8 off the posted train agreed to do the Pewley Down route to St Martha's to avoid potentially muddy ground on the riverside route. This was a good warm-up and was virtually mud free but it cut out Chantrey's Hill whichas a disappointment for anyone looking forward to it. During the descent from St Martha's, this walker managed to lose the other 7 and with a dysfunctional GPS went off in the wrong direction eventually getting to Albury via a path from New lands down by which time the 7 had finished their picnics and we're on their way to Chilworth. They decided to continue to Shalford as the day was still young. In the meantime, a group of 3 had taken a later train and were joined by a car driver who walked with them to Albury and had lunch at the Drummond before walking back to their car . The other 4 picnicked at the church before continuing to Chilworth where they caught the train to Guildford locking up the 7 Shalford walkers along the way. I finished at Albury where the bus stop indicated a Guildford bus due in 15 minutes. Home before dark. The walk was enjoyable despite . overcast drizzly conditions. 12 walkers including the two pub lunchers.

Correction - 3 caught the train from Chilworth picking up the 7 who extended their walk to Shalford.

6 on this walk, including two newcomers. It was sunny with a cooling breeze . We took the "short-cut" to Albury, not because we were in a hurry but just to try a different path - it was a very attractive route I thought.

The one pub-goer benefited from our speedy arrival in Albury as she was served very efficiently and caught up on the picknickers in only a few minutes after lunch - which we had by the war memorial. I finished at Chilworth so I hope the others enjoyed the afternoon.

It is worth pointing out that these trains stop at Clapham Junction - at 9.53 on the outward service.

I’ll try to join at end of walk in Guildford. Let me know where you end up. Thanks

Some people are in the King’s Head

I didn’t count, not expecting to write this report, but we later calculated that 10 brave souls assembled outside Guildford station, three being not so brave as they had come by car. At lunch we were joined by another driver, making 11 in all.

Brightish cloud probably best describes the weather. It occasionally tried to be sunny but never succeeded for long.

Our walk poster led us on his New Improved Route (patent pending) through the castle grounds and down to the base of Chantries Hill. A companion and I got a bit left behind on the climb and nearly got absorbed by a large party of bright-eyed young MeetUp types. We met the others of our party at St Martha’s Church.

I think the picnickers ate here and one or two maybe did the Chilworth shortcut (?). The rest of us carried on to Albury where 7 of us had lunch on the back terrace of the Drummond pub, receiving prompt and efficient service.

Two then got the bus back to their car. Leastways, they were last seen waiting for the bus which was 20 minutes late. The remaining 6 of us (including one picknicker) carried on with the afternoon route over Blackheath. Getting close to Guildford we saw a black shape a bit like a child’s cuddly toy scuttling into the Wey, which we decided might have been a water vole.

Two (and one other picknicker) had got to the King’s Head as early as 3.45pm. The rest of us (minus one who had split off to return to his car) got there at 4.15. Three of us went to Gail’s to get tea. We stood in a long line only to be told once we got to the front that they had no hot water. Grrr! So to Cafe Nero.

We met up again with the drinkers (who had got through sufficient wine in the pub, they said, so didn’t want to get any for the train) and had a pleasant ride home on the well-used 5.49pm train, all pleased to have managed a proper country walk despite the strike (which we hope will be settled soon in a manner fair and equitable to all parties….)

9 including a couple of people not seen for a few years one of whom took a shortcut near the start and wasn't seen again. The rest took a leisurely stroll to Albury where one caught a bus back to Guildford to go to a cricket match.Four dined at the pub, three had a picnic at the monument in front of the church. The afternoon stretch was lovely with lots of blackberries for refreshment. Five finished at Shalford, two continued to Guildford. Weather was perfect sunny with a nice breeze .

I think a return to Shalford (or Chilworth) is roughly the same price as a Guildford return and gives you the option of finishing at Shalford.

14 at the start, one from Godalming who we picked up early in the walk and one who caught a slightly later train and caught us for lunch: so 16 today all told. The weather was grey , but otherwise inoffensive: no rain or wind, not ludicrously cold.

In the morning we enjoyed the view from Chantries Hill - yes, dear reader, we actually STOPPED and looked at the view and waited for the back markers to catch up. Getting to St Martha’s Church we stopped again on the nice benches alongside the church, lured by the offer of free tea and cake (you were invited to leave a donation…). Most then did the main walk route to lunch, with only three (?) doing the short cut.

