10.10 train from London Bridge (10.23 Norwood Junction, 10.29 East Croydon) to Chipstead, arriving 10.55.
The journey is all within zone six today, so use passes, Oyster, contactless etc
For walk directions, GPX and a map, click here
This walk always gets done in winter, yet it crosses some lovely chalk downland that should be at its flowery and butterfly-filled best right now (if any are left due to the drought….). It also has reasonable amounts of shade, so should make a nice outing for those not inclined to far-flung adventuring.
Lunch is at the characterful and rural Well House Inn.
Tea is at the Kingswood Arms right by the station.
Trains back are at 22 and 52 past
#2026-07-18T10:10 T=swc.177
3 comments:
N=28 and one small dog on this walk - a not unrespectable turnout on w=another-sunny-day. On the train there was some discussion about which route in the tangle of GPX spaghetti was the main one. I am not a GPX-er, so could offer little assistance, but fortunately the walk author was of our number and was able to guide us at key points.
The drought is hitting hard now. Gold was definitely the colour of the day. Much of the downland was this hue and there were a fair number of harvested wheat fields. Despite this, flowers held on in places - particularly marjoram and wild parsley.
There was also a lot of shady woodland, less necessary than it would have been a week or so ago, but still welcome for its greenery. There was perhaps a bit more golf course than I remember. One we explored more thoroughly than strict adherence to the route would have required (ie we got a bit lost).
The lunch pub had a big garden - and unfortunately a live singer doing a kind of classic hits karaoke in it. I at first thought she was rehearsing for a wedding party, but none appeared and she was perhaps just there for our entertainment. It made choosing an outside table more complex as one was seeking shelter both from the sun and the noise. But after a while one forgot about the latter.
That apart, there was plenty of space, and food service was reasonably efficient. For once the sandwichers largely stayed with us: when we set off, I counted 26 of us strung out along three edges of a field, which was amazing group cohesion for this stage in a SWC walk.
I rather broke with that cohesion by stopping on a downland slope to look at butterflies shortly after. Gatekeeper, meadow brown, common blue, red admiral, comma and silver-washed fritillary were all seen on - the latter a female, but I saw a male soon afterwards in the woods, along with another comma and some speckled woods.
Another walker was with me for the main part of these observations (and indeed spotted some of the species) but he soon joined a group doing a short cut. So I plodded along alone to Kingswood. Getting to the pub at the terribly late hour of 4.45 I found most of the group heading for the exit, but four kindly stayed on as I had my tea. We then got the 5.22 train, enjoying an interesting insight into dating apps on the way back to London Bridge.
After the walk author's encounter with the White Witch in Banstead Woods he must have been susceptible to the Sirens' voices, leading him astray on the golf course. But thankfully Walker's trusty gizmo was able to steer us away from the perils of Scylla and Charybdis, as well as any chance of being stranded with the Nymph Calypso for seven years. What a fate!
PS. Full marks to the Well House Inn. My lunchtime ciabatta was excellent and very good value, but amidst the throng of walkers at the bar I didn't notice that I'd been charged £53 at table 16 rather than £16 at table 53. No matter, on checking my contactless payments later and finding the error a quick email was all it took to get a no-quibble refund. This definitely puts it high up the SWC's recommended lunch pub list.
Post a Comment