Length: Length: up to 16km (10 miles). Toughness: ~5/10
10:41 Dorking train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 10:48, Balham 10:53 etc ...), arriving Dorking at 11:40
Buy a return to Dorking Stations.
Return trains from Dorking are xx:17, xx:53: to Victoria and xx:32 to Waterloo
This walk has only been posted once before, on a Sunday. I haven't done it myself but its web page says "This walk is mostly gentle over wide surfaced parks, so besides rhododendron flowering in spring, it would make a lovely mud free winter walk". So this seems a good time to give it a try, even though it's too early for rhododendrons.
The recommeded route today is to follow the GPX/map route on the SWC site. You start with a tour of the restored woodland gardens of Thomas Hope's Deepdene Estate (and Coady, the cast of an original Coade stone lion) and climb to the Terrace with its viewpoint. From here, take the southerly part of the loop across Betchworth Park, along surfaced paths across fields with open views of the Downs to Brockham. After lunch in Brockham, the northerly part of the loop leads back to Dorking via Glory Wood and the Terrace. There's an optional short out-and-back extension to the ruins of Betchworth Castle. Back at the gardens, at the ridge viewpoint, there's another short out-and-back loop to visit the Hope Mausoleum, the only surviving building from the original 17thC estate.
For lunch in Brockham there's:
Back in Dorking, there are several refreshment choices, including Cake Rider at 7 South Street, several pubs in Dorking town centre, as well as the usual chain coffee shops.
Please remember that these walks don't have a leader so come prepared with the SWC gps route and/or map from L=swc.364 page. It's also recommended to bring a ‘Map of the Trail’ from the Deepdene Trail websbite (there's also an app).
2 comments:
N=14 at the station. A day that w=started-sunny-got-cloudy Mostly mud-free. Socks stayed dry.
In Deepdene, a Pollockesque set of curlicues led to a parting of the ways. (The walk could do with a few written directions to confirm which squiggle to take when). One or two narrowly missed making an early return to Dorking. They had to climb a big hill to get back on route. Just then, a late n=15 th caught them up.
Eventually, Brockdale was reached. The Gypsy Moth has closed. Some went to the Grumpy Mole and others to the Village Hall, which has both a pub and a cafe. Woo hoo!
One or two stragglers took a bit of an S word back along the Mole and were already aboard the 16:17 looking smug when the others turned up.
Quite a pleasant walk but Deepdene a bit rhododendron-heavy (of which, Mr Tiger not a fan).
Plus 1 walker who started an hour earlier so #n=16 in total
Post a Comment