Sunday Walk: Tring Short Circular

Tring Short Circular  12.8 km, 8 miles.
Difficulty: 4/10
A Chilterns walk with trees, views, and an easy journey. We’ll be doing the shorter version that misses out the usual lunch pub in Gaddesden .
Trains Get the 10:01 Crewe train from Euston arriving Tring 10:36. Get a return to Tring.
Return from Tring at xx:14 and xx:35
Lunch: Lunch and tea are close together on this version of the walk. The National Trust's Brownlow Cafe near the Bridgewater Monument comes up first, followed, after your descent into the pretty village of Aldbury, by the Greyhound Inn 01442 851 228 and Valiant Trooper  01442 851 203. You could have lunch on top and ‘tea’ down below or, if you're quick enough, save yourself for one big blowout in the village. The upmarket Greyhound serves food till 2.30, the Trooper, said to be more walker-friendly, serves food till 3.
Directions here
The full walk's a bit long for the time of year, so follow option (a) from point 21.
If you're waddling along like an over-fed turkey, still suffering from Christmas excess, you could shave another kilometre off the walk  by turning round after point 20, pretending you’ve been to Ivinghoe Beacon and going back across the road to pick up the directions at point 68. (This is one of Mr Tiger’s secret cheats – his Christmas present to you. Have your excuses ready, though. "I was there, didn't you see me?" usually shuts them up).
If any hardnuts reckon they can yomp on to Berkhamsted (option b), trains leave there at xx:07, xx:19 and xx:40. Not recommended for the likes of us though, not without see-in-the-dark spectacles.
 T=2.5.a

Sunday Walk - Now A Tad Longer: Box Hill & Westhumble Circular - a hilly 10-miler in the North Downs

Length: 16.1 km (10.0 mi) [for shorter versions, omitting Headley Heath: see pdf]

Ascent/Descent: 548m; Net Walking Time: 4 ¼ hours

Toughness: 7/10

Take the 09.46 Dorking (Main) stopping service from Victoria (Battersea Park 09.50, CJ 09.54, Wandsworth Common 09.57 etc.), arrives Box Hill & Westhumble at 10.56.

Or  take the 09.41 Dorking (Main) stopping service from Waterloo (Vauxhall 09.48, CJ 09.56, Wimbledon 10.10 etc.), arrives Box Hill & Westhumble at 10.51. [Check timetable the day before if strike still on!!!]
Return trains are on xx.10 (to Waterloo), xx.14 and xx.44 (to Victoria).

This short but strenuous walk climbs up a series of hills in a clockwise loop north and east of Box Hill & Westhumble station: Norbury Park, Mickleham Downs, Headley Heath and Box Hill itself.

There are many fine viewpoints on this walk and in several places you can see your earlier route from a new perspective.

Norbury Park Nature Reserve is described by Surrey Wildlife Trust as a ‘working landscape’ which includes one saw mill and three farms. The prominent house at its centre was built in 1774 and has had several famous owners and tenants, including Leopold Salomons, who donated Box Hill to the National Trust in 1914, and Dr Marie Stopes, the family planning pioneer.

Box Hill and Headley Heath are both owned by the National Trust, which has introduced special breeds of sheep and cattle to restore more of the downland to its original ‘unimproved’ condition; unfertilized land is richer in wild flowers. This diversity also supports many butterflies: 40 of the 58 British species have been found on Box Hill.

Lunch: King William IV (food all day) or the Running Horses  (food all day), both in Mickleham (6.2 km/3.8 mi).

Tea: Stepping Stones pub (open all day) or  Pilgrim Cycles (open to 16.00) near/at Boxhill & Westhumble station.

For summary, map, height profile, some photos, walk directions and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.64

Stargazer is away...

Hayes Circular

t=SWC.281

Length: 9.5km (6m)
Toughness: 1 / 10
Transport: Take the 10:07 from London Charing Cross arriving at Hayes at 10:48. Return trains are at xx:00, xx:15, xx:30 and xx:45.

This is a short and easy walk through the woodlands of Hayes, Keston and West Wickham commons where Charles Darwin conducted some of his studies. The walk visits the source of the river Ravensbourne.

