Saturday Walk - Wendover to Great Missenden

Length:  21.6 km (13.4 mi)

Ascent/Descent:  360 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 hours

Toughness:  6 out of 10 

               or

Length:  16.4 km (10.2 mi)

Ascent/Descent:  290 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 4 hours

Toughness:  4 out of 10 

  

Take the 09.27 train from Marylebone to Aylesbury (Harrow-on-the-Hill 09.39, Rickmansworth 09.49 etc.),  arrives Wendover 10.15, for the full walk.

Or the 09.57 Aylesbury Vale Parkway service, if walking the short version.

Return trains: xx.02 and xx.32 hours (48 minutes journey time). Buy a Wendover return ticket.

This fairly energetic walk combines some of the finest elements of the Chiltern Hills, while having very little overlap with other walks in the area. After leaving Wendover in a south easterly direction on the Ridgeway the walk rises into woods. It then passes along fields to get to the picturesque green in The Lee, a conservation area village. From there it continues through woodland and the beautiful Lee Common to a 16^th century lunch pub at Swan Bottom. The afternoon offers constantly changing scenery. It completely avoids settlements and roads, mostly following grassy fields, while still passing through a variety of varied and characterful woods. Several beautiful valleys are crossed in between and the finish is a scenic descent into Great Missenden.

Lunch: Cock and Rabbit Inn with its  reassuringly (or frighteningly, depending on your perspective) traditional Graziemille Restaurant (7.3 km/4.6 mi) or The Old Swan  in Swan Bottom (10.0 km/6.2 mi, food to 14.30). It is advisable to book ahead for the latter.

Tea: Cafe Twit, Origins Winebar at The White Lion, Cross Keys, Matilda's, Pantry on Platform 1.

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.140.a

Wednesday Walk Garston to St Albans - River Ver, Moor Mill, St Albans Abbey and Verulamium

Book 1, Walk 7 - Garston to St Albans

Length: 14 km (8.7 miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10

London Euston: 10-24 hrs    Milton Keynes service
Arrive Watford Junction: 10-39 hrs  Change trains. Have a coffee
Leave Watford Junction: 11-09 hrs    St Albans Abbey service
Arrive Garston: 11-14 hrs

[ The 10-49 hrs   Birmingham New Street service out of Euston allows a 6 minute change time at Watford Junction, which is a bit tight if the London train is not spot on time.]

Return: Either  St Albans Abbey to Euston, changing at Watford Junction:  16-07, 16-54 and 17-45 hrs
or
St Albans City to St Pancras: Thamselink fast services at 01, 13, 18 and 27 mins past the hour, and stopping service at 35 mins past the hour.

Rail ticket: buy a day return to St Albans Abbey. If returning from the City station you will probably  have to buy an additional ticket.

Not too ghastly a walk, with a Christmas Market in the Abbey's precincts, and you might catch a carol service in the Abbey

This usually makes for a pleasant and easy pre-Christmas walk. Shortly after the start you are likely to encounter a good dollop of mud in Bricket Wood Common but with care and some slopping around you should make it safely through and out the other side. Then it is along the drive of Mundon House and through its grounds to come out onto a bridleway which you follow for a mile or so  before you  head along field edges and cross a vast field to the lunch pub - the Moor Mill. At this time of year this popular pub-restaurant gets booked up, so I have made a booking for SWC walkers. For a pub chain the food is usually much better than the pre-digested fare often encountered at similar establishments.
After lunch you head along the Ver Valley walk through light woodland on a hilly section (the only hilly bit today) as you make for the village of Park Street. Then you have to negotiate some water meadows and walk along a field edge beside the River Ver to come out onto a residential street which you follow gently uphill  for a while - with  a fine view of the Abbey directly ahead of you - before you return to the river to follow it all the way to St Albans.  A short walk uphill brings you to the Abbey cum Cathedral. In its precincts you should find a Christmas Fair in full swing.  Inside the Abbey its cafe serves as your tea stop today. After exploring the Abbey (recommended) your final journey of the day depends on which of St Albans' railway stations you wish to return home from. Personally I prefer the walk back downhill from the Abbey to Ye Olde Flying Cocks pub (recommended for its choice of fine ales). Then through Verulamium Park to St Albans Abbey  station. Allow at least 20 mins from the Abbey to this diddy railway station. Allow slightly longer if you walk through the town and make for St Albans City station for trains to St Pancras.
T=1.7
Your walk Directons are here: L=1.7