Regulars will know I am not famous for booking tables for lunch. But I made an exception this time, reserving for six - probably a wise move as the pub was busy. Six was parlayed to eight on arrival, and one more ate and three had drinks at a separate table. That leaves four unaccounted for, who presumably had their sandwiches somewhere and carried on.

We had a nice table by the window in the conservatory and we sat there a long time. Not because the food came slowly - it was very quick - but because it was nice just to sit there and enjoy pleasant company. I was impressed by the menu: three vegan options (almost an indecent amount of choice…) and my chick pea and cashew nut curry was very nice.

Up onto the heath in the afternoon. Two here took the short cut to Chilworth. The rest of us carried on to Guildford - at least everyone I was with did. We got a bit strung out, but two of us had tea in Gail’s in Guildford, open to 6pm (yay!) but out of breakfast tea (boo!). Five of us then had a cosy drink by the fire in the King’s Head.

Link to Drummond Arms needs adjusting.

Done. Thanks.

The bridleway taken in paragraphs 95-95 is closed for the next couple of weeks due to a fallen tree. Instead you can take the bridleway that forks off to the right that's mentioned in paragraph 95. Follow this down the hill for several hundred meters to join a track at the bottom of the hill outside a house. At that point you can turn left to follow the track for another few hundred meters to bring you to a T-junction where you turn right. The T-junction is at about the start of paragraph 97; if you look to your left you can see the red tape closing off the bottom of the original bridleway.

Hi. Am in Shalford so will try to rendezvous with you in Shalford Park. Thx, Rolf

11 off the train. One of the group persuaded us to try a different start via the castle & it's gardens & two parks, reaching the turnoff to Chantry Wood via an enclosed footpath. As a result we missed 2 who had come by car waiting for us to pass on the route. However we were all together before lunch after some phone calls & short cuts, making 13. warm spring day .

An enjoyable lunch saw the group fragment with some lingering over coffee etc, but come together later after a few of us explored the fallen tree, which turned out to not be an obstacle, though possibly a risk of falling as you walk underneath.

The good walking in the morning was replaced by a few serious mud stretches in the afternoon, but not too bad. Four went to the Kings Head getting the 1819 back.

Not sure where everyone was tonight, but just 4 on this pleasant evening walk full of interest. We arrived on the escarpment a few minutes before sunset and were able to see some lovely sunset colors on the clouds on the horizon. We carried on to St. Martha's which provides a slightly higher vantage point and admired the view and end of the sunset colors. Also, noted that we should post the walk a week or two earlier to give more time to reach the St. Martha's view point and watch the sun set. Eventually, we headed back through the dip and heard a number of owls with varying hoots and saw 5 glowworms before summitting Pewley Down on the far side of the valley where we enjoyed a fine view of Jupiter and Saturn in alignment. Back in Guildford about 8:45 pm we decided to have a drink and bite to eat at the local Bills before heading home. A nice evening walk in dry and cloudy conditions .

Hi. New to group. Is the SWC shadowing the Ramblers policy of 'The rule of 6 does not apply to us as we are a sports group', enabling you to walk as a larger group? Thank you.

No, the SWC has a policy of no more than 6 per group. If more than 6 attend a walk, they will be required to break into groups of no more than 6. Our walks do not have official leaders and instructions/GPX are available -- so breaking into smaller groups is possible.

Thank you. Will use app.

7 briefly assembled outside Guildford station before setting-off in smaller groups. As the route through the park by the river and weir is STILL closed, we were a bit late arriving on the hillside -- but did manage to catch the last fading touches of red in the western sky....Given the heat of the day, most of the attendees obviously thought we needed rehydration and nearly half the group had brought refreshies to have at the church, but given the growing darkness, we deferred our drink stop to the top of Pewley Down where we enjoyed our al fresco drinks in warm evening air and did some stargazing before the easy finish back into Guildford. Quite a nice little micro Guildford circular -- for sunset viewing, probably better a week or two earlier....

Also, spotted on the walk on the path up Pewley Down were w=5-female-glow-worms. A first sighting for many....

Sigh! Another soggy Saturday (the fourth in five weeks), though actually there was only rain in the afternoon after a dry morning. Approaching the lunch pub we even discussed carrying on past it to make the most of the dry weather (as maybe some of the sandwichistas did?) but it would have done no good, as the rain started shortly after. For the rest of the daylight hours it was then pretty relentless, though less extreme than last week.

