Length: 20.9 km (13.0 mi)
Ascent/Descent: 604/718m; Net Walking Time: 5 ½
hours
Toughness: 7/10
Take the 10.00 Portsmouth Harbour train from
Waterloo (10.25 Woking), arrives Haslemere 10.49.
From Clapham take
the 09.52 stopping service (arrives H’mere 10.45).
Return to Haslemere
from Midhurst either by bus number 70 (17.05, 18.05, 19.10) or by taxi.
Return trains from Haslemere are on xx.02, xx.15, xx.32 and 17.37 & 19.39, journey time 52-66 mins.
Return trains from Haslemere are on xx.02, xx.15, xx.32 and 17.37 & 19.39, journey time 52-66 mins.
The route leads from Haslemere station through the
town’s centre and along the waymarked Serpent Trail through a small Nature
Reserve to rise steeply out of town and back down through Camelsdale to then
rise with the Sussex Border Path through pastures and pine and heather covered
slopes up to the Black Down. Following the crest through open heathland, with
far views across West Sussex and out to Hampshire, you reach the Temple Of The
Winds viewpoint, with further panoramic views over the Rother Valley to the
South Downs escarpment and easterly across to the West Weald.
A long descent through the sloping open grounds of
Blackdown House and through woods leads to the hamlet of Lickfold. The
afternoon takes you through a mix of flat farmland and wooded hills to the
Cowdray Estate, with its golf course-with-views as well as several polo fields,
to the romantic ruins of Cowdray House, as captured by JMW Turner.
Climbing from the River Rother’s banks, Midhurst's
Norman castle ruins are passed en-route to the old market town's attractive
centre with its many tea options.
Walk Option: follow the norm walk via Lurgashall. Lunch will be at the brilliant Noah’s Ark Inn.
Lunch: The Lickfold
Inn in Lickfold (11.0 km/6.8 mi, a la carte food to
14.30, bar food all day).
Tea: lots of
choice en-route to and in Midhurst (see the pdf for details), recommended
are The Halfway Hut (3 km from the end), Cowdray Farm Shop & Cafe (2 km from the
end), Garton’s
Coffee House, The Wheatsheaf, The Angel Inn, The Olive & Vine and Fitzcane’s
Café and Ice Cream.
For summary, map, height profile,
some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here.
T=swc.48.a
1 comment:
n=1 off the train in w=light_showers_clearing_to_bright_sunshine. I took the long morning route to the Temple viewpoint and returned to Haslemere via the shorter route to avoid the forecast late afternoon rain. Joe.
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