Sunday Walk: Riddlesdown to Coulsdon South

Book 2, walk 15
16.8 km. 10.4 miles or, with shortcut, 7.8 miles 12.5km.
Difficulty 4/10
This walk, all within travelcard zone 6, goes through some of the finest preserved commons in the green belt, including Happy Valley and Farthing Down. You also get to marvel at one of England's oldest - and biggest - wall paintings in Chaldon Church .
Travel:
Get the 10:22 East Grinstead train from London Bridge (E Croydon 10:39) arr. Riddlesdown 10:47. (No service from Victoria today). Get a Zones 1-6 travelcard.
Returning from Coulsdon South at xx:04 involves 10 minutes on a replacement bus to Purley where you pick up the xx:28 train to London Bridge. Total journey time 51min.
Returning at xx:34 (also via bus to Purley) involves a further change at East Croydon. Total journey time 55 min.

Lunch 
The Fox, Coulsdon Common 01883 330 401- Busy, efficient and "oozing rustic charm and rural character" according to their website. There's a possible earlier stop at Wattenden - the Wattenden Arms, open from 12.
Tea:
There is a Caffe Nero, 5 mins north of the station at 132 Brighton Road, open until 5pm.
The Poppy Cafe in the Memorial Gardens (across the road from Reddown Rd) is open till 4.
There's also a drinks machine in the station's cab office.
Additionally, the walk's intro page gives directions to a pub, the Pembroke, 12-16 Chipstead Valley Road, CR5 2RA.
(The Pembroke and Caffe Nero are not that far from Coulsdon Town station where trains run to Purley at xx:11 or East Croydon at xx:41 - directions not in text, continue north along Brighton Rd and turn right into Leaden Hill).
Walk Directions:  here.
Bearing in mind it gets dark early, consider the shortcut (option a), soon after the Fox.

T=2.15

Sunday Walk: Sole Street Circular

13.5km 8.4m
Difficulty: 5/10
Book 2, walk 17 (variant)
Woods, hills, and views in the Kent North Downs.
Trains: get the 10:10 from Victoria to Canterbury East, arriving at Sole Street at 10:59
Trains return from Sole Street at xx:57.
Lunch: the Amazon and Tiger, Harvel (01474 814 705) Phone to book.
The Golden Lion, Lower Luddesdown, (01474 814 369) is an earlier option.
Tea the Cock Inn, or, nearer the station, the Railway Inn.
Directions:  here This is a variant of the Snodland to Sole Street walk.  Use the alternative start on Page 5.

T=2.17

Saturday Walk: Yalding to Borough Green

10.4 miles / 16.8 km
The Greensand Way and Mereworth Woods.


A variation on the original route takes you to West Peckham for lunch at the Swan on the Green.


Trains: Take the 10:10 train from Charing Cross (10:19 London Bridge) to Tonbridge, arriving 10:51, change for the 11:04 to Yalding, arriving 11:18.  If you miss the first train or have faith in the punctuality of Southeastern trains, you can also take the 10:15 from Charing Cross, giving 6 minutes to change trains at Tonbridge.
Return trains at xx:18 and xx:46 to London Victoria.
A return to Yalding always seems to have worked for return from Borough Green.


Lunch: The Swan on the Green, West Peckham, (01622 812271), good food and has its own micro-brewery, best to phone ahead.  The lunch pub on the original route has long since closed down, but a small detour will take you to the Moody Mare, Mereworth (01622 813038) - follow the Beeches route in the instructions.


Borough Green does not have a lot to offer at the end of the walk.  Besides the places listed in the directions, there's a a Costa Coffee on the main road and a Co op supermarket by the station.


Click here for full walk details and directions
T=1.50

Vanguard Way: East Croydon to Beech Plantation

Vanguard Way: East Croydon to Beech Plantation
Length: 19km (11.8 miles)* t=ldp.22

Catch the 9:46 from Victoria arrives at East Croydon at 10:02.

Suggest meeting outside Costa coffee in the ticket hall area and setting off at 10:10am prompt. This walk makes use of the online Vanguard way walk directions by Colin Saunders. From East Croydon, it's not too long before you reach the open space of Lloyd Park. The suggested lunch stop is at The Bull Inn, Chelsham Common , Chelsham, (T:01883 627735), 11km into the walk.

After lunch the terrain is more undulating. This chosen 16.7km first stage consists of Section 1: East Croydon to Chelsham Common and part of Section 2: Chelsham to Limpsfield Chart.  In the section 2 text, at the end of paragraph 2.8, take the Eastern Link to Oxted station (2.3km).