There were 11 of us at the start of this walk; one more materialised soon after and one caught us at lunch. So 13 in all. Two “hors de combat” walkers also joined us for lunch in the pub.

Autumn colours were excellent throughout this walk, with golden beech and sweet chestnut prominent. The short cut before lunch, with its stately avenue of very tall beeches, was particularly fine. Honourable mention also goes to Blackheath after lunch, where copper-coloured bracken complemented the tree tints.

The Drummond at Albury accommodated us for lunch without fuss, as always, and served walker-sized portions. For tea I was delighted to introduce two walkers to the Snooty Fox in Shalford, one of my favourite tea stops. Two went to the Seahorse pub nearby, and two of us joined them there after tea.

At least one person had walked on to Guildford by this point and one got the train to Shalford. The four of us in the Seahorse pub then walked in the atmospheric last dregs of the daylight (not moonlight, alas, but a bit like it) across the Shalford Watermeadows and along the river to Guildford, arriving a little after 5pm. We had a drink in the White House and got a train at about 6.30pm.

I forgot to mention that at the start of this walk the route along the river from Millmead Lock was blocked by the collapse of a footbridge and weir in last Saturday’s deluge. We diverted around this fairly easily, but it meant the Wey Navigation was a metre lower than usual. Later research revealed it had been totally empty of water till the previous day, when construction of a temporary sandbag barrier to plug the gap started. Whether a temporary footbridge over the gap will also be erected soon, I do not know. Meantime a diversion around the blockage is possible by crossing Millmead Lock and walking to the main road, then turning right along it for about 300 metres until there is a footbridge across the Navigation to your right, which gets you back into the walk route.

Just one SWC walker today? Big group on the Guildford station platform turned out to be with Metropolitan Walkers (who they?) Weather good until after lunch when heavy rain started. Decided to get the bus to Guildford after tasty pheasant and bacon pie at pub in Aldbury. Lovely sunshine and autumn colour in the morning.

1

sunny intervals in the morning heavy rain showers in the afternoon

5 on this walk. Beautiful autumn colours in the morning, a lovely pub for lunch, good company, what could go wrong? What went wrong was God decided to turn the water taps on. Scrambling to find my rucksack cover and anorak I got cut off from the group and decided to get my phone out to try and find my way back to Guildford. I didn't get my paper instructions out because from previous experience I knew that they turn to paper machee (spelling?) in such conditions. I now know a smart phone can also cause problems in such conditions. The screen being wet doesn't respond to touches! After a bit of swearing and finally getting somewhere half dry I finally got the thing to work. The moral of the story is, sometimes a covered set of paper instructions or a covered map are still superior. Just one more thing. It was 15 degrees yesterday and still I felt very cold waiting for my train, if it had been 4 degrees it could have been utterly awful; remember to wrap up warm for the Winter walks especially if heavy rain is forecast.

Anonymous,

On the Guildford walks the SWC group usually gathers at the station entrance, rather than the platform. Probably it would be best if we make the meeting point clear when posting Guildford walks in future. Sorry to have missed you but hope that you had an enjoyable walk.

Sounds good and will be a popular choice. Thanks, Walker.

There is a rail replacement bus service between Woking and Guildford on Saturday 28th

There is, but it does not affect us. Trains will run via an alternative route between Surbiton and Guildford but it does not affect journey times or frequencies. (This route is in fact used by some peak hour fast trains anyway). Thank the Victorians for building all these “pointlessly duplicated” rail lines.

I think the bus service only applies if you are getting on or off at Woking. Trains appear to be running directly from London and Clapham Junction to Guildford

22 on this walk, let us say - I counted 17 at the beginning, but we acquired at least five more during the morning ('We parked at Chantries Hill", "I got an earlier train but it turned out to be a stopping service" "The hamster ate my homework" etc), so we were a nice big happy group going over Chantries Hill and St Martha's Hill. It was a lovely sunny day - all you could ask for in the last day of British Summer Time - and layers came off, right down to shirtsleeves. We had a pleasant sit in the sun on the benches in front of St Martha's church. But I noticed that for those of us who sat in the garden at lunchtime (for the last time this year??!!??) the layers started coming back on again - ie, it was not QUITE as warm as it looked.