Saturday walk - Knockholt to Otford, with possible Shoreham loop afternoon

Length: 12.9km (8 miles) - with options of 14.6km (9 miles) or 15.8km (9.8 miles)
Toughness: 7 out of 10: two big hill climbs

10.04 train from Charing Cross (10.07 Waterloo East, 10.13 London Bridge) to Knockholt, arriving 10.49

If you just miss this train, get the 10.15 Hastings service from Charing Cross (10.18 Waterloo East, 10.24 London Bridge) and change at Orpington (arrive 10.39, depart 10.49) onto the above train.

Buy a day return to Sevenoaks, which is valid for both outward and return journeys (and is the same price as a day return to Otford): Knockholt is in LT zone 6

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

This little walk seems to be too short to get an outing at other times of the year, but it makes a good post-Christmas outing with a couple of big hill climbs to help you work off those excess mince pies.

I particularly like the morning (5.3km/3.3 miles), which involves an interesting expedition in the woods, and then a steep climb up and over a ridge to descend into Shoreham, whose four pubs should provide you with sufficient lunch stops.

After lunch the main walk (7.6km/4.7 miles) climbs up onto the downs, passing through the pretty valley of Magpie Bottom, to come down into Otford, where, if you can resist the temptation to get the train straightaway, the Hospices of Hope shop, with its tea room, should be open till 5pm, half an hour longer than the Pond View Cafe. (There are also pubs.)

ALTERNATIVE AFTERNOON: For a slightly longer afternoon,  you could try one of the loops of the Shoreham Circular walk (SWC walk 289): walk directions here, GPX here, map here:

- The Short walk (north) is 10.5km (6.5 miles), which would make a total walk from Knockholt of 15.8km (9.8 miles). Midway this passes the Lullingstone Cafe, open till 4pm

- The Short walk (south) is 9.3km (5.7 miles), making a total walk from Knockholt of 14.6km (9 miles). Midway this passes the Otford tea options mentioned above. (Don't get lazy after tea and forget to finish the walk, however...)

Trains back from Otford are at 29 and 59 (Thameslink stopping service - 1 hour to Blackfriars or 52 minutes to Victoria with a change at Bromley South), or at 20 and 46 past to Victoria (34 or 38 minutes).

Trains back from Shoreham are at 02 and 32 (Thameslink stopping service - 57 minutes to Blackfriars or 49 minutes to Victoria with a change in Bromley South).



T=3.37

Saturday Walk - Chichester to West Wittering: New Lipchis Way

Length: 20.6 km (12.8 mi) [shorter walk possible]

Ascent/Descent: negligible; Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ¼ hours

Toughness: 2 out of 10

Take the 09.06 train from Victoria to Portsmouth Harbour and Bognor Regis (CJ 09.13, EC 09.23), arrives Chichester 10.39. You need to be in the front part of the train. 
[Thameslink-ites may take the 09.05 Brighton train from LBG and change at Gatwick Airport (09.36/09.42)]

Return: buses 52/53 (xx.01, xx.12, xx.41); trains: xx.09  and xx.39 (99 minutes journey time).
Buy a Chichester return. 

Shorter Walk: cut out the canal stretch at the start by taking bus 52/53 from Chichester, outside Bus Station (xx.01/xx.16/xx.31/xx.46) to Birdham, Chichester Marina.

This is an easy walk along the final section of the New Lipchis Way. It starts in the historic cathedral town of Chichester and heads south, inland at first along a quiet canal, then a disused section of canal teaming with wildlife, then via the shoreline of Chichester's tidal harbour to West Wittering's wide sandy beach and East Head - a very pretty sand spit at the harbour entrance. Return to Chichester is by frequent bus.

The New Lipchis Way runs from Liphook to Chichester and is waymarked on OS maps. This is its final section. It has been adopted by Chichester Council, and is well waymarked.

Lunch: The Ship Inn (10.1 km/6.3 mi, food to 17.00) or - a little further along - The Quarterdeck Café both in West Itchenor.

Tea: The Old House at Home (open all day, dinner from 18.00), right by the bus stop for services to Chichester in West Wittering; or The Landing Coffee Shop, just around the corner from the pub (not sure about opening hours).

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.167