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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 2 March 2019

Saturday Walk - North Downs Way: Caterham to Knockholt

Length: 26.0 km (16.2 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 522/535m; Net Walking Time: 6 ½ hours
Toughness:  9/10                        
[shorter versions possible (see the webpage), but mostly depending on buses]

Take the 09.17 Caterham and Tattenham Corner train from London Bridge (East Croydon 09.32), arrives Caterham 09.58.
From Victoria take the 09.06 Brighton train (Clapham J 09.13) and change at East Croydon (09.22/09.32).
Return to Charing X (via Orpington, LBG and W’loo East) on xx.13 or xx.43, journey time 44 mins.
Caterham and Knockholt are within the Oyster Zones 1-6.

Tired of reading pages of detailed walk directions? Here is your solution: just follow the well waymarked North Downs Way along one of its better stretches (but do expect some road noise in the early stages), with just minimal directions to hand, found here.
                                                                                                                       
Lunch: Botley Hill Farmhouse  in Botley Hill (10.2 km/6.3 mi, food to 15.00). A table has been booked for 12.30.
Tea: a couple of pubs in Knockholt Pound about 4 km from the end and another one, a little closer and a little off-route, in Halstead.

For summary, map, height profile, some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.111

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Para 5. Tillingdown farm has been demolished. 17 (yes seventeen!) houses are being built there now. The three fingered signpost in front of the site is missing it’s right pointing finger, but there’s no problem in turning right as per the instructions.

Chris L said...

The outward train divides en route at Purley: fromt carriages go to Caterham, rear ones to Tattenham Corner. Make sure you're in the right part of the train.

Thomas G said...

14 on the platform, with 2 others lingering outside the station, i.e. n=16. The weather was w=grey-to-start-with-pm-sunny-breaks-then-grey-again. Some slithery sections in the woods and where the ground was chalky, else fine walking. The wind brought us the M25 noise half the day, but the wind also meant that the views from the ridge were far and excellent. Just 5 had a sit-down lunch in the pub (food and service: excellent), others ate their wares outside on the benches (now, now!).
Winter Cherry Blossom trees, plenty of Snowdrops still, Wild Garlic carpets in the first woods on the NDW, Bluebell carpets in almost all subsequent woods (they are coming up with a vengeance, those bluebells).
The lunchers and assorted picnickers arrived at Knockholt station at 16.30, with others ahead of us and one group a bit behind, meaning that - for the first time in many months - the majority got home in daylight from a 'long' walk.