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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.

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Wednesday Walk - The Low Weald and the Mole Valley: Holmwood to Reigate

Length: 16.1 km (10.0 mi)
Ascent/Descent:  170 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 3 ½ hours
Toughness:  2 out of 10 

Take the 10.31 Horsham train from Victoria (10.38 CJ, 10.59 Sutton), arriving Holmwood at 11.32.
Return trains: xx.14 (fast and direct, from 37 mins), xx.34 (chg Redhill, from 47 mins). Other trains connect at Redhill for London Bridge. Buy a Holmwood return.

This walk in the Low Weald of Surrey in the Mole Valley provides broad paths through gently undulating country with glimpses of the North Downs ridge to the north. In the morning the walk passes through Hammond's Copse Nature Reserve, an ancient semi-natural woodland, with a wide variety of bird-life. The lunch stop is in the attractive village of Leigh with its village green, pub and church. In the afternoon the walk crosses the Mole at Flanchford Bridge and then rises on the Greensand ridge near Reigate Priory to give extensive views of the North Downs and on a clear day the South Downs near Devil's Dyke.

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile and gpx/kml files click here.
Lunch: The Plough in Leigh (8.6 km/5.4 mi, food all day).
Tea: Café Rouge, TEA or The Tea House. T=swc.32

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

intending to go on this lovely walk and bringing dog.thanks

Thomas G said...

Alas, no dog. 13 walkers off the train in w=dry weather, plus one other met at lunch who had taken an earlier train to practise navigation skills pending an Ramblers Holidays Guide assessment. Good Luck! n=14
Nice if not dramatic walk in some mildly rolling countryside with several interesting woods. Lunch at the Plough in Leigh consisted of pub classics of average quality. There we bumped into the walk author, accompanied by one of his grandchildren.
The terrain was not particualrly muddy for the time of year and the recent weather, and the route also has a fair smattering of tarmac and concrete stretches, so we weren't far off the expected pace and the pub lunchers arrived in Reigate just after 4.
Those 8 entered the Monty Bojangles Truffles Bar, and 4 of those then also frequented the next door The Bull's Head, but then made a hash of (not) getting the 17.14 train (the doors were locked by the time we got to the platform).

Anonymous said...

Did anyone lose a black woolen hat on the walk? If so, I've got it.
Frances