9.45 train from Waterloo (9.52 Clapham Junction) to Guildford, arriving 10.24, changing to the 10.36 to Shalford, arriving 10.41.
Buy a day return to Shalford - or to Chilworth (only marginally more expensive) if you want the option of ending there
I apologise to the three people who did this walk on a Sunday a few weeks ago, but it is a new walk and I think it deserves a better attended outing than that. (Its debut on a damp Sunday in February attracted 6 people.) It offers varied scenery, with good amounts of shade, some stream-side sections, and possibly some bell heather in flower on Blackheath.
It covers very familiar territory from an SWC point of view, but with new twists and turns - literally, as the route loops around on itself. That means that if are one of these people whose map software does not indicate the directions on the GPX track, you may find yourself getting a bit bewildered. To be clear, you start by going along the Wey, then along North Downs Way above Chantries Hill. Clicking on the headings of each section of the walk directions to give you a brief description of the route might help with further navigation, but I guess that is all a bit old school...
Assuming you follow the correct course, you land up in Chilworth after 9.3km (5.8 miles), where the Percy Arms is the lunch stop. I have had drinks here any number of times, but never eaten, but it is described as "friendly and efficiently run" and serves some South African specialities.
There is then a loop up onto Blackheath, after which you come back to Chilworth, where you can have tea/drinks and either end the walk after 10.1 miles, or carry on to Shalford (the full 13.7 mile walk)
Or you can omit the Blackheath loop altogether after lunch and walk directly to Shalford, which shortens the walk to 9 miles.
Tea options in Shalford include the very nice Snooty Fox cafe - but this closes at 4pm. Otherwise the Queen Victoria pub on the far side of the station has a garden. (Shalford also has a nice convenience store, run by the Snooty Fox.)
Trains back from Chilworth are at 15.07, 17.07 and 19.07 (etc) via Guildford to Waterloo, or at 15.45, 17.45 (etc) to London Bridge via Redhill
Trains back from Shalford are at 10 or 11 past the hour via Guildford to Waterloo or at 41 past to London Bridge via Redhill (very slightly slower)
#2026-08-01T09:45 T=swc.448
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13 at the start. Some confusion at Guildford where the Shalford train was marked as cancelled on the National rail app - except it wasn’t. A nice start along the river: here at least the flowers were lush. The North Downs Way route behind Chantries Hill provided welcome shade in the (not as hot as a few days ago but still) w=hot-sun.
Some stopped for sandwiches at the top of St Martha’s Hill and were then eaten by bears (or at least never seen again). Some were tempted by shortcuts down to Chilworth (a problem of loopy routes) but were dissuaded. One wanted to lunch at the Drummond in Albury but was also dissuaded.
In the end three of us lunched in the garden of the Percy Arms and one had a latte. The pub was busy, but to its credit food came lightening quick (possibly a bit too quick?). I liked my lamb curry in a white bread bowl: a companion disliked his flatbread (I ate it instead and it was delish). The walk author joined us and a late starter turned up as we were leaving, making n=15 in all.
Three went on to Shalford without doing the Blackheath loop. The late starter said she would do the Blackheath loop but didn’t come with us. So three of us did it. Halfway round we met three others doing it in the other direction. The heather was surprisingly advanced, looking really quite dramatic. Some tediously sandy paths apart (though these were in keeping with the desert look of other parts of the walk), this was a nice section.
One evaporated just before we got to Chilworth, so just two of us had tea at the Percy Arms. Thus fortified we tackled the final section over Chantries Hill. (Did anyone else do the whole walk?) We had a drink at the Queen Vic and got the 19.11 train.
In general I thought this an interesting and varied walk, taking unexpected routes through familiar territory. Its three sections make it easy to do shortcuts, though this also perhaps encourages walkers (though not Walker!) to take the lazy option….
Ooh, ooh, ooh, and I must just add that as we approached Chilworth for the first time, there was an almighty crack to our left in the woods of the Gunpowder Works and an enormous crash as a large piece of a tree (or possibly a whole one: we could not see) plummeted to the ground. So it is a thing (though not a thing you can do much about, says I…)
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