The Vanguard Way directions are comprehensive and include commentary on points of interest along the way.

The remaining stages of the Vanguard Way will be scheduled in 2019 about every 2 months over 4 Saturdays.
 *Option to shorten the walk by 4km by taking the Link to Woldingham station after lunch.

Saturday walk - Crowthorne to Sandhurst - Berkshire heaths and woods

Length: 15.3km (9.5 miles) - with options to extend after lunch to 17.3km (10.4 miles) or 20.5km (12.7 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10 T=3.83

9.30 (Bristol Temple Meads-bound) train** from Paddington to Reading, arriving 9.55 and changing to the 10.04 to Crowthorne, arriving 10.18.

** If you get to Paddington a bit earlier you could get the 9.22 Worcester train which gives you four extra minutes to make the connection. The only convenient connection from Ealing Broadway is the 9.05 stopping service to Reading arriving at 9.50.

Buy a day return to Sandhurst - or to Blackwater if you plan to end there

For walk directions click here. For GPX click here.

I have not done this walk and so rely on the walk notes, which promise mixed woodland, heaths and pastures including the National Trust's Finchampstead Ridges. The afternoon is along the River Blackwater where there can apparently be flooding after heavy rain, but I don't think rain has yet been that heavy this winter....

Lunch is in Finchampstead after 8km (5 miles) where there is a pub - the Queen's Oak - described as "very welcoming to walkers", with another alternative nearby.

After lunch you can do the standard walk to Sandhurst - 13.5km (9.5 miles) or extend the walk in two ways. One possibility (option i) is a slightly longer afternoon, making a walk of 17.3km (10.4 miles) and another is to add a leg from Sandhurst to Blackwater (option ii), making a walk of 18.5km (11.4 miles). Doing BOTH these options would make a walk of 20.5km (12.7 miles).

Tea is in one of two pubs in Sandhurst: there seem to be no tea options at Blackwater, however.

Trains back are at 28 past from Blackwater or 31 past from Sandhurst, changing at Reading

Wednesday Walk - Hook to Winchfield

Length:  20.0 km (12.4 mi) [shorter or longer walk possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent:  153/154m

Net Walking Time: ca. 4 - 4 ½ hours [the last 15 mins are along roads so you should in any case be fine for light]

Toughness:  3 out of 10 

  

Take the 10.12 Basingstoke train from Waterloo (10.19 CJ, 10.30 Surbiton etc.), arrives Hook 11.18.  
Return trains from Winchfield are on xx.05 and xx.35  (ca. 60 mins journey time). Buy a Hook return.

The start of this walk is affected by Hook's proximity to the noisy M3, but after crossing it on the edge of Bartley Heath nature reserve the motorway is soon out of earshot. The walk then alternates between stretches alongside the River Whitewater and the Basingstoke Canal, with the weather-beaten ruins of Odiham Castle at their intersection. After passing through the attractive village of Greywell with its ancient church and mill the route doubles back to a lunchtime stop in the elegant town of Odiham, with its wide Georgian-fronted High Street.

In the afternoon the walk re-joins the canal at Odiham Wharf and continues along the towpath to Broad Oak Bridge, where there is a choice of routes (see Walk Options below). The Main Walk goes through the extensive Dogmersfield Park  estate (once a royal hunting ground) and past Tundry Pond to re-join the canal at Blacksmith's Bridge. It then heads back along the towpath before going across fields and along country lanes to Winchfield station.

Walk Options:

·        The walk directions include a short cut in the morning (cuts 1¼ km by cutting out the loop to Greywell Mill).

·        After lunch, at Broad Oak Bridge you could remain on the canal towpath, omitting the section through Dogmersfield Park. This Short Walk saves nearly 4 km and has the added attraction of going past a picturesque Hunting Lodge on the edge of Odiham Common.

·        The Long Walk adds 4¼ km by continuing eastwards from Blacksmith's Bridge along a rural stretch of the canal to Crookham Wharf and then returning through the village of Dogmersfield.

Note: Earlier in the year, ”…the morning route was substantially changed as the paths across Hook Common had become increasingly difficult to follow”. This is the first outing of the new version.

Early Lunch: The Mill House  in North Warnborough or The Fox and Goose in Greywell.

Lunch: The Bell, The Bel & The Dragon and The Red Lion, all in Odiham (9.3 km/5.8 mi, food to 14.30).

Tea: The Winchfield Inn, which may or may not be open weekday afternoons…

For walk directions, map, height profile, some photos, a video and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.84