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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 7 December 2019

Saturday walk - Merstham to Tattenham Corner

Length: 17.3km (10.7 miles) - shorter option of 11.8km (7.3 miles) T=3.4
Toughness: 5 out of 10

Catch the 10.00 train from London Bridge (10.16 East Croydon) to Merstham, arriving 10.28.

Merstham is just outside zone 6, but you can use Oyster (and contactless?). If you have a pass covering zones 1-6, you need to buy a single extension from boundary zone six to Merstham. Tattenham Corner, your return station, is in zone 6.

For walk directions click here. For GPX click here. For a map of the route click here.

This walk, which has not had a Saturday outing for a nearly two years, has a very grand beginning, climbing up to Reigate and Colley Hills, one of the finest stretches of the North Downs escarpment, with wonderful views. It is a slight pity the transport planners of the 1970s and 1980s routed the M25 just behind the escarpment, but the noise of the motorway, which anyway is muted by a south west wind, is less intrusive in winter than in summer, and the views make up for it.

You soon go away from the escarpment (and the M25) onto heathland, where you come to Mogador, and the Sportsman pub, 5 miles into the walk . It is a popular place for lunch, so ringing ahead for a table would not be a terrible idea. If it is full, the Blue Ball in Walton on the Heath 35 minutes further on may be able help you. There is also a cafe in Walton and a refreshment kiosk on Reigate Hill.

A possible shorter ending to Tadworth station from Walton-on-the-Heath cuts the walk to 7.3 miles.

Towards the end of the walk you come to the famous Epsom Racecourse. A new ending here takes you pass the Rubbing House pub right by the finish line and to a viewpoint on Epsom Downs.

Trains back from Tattenham Corner are at 09 and 39 past the hour.

You can also do a longer (11.3 mile) ending down to Epsom station: this is another station just outside zone 6 which nevertheless takes Oyster: trains are frequent to both Victoria and Waterloo but will be reduced a bit to the latter due to the SWR strike.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. Where is the cafe in Walton,please, as I have't noticed it before? I know the pub you mention, and The Rat, of course. Thank you.

Walker said...

It is mentioned in the walk directions. See “Tea” on the introduction page.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Walker. Appreciated.

Anonymous said...

n=14 walkers, if I remember correctly on a w=mild_dry_day. A very pleasant walk, with fantastic views around Colley Hill. Fist Class food and service at The Sportsman, including Christmas crackers!