The lovely Drummond pub in Albury accommodated us all with ease, as it always does, bless it. I am a biased and prejudiced reporter, having written this walk, but I enjoyed it heaps, despite its familiarity: a nice range of terrains from woods to open views to heathland to farmland and then riverside. Autumn colours were good on outward faces - that is to say, good tints on those parts of the tree explosed to the sun, green at path level still. The sweet chestnuts did not disappoint, and there were also four red admiral butterflies.

A handful of us tried the new option to the Snooty Fox tea room in Shalford - the first time an SWC has visited this? Two got a bus from here to Guildford. Others went straight on to Guildford to tea, getting there as early as 3.30pm. The rest of the Snooty Foxers had a nice walk along the river into Guildford, enjoying the last of the British Summer Time sunshine.

In case anyone is wondering about the many "missing dog" posters en route today, I'm happy to say Shelley (who went missing from St. Martha's Hill on Monday 23rd and had since been spotted running around) has been found safe, although very hungry, and is back at home.

Jolly good anonymous,nice of you to report this happy news and proves that at least someone in the club likes dogs!😄

I fully intend to join this walk, this will be my first SWC walk and I will be solo, anyone interested in teaming up just let me know!

Don't worry there will be others, some you may meet on the train, generally middle carriage, the group will congregate for introductions just through the automatic ticket barrier before the exit doors to the station, expect 10-20.

The White Horse pub, one of the lunch options on this walk, are offering a free starter or a pudding voucher if you sign up to the Chef & Brewer newsletter.

Alexander, I hope we didn't miss you. We congregated at the station entrance, by the ticket machines before setting off.

20 on this walk, including two who materialised at lunch, having started at Gomshall (does this count?). The weather was chilly with some sun and one brief shower . Bluebells were about a third out on Chantries Hill and a little over half in Old Sim's Copse. Lots of signs of leaves coming out on bushes and trees. Sightings of green woodpeckers.

Most lunched in the White Horse in Shere but some of us tried the adjacent William Bray, which was worryingly empty but served reasonable food (though the vegetarian mains were more like starters - why do pubs assume vegetarians are not hungry?).

The group fragmented after lunch but I know one or two, possibly a lot more, rushed for the 4pm trains, while another set off alone to walk to Box Hill. Five of us did option c, the only slightly longer circular walk, which is recommended, and had a nice tea in the quirky Abinger Hammer tea room before catching the 6pm.

Shorter options are 9.3 miles (option a) or 8 miles (option c)

N=+20 (lost count in the fog!)

W= bright_and_cloudy_with_thick_fog_to_start

A lively wander up through the downs, woodland and moorland of Surrey. Thick fog made for "atmospheric" views(!), and slightly challenging navigation in the morning. After an entertaining chat with the enthusiastic vicar at St Martha on the Hill, 16 of us had a delicious lunch at The Drummond at Albury. Service was very friendly and super-efficient, so the advanced party headed off for an afternoon of beautiful light brightening throughout the afternoon.

Having arrived back in Guildford at 3.30pm 5 went off to find tea and cake, whilst 4 did a very thorough review of the pubs of Guildford. Having sampled several pleasant establishments, steak was devoured by the log fire at The Kings Arms.

A lovely and not excessively muddy day out!

Alternative route which avoids walking beside the A281 in the afternoon.

When you reach the A281 (point 70 in the text), instead of turning right alongside the road, cross straight over at the pedestrian crossing and carry on along the path opposite. When you come to the bridge, cross it and turn immediately right and go down to the path, following it left to join the original route at point 74

14 weather w= mild-and-cloudy-with-fleeting-drizzle. Lovely walk with the group splitting into little sub-groups; 3 doing the short-cut without visiting the Percy Arms; 3 doing the long walk to go to a more favoured pub (the Percy Arms deemed to be less than friendly) with the intention of picking up the rail replacement bus service at Chilworth and the rest of us who had an atmospheric picnic lunch at "the church on the hill" listening to the Rememberance hymns filtering through the church walls.

When we reached the Percy Arms none of us felt we really wanted a drink there - its the sort of place where someone greets you at the door to show you to your pre-booked table and there was standing room only at the bar. We pressed on to Guildford using the Downs link route(must walk all of this in the summer if possible) where 4 of us found the lovely deli on the hill just off Guildfords main drag where welcome tea and cakes were consumed. Then a slow 4pm train back to London ending a fine day out.

The three who went on the the Drummond Arms in Albury were welcomed, given a better table than expected, with excellent beer and good food. Service was efficient and we found we had time to do the long option before dark so we walked the whole way and got back to Guildford in time for the 16:05.