very rural, making it all the more surprising that you are never more than a couple of kilometres from the Metropolitan Line. In fact, if you want to be hyper-lazy, the walk document now includes an option that takes you to Chalfont & Latimer station just 2.1 miles after lunch (reducing the walk to 6.2 miles in total), though I am assuming that red-blooded SWC types will ignore this.

There are also two shorter options in the morning - see walk document - option a) being just a slight trimming of the main route and option b) being a different start altogether (useful if you get up late and want to catch the group up at lunch).

The usual lunch stop is the small but recommended Red Lion in Chenies, but I was recently tempted by a walker comment to try the larger Bedford Arms up the road. This is now a hotel and has table service for meals in its bar, but is in other respects just like a pub: the food and prices are perfectly pub-like and if the sun decides to shine it has a big garden.

In Chesham the delightfully quirky Drawingroom cafe is always the top tea choice, though Messrs Costa and Nero will be happy to take your refreshment dollar if it proves wanting.

Trains back from Chesham are at 27 and 57 past. Do look out of the window to enjoy the longest gap between stations on the Underground and its most scenic views.

Riddlesdown to Coulsdon South

t=2.15

Length: 16km (10m)
Toughness: 4/10
Transport: Take the 9:53 from London Victoria, arriving in Riddlesdown at 10:18. There are many trains back to London from Coulsdon South

From the description:

Considering that it starts in the suburbs of London (and within the boundaries of London Transport Travelcard zone six), this walk passes through some remarkably unspoilt countryside. Farthing Down, Kenley Common, Riddlesdown and Coulsdon Commons are all ancient grazing lands, lovingly preserved as part of the London Greenbelt, and offering a delightful series of woods and open spaces.

Saturday Walk: Haslemere - Farnham (New Routing, With Options, Fully Written Up) !Now Bigger, Brighter, Better!

A wooded ridge out of town, Invall Wood, Hurt Hill, The Temple of the Four Winds, Gibbet Hill, the Devil’s Punchbowl, Highcomb Bottom heathland valley, Thursley and Hankley Commons, lowland peat bog, The Atlantic Wall, Thursley and Tilford villages, the Wey Valley, Waverley Castle, the North Downs Way into Farnham  [Walk-Check]

Length: 24.0 km (15.0 mi) [longer and shorter walk possible]

Ascent/Descent: 407/470m; Net Walking Time: 5 ½ hours

Toughness:  7/10                       

Consult the pdf for details of the walk options.

Take the 09.00 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo (09.25 Woking, 09.34 G’ford), arrives Haslemere 09.48. 

From Clapham J take the 08.52 stopping service (arrives H’mere 09.45) or the 08.57 fast train to Woking and change there onto the Waterloo train.

Return trains from Farnham are on xx.28 and xx.58, journey time just short of an hour.

Buy a Haslemere return ticket, you then may have to buy a separate Farnham – Woking single.

The route leads out of Haslemere in a northerly direction along the quietest and shortest possible route to ascend through Coombswell Copse and along the wooded Invall ridge up to Hurt Hill and the Temple of the Four Winds, the ruin of an early 20^th century belvedere, and one of several viewpoints with striking vistas. Turn westerly up to Gibbet Hill (the second highest top in Surrey), with more far reaching views, out to the North Downs and London, as well as back to Black Down and to the South Downs.

Skirt around the Devil’s Punchbowl along the course of the old A3 and descend into the remote Highcomb Bottom, a stunning sandy heathland valley to re-join the Greensand Way to Thursley.

Its common (a NNR) is one of the largest heathlands as well as one of the last lowland peat bogs in southern Britain and an optional extension gives you prolonged exposure to it. Next up is Hankley Common, another large heathland, and mostly MOD terrain, for an exploration of a D-Day training site with a replica section of The Atlantic Wall and assorted other defensive structures. On to the picturesque village of Tilford with its pub and cricket pitch on the green, followed by quiet woodland paths and lanes along the River Wey’s North Branch into Farnham, with an optional extension past Waverley Abbey House to Waverley Abbey’s ruins along the way.

