Getting there
Catch the 10:24 Dorking Main train from London Waterloo (10:33 from Clapham Junction) to Dorking Main. Arrive into Dorking Main at 11:11Getting back
Direct trains depart from Reigate on the hour and half hour to London Victoria, calling points include East Croydon and Clapham Junction.There is another indirect train service at 18 or 19 minutes past the hour returning to London Bridge - change at Redhill
Lastly, there is yet another indirect service at 34 minutes past the hour returning to London Victoria - change at Redhill for this service too, calling points include East Croydon and Clapham Junction.
Tickets
Buy a return ticket to Dorking, which is valid for the return journey from Reigate via Redhill.Length 8 miles (13 km)
Toughness 2/3 out of 10
Overview
A mainly level route along the River Mole and then the Greensand Way via several picturesque villages. The suggested lunchtime pub is the Dolphin Inn t: 01737 842288 in Betchworth.Click the link below for all the details
swc.16
2 comments:
Weather was W=overcast-and-bright-sun-and-occasional-spots so almost ideal walking weather for this very good walk - though I would put it at a 4 or 5 out of 10 - quite a few hills after lunch.
N=16 nature lovers on this walk and several hordes of ramblers all walking the other way - which was somewhat disruptive. One of our group did mention that our group were better dressed (and better looking) than the ramblers - so this extrapolates to ‘this is the better group’.
Before lunch we saw a kestrel hover and swoop several times but never coming up with any lunch and we saw a jay towards the end of the walk on the ground eating in the grass quite unconcernedly at a group of 6 walkers strolling by.
For those who don't read the walk notes, the French heir apparent - the Dauphin apparently used to drink in the lunch pub during the French revolution hence it is named the Dolphin. The food was nice enough though a few suggested that their prices were a bit high, used to entertaining royalty maybe? As the Dolphin is only 5 k into the walk the lunch came a bit early so when I do the walk again then I will use the pub the Skimmington Castle (01737-243100) serving food all afternoon which is say 9.5 k into the walk and thus leaving only 3k after lunch to the station at Reigate.
After lunch three of us were walking together ahead of the rest and the Scandinavian in our group spotted a rabbit off to our left and said ‘rabbit’ whilst pointing. The rabbit took off quite gently which seemed to prompt a fox that was hidden in a bush to leap out and miss the rabbit a couple of times (I have no idea how the rabbit dodged him) and then a cat that had been just lying there hidden from us reared up with a snarl and disrupted the foxes focus and all disappeared. It was like a poor comedy sketch and I did have a momentary concern that we were on camera.
Then later a woman came along who reminded me of Tin Tin in her hair style and clothing which I thought was nice but then following up a couple of moments later came snowy - very peculiar ‘You have been framed’?
There was the remnants of a Japanese garden with a Temple Gate falling into disrepair just before the end of the walk and there was a lot of very nice housing along the walk.
Throughout the walk bluebells were doing very well seeming to crowd out virtually everything except the garlic which gave a lovely smell as did the occasional lilac bushes - a very heady aroma.
A few people picked some wild garlic so here are a selection of wild garlic recipes
https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/ingredients/wild-garlic-recipes
Tea at the Monty Bojangles didn’t disappoint.
Thank you to the 15 others for the atmosphere and chat
Ed Beare
Great walk, thank you to Mike for posting it.
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