A lovely, if short, walk featuring open fields, remote woodland, and, in Compton, the Watts Gallery (£19:80 entry), the tea room, and the beautifully decorated Watts Chapel (worth a look - and free). Have lunch there or a little further on in The Withies Inn. Later, there's more woodland and a stretch along the River Wey to the ancient town of Godalming.
Anyone wanting more of the river could continue along it for another 4 miles to Guildford.
Trains
Get the 09:30 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo (Clapham Jct. 09:39). Change to the Ascot train at Guildford (arrive 10:10, depart 10:17 plat 6). Arrive Wanborough 10:23.
Return from Godalming at xx:56, xx:27.
Buy a return to Wanborough, plus a single for the short stretch back from Godalming to Guildford.
There are frequent trains from Guildford if anyone is thinking of finishing there.
Lunch The Withies Inn 01483 421158 or Watts Gallery Tea Shop 01483 811 030 (free entry).
Tea In Godalming, Caffè Nero is open till 5:30 and Costa Coffee open to 5, both on the High Street. . There’s a Wetherspoons on the High St. The Star on Church Street is well known to our crowd as a purveyor of real ales and ciders.
Walk Directions: here
T=1.2 #2026-05-24T09:30
4 comments:
After walking to Godalming, relax with live music at Godalming Bandstand with Music in the Park Godalming. One of our own will be playing with his group at 4pm, with a gathering afterwards at The Star. See the Godalming Bandstand website for details.
https://godalmingbandstand.co.uk/download-programme/
9 gathered on the train to Wanborough, some in a bit of a rush to make connections. Two others were spotted but a moment of indecision and the train doors closed on them - more on them later.
It was #hot-and-sunny all day but the route had a lot of shade and a nice lunch/drink stop so a good choice.
After negotiating the increasingly terrifying crossing of the A31, we all visited Watts Chapel and enjoyed the cool of the interior as well as the spectacular frescoes. Then on to the Withies where all stopped for at least a drink - sorry I didn't get a report on the food. In the garden were walkers 10 and #11: after missing the train they got a taxi to the A31, thus solving the road crossing problem and enjoying most of the walk route.
We all proceeded to Godalming together, arriving unexpectedy early at 2.30. Two got an immediate train, others repaired to the Star or Gails for refreshments and tactical discussions about what to do with the afternoon. But SWR made the decision for us by cancelling all trains. We all piled over to the park where we were joined by a friend of a local walker to watch Lux de Lux playing rock and roll featuring an SWC stalwart on harmonica. It was very hot in the sun by this time so we and most of the audience were squeezed into a shady area sort of behind the stage. News of a train running as far as Surbiton led to four of us heading off at about 4.45; hope others enjoyed the rest of the day.
PS thanks to Southern Explorer and Mr Tiger for letting us know about the musical entertainment
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