Saturday Walkers' Club

Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1

Walk 27 : Milford to Haslemere



Thursley, Hindhead & the Devil's Punch Bowl

Length 17.1 km (10.6 miles), 4 hours 45 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 8 hours.
OS Landranger Map No.186. Milford, map reference TQ 955 414, is in Surrey, 3 km south-west of Godalming.
OS Explorer Maps Nos.133 & 145.
Toughness 6 out of 10.
Features A long walk along a road out through Milford is rewarded by the beauty of the landscape beyond. Bagmoor Common Nature Reserve’s heathland of purple moss grass and heather, and woodland of oaks and Scots pine, leads on to the lakes of Warren Mere and across to the village of Thursley, which has a fine old church. The Three Horseshoes pub, closed for a long time in the early 2000s, reopened in 2005. At point [7] below, there is a 300 metre long fenced path where nettles in summer have made us grateful for long trousers. Mainly you are walking through National Trust land – sandy bridleways through ancient established woodlands and the heather, gorse and bilberry of the heathland. Thursley Common suffered from a major fire in 2006, leaving a burnt-out moonscape which is eerie to walk through, although the Common is slowly recovering back to a more natural state. After walking through the Devil’s Punch Bowl, you ascend to the Devil’s Punch Bowl café, for a late lunch or an early tea stop. From there you follow the Greensand Way with fine views out towards the South Downs, with finally a footpath into the High Street in Haslemere for tea.
New Walk Options

Keeping to the Punch Bowl's Rim

After lunch, the route heads south to Devil's Punch Bowl (a steep sided, horseshoe shaped ridge). The route climbs up, over its rim and then down into the punch bowl. It continues through the middle of the 'bowl', then steeply up at the 'top end' of the horseshoe to the NT cafe at its rim. While the valley is very pretty, this alternative sticks to a very nice path along the rim, with a fine view. [same distance, easier]

Gibbet Hill

After tea at the NT cafe, the book route crosses the busy A3, and follows the Greendsand Way south, down into another horseshoe shaped valley. This route follows the rim instead (i.e. going around the valley. It also visits the summit of Gibbet Hill (viewpoint). Note: the paths may change slightly over the next few years, as the current A3 is being buried in a tunnel, and the current busy road will become a cyclepath. [a little longer, easier]

Shortening the Walk You could order a taxi from Thursley; or you could catch a bus from near the cafe in Hindhead.
History

The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Thursley, has heavy-duty wooden roof beams, added in Henry VII’s time to support a new tower. Its Saxon windows up by the altar on the north wall are the only ones in England with their original timber frames (thin horn or oiled linen was used for window panes).

Legend has it that the Devil’s Punch Bowl was formed when the Devil scooped up earth to hurl at Thor, the God of Thunder, who lived in Thor’s Lie (Thursley); the punch bowl refers to the mist that seems to flow over the rim of the bowl.

The heathlands here were among the UK’s earliest cultivated areas – clearings in the forest that were abandoned as the nutrients leached away into the sandy soil. The spring line between the sandstone top layer and the impermeable clay beneath led to erosion of the sandstone, thus creating the Devil’s Punch Bowl.

A sailor in 1786 bought drinks for three men at the pub in Thursley. Later, they were seen murdering him at the Devil’s Punch Bowl. Found guilty, they were hanged in chains on a hill nearby, now known as Gibbet Hill. The outraged and doleful headstone erected for the sailor can be read in the north-west edge of Thursley church­yard. There is also a memorial to the sailor – Sailor’s Stone - near Gibbet Hill.

Only the tower of St Bartholomew’s Church in Haslemere is ancient, the rest having been boldly demolished by the Victorians. There is a stained glass window here dedicated to the poet Tennyson.

In Tudor and Stuart times Haslemere was a centre for the iron industry. With the coming of the railway in the mid-nineteenth century, it became a popular spot for literary people. Tennyson’s house, Aldworth, is on the slopes of Black Down where he loved to walk; and the novelist George Eliot wrote Middlemarch in Shottermill.

The town has an interesting Museum up the High Street, 100 metres north of the Georgian House Hotel. The museum is open 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday (closed Monday and Sunday) and has a fine explanatory display of local wild flowers in the foyer. Other highlights include an Egyptian mummy and an observation beehive. Admission is free – donations welcomed.
Saturday Walkers Club

Take the train nearest to 9-30 am from London Waterloo Station to Milford, Surrey (perhaps changing at Guildford). Journey time about 50 minutes. Trains back from Haslemere to Waterloo run about three times an hour.

Rail ticket: buy a cheap day return to Haslemere.

This walk comes up in the Book One walk schedule each year in the first week of July, but it makes for an excellent walk in all seasons of the year.

Most of the SWC walks are as enjoyable when walked alone as they are when walked in the company of a group of walkers. But due to the bleakness of the Commons on this walk, this walk is eerily lonely when walked alone (if that isn’t double-dutch), so it is best walked in company.
Lunch

Your lunchtime stop on this walk is the Three Horse­shoes pub in Thursley (tel. 01252 703268). The pub reopened in 2005 after a lengthy closure and now serves food more of the up-market, gastro variety – but walkers are welcomed and there is usually something on the extensive menu to suit the average walker’s needs. The pub also serves proper draught beer and not just euro-fizz. Food is served between the hours of 12-15pm and 2-15pm weekdays and until 3pm on Sundays. There is an informal eating area inside the pub as well as a restaurant area, plus extensive seating outdoors in the pub’s attractive beer garden.

For those wanting to eat earlier in the day, you can buy food at the Co-Operative convenience store in Milford (or at the Farmer’s Market close by) and picnic by the lake at para 16 in the Walk Directions.

Late lunchers, or early diners, can try the Devil’s Punchbowl Hotel & Restaurant (tel. 01428 606565) in Hindhead. A menu of pub favourite dishes is available until 9-15pm, and on Sundays, Sunday Walkers can enjoy their carvery until 5-15 pm.
Tea

The National Trust’s Devil’s Punch Bowl Café (tel. 01428 606565) serves as an early tea stop – and is open until 5pm. [!] Allow 80 minutes walking time from this café to Haslemere railway station.

The recommended tea stop in Haslemere is Darnleys tearoom (tel.01428 643048) on the High Street, which closes at 5pm (but sometimes at 4pm on Sundays).

If on arrival in Haslemere you find Darnleys closed, you can try Costa coffee or The Georgian House Hotel nearby on the High Street.

What was the Haslemere Hotel opposite the railway station is now the Inn on the Hill (tel.01428-642006), a restaurant and hotel. Next to the station is also the Metro Café, which closes at 5