Lunch: The Three Horseshoes  in Thursley (10.5 km/6.5 mi, food to 14.30), or The Duke of Cambridge in Tilford Common (15.9 km/9.9 mi, food to 15.30) or The Barley Mow in Tilford (17.5 km/10.9 mi, food to 14.30). Tea: Tilford Village Shop, The Mulberry, The Lamb  or The Waverley Arms.

For summary, map, height profile, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here.T=swc.144

Wednesday Walk - Knockholt Circular

Length:  19.6 km (12.2 mi)

Ascent/Descent:  390m

Net Walking Time:  4 ½ - 5 hours

Toughness:  5 out of 10 

  

Take the 10.06 Sevenoaks train from  Charing Cross (W’loo East 10.09, LBG 10.14, Hither Green 10.24, …, Orpington 10.43), arrives Knockholt 10.49. [If you miss the 10.06, take the 10.15 Hastings train to Orpington and you have 3 minutes there to change trains…] Knockholt is within London Transport Zone 6, so a one-day off-peak Travelcard is an option.  
Return trains are on xx.12 and xx.42. 

Despite its starting point being within London Travelcard Zone 6, this is a completely rural walk, passing through a succession of lovely open fields, and through a number of woods. After lunch there is the opportunity to visit Down House, the home of Charles Darwin, the naturalist.

This walk has not been posted for 2 ½ years, and not been walk-checked for 6 years, we’ll take the opportunity…

Lunch is either at the The Queens Head (food to 16.00) or at The George & Dragon  (food all day), both in  Downe (8.1 km/5.0 mi).

For tea, it’s either Arthur's Coffee Shop & Restaurant in Rushmore Hill (2.9 km from the end, open to 16.45), 
or The Rose and Crown in Halstead (2.5 km from the end, 500m off route and under new management, now with more emphasis on Real Ales apparently).

For walk directions, map, height profile, some photos, a video and gpx/kml files click here.t=swc.7

Next Week: Book 2 Walk 12 ab Guildford Circular with Hog's Back Start

Sunday Walk: Hills and valleys in the Chilterns

Book 2 Walk 2b or 2c, Saunderton via Lacey Green and Bledlow to Princes Risborough or back to Saunderton
Length: 20.3km (12.6 miles) or 13km (8.1miles) Toughness: 6/10 or 3/10

10:13 Aylesbury train from Marylebone arriving at Saunderton at 10:53.

Return trains from Saunderton to Marylebone are at xx:50 (journey time 46 minutes). If you just miss a train, take one four minutes later in the opposite direction to Princes Risborough and change there for a train to Marylebone. This will add 25 minutes to the journey time, but will be quicker than waiting an hour for the next direct train. Return trains from Princes Risborough are at xx:20 and xx:45 (journey time 46 or 51 mins).
Buy an off-peak day return to Princes Risborough if you intend returning from there.

This variation on a familiar Chilterns walk is not often done, but includes a morning extension for those who want to stretch their legs a bit, as well as a shorter finish for those not feeling up to a 20km walk.. It offers a nice mixture of woods, fields and hills, and takes in a 3.5km section of Saunderton via Bledlow Circular before lunch as well as intersecting at Lacey Green with the Princes Risborough to Great Missenden walk. The route starts by climbing eastwards up to Lacey Green before heading west to join the standard Saunderton via Bledlow walk. After lunch in Bledlow you have the choice of continuing on the circular route back to Saunderton, or taking the much shorter route eastwards to finish in Princes Risborough.

The recommended lunch stop is The Lions in Bledlow (01844 343345). An alternative is The Whip Inn in Lacey Green (01844 344060) but this comes rather too early in the walk.

You will need to download the ‘Finish in Princes Risborough’ Walk Directions, which cover the start of the morning route as well as the shorter afternoon finish. Unless you bring TOCW Book 2, you will also need to download the Book 2 Walk 2 directions