Saturday Walk - Haslemere Outer Orbital Route (Long and Short options)

Length: HOOP Route – from 10.3 km to 26.8 km 

Ascent/Descent: from 215/169m to 623m 

Net Walking Time: from ca. 2 ½ hours to ca. 6 ½ hours 

Toughness: 8 out of 10 (full route)

 

Sunset in Haslemere will be at 17.51, so there will be light for walking until about 18.30.

Longer walks: walk to and/or from the Orbital Route along one of the spoke routes (see the webpage for more details). 

Shorter walks: walk only parts of the HOOP and take a bus back to Haslemere or walk back along one of the spoke routes (see the webpage for more details).

  

Take the 09.30 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo (09.55 Woking), arrives Haslemere at 10.21.

Then take Bus 70, hourly from opposite the station (direction Midhurst) at 10.42, arrives Kiln Meadow, Kingsley Green 10.52. The 20-minute wait can be bridged by frequenting either The Cabin House Coffee or the South Downs National Park Information Centre next door.

Return buses: xx.35 to 16.35, then xx.39 to 19.39. Return trains: xx.00 and xx.33.

 

This is an interesting circular route orbiting around Haslemere, covering plenty of areas and sights familiar from other SWC walks, but also lots of new ground, for example Bramshott Common, the Waggoner’s Wells ponds, Whitmore Vale, Grayswood, Ansteadbrook and the woods west of Black Down. The Haslemere Outer Orbital Path (HOOP) was originally conceived by Neil Hook and was initially featured – with written directions – on a website run by him. This no longer exists.

The route starts at a bus stop in Kingsley Green served by an hourly service (Mon-Sat), 3 km outside of Haslemere, but additional start or finish points can usefully be accessed either by other bus lines or on foot, along spoke routes from Haslemere Station, using some of the existing SWC walks. For details see below. The HOOP route is map-led, while fully written directions exist for the spoke routes in the walk directions pdf linked above.

Walk Options: four bus lines and six fully written up spoke routes enable you to:

- walk just parts of the HOOP,

- avoid the bus journeys at start or finish by walking from/to Haslemere Station. 

For details see the webpage and study the route map.

Lunch and Tea: The Prince of Wales, Hammer Vale, 4.6 km into the route; The Fox & Pelican, Grayshott, 10.3 km into the route; Café Twenty5, Hindhead, 12.6 km into the route; The Devil’s Punch Bowl, Hindhead, 12.8 km into the route; The National Trust Café, Hindhead, 12.8 km into the route; The Wheatsheaf Inn, Grayswood, 16.7 km into the route (currently closed); The Cabin House Coffee and Harper’s Steakhouse & Bar by Haslemere Station.

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.

 #2026-10-24T09:30 T=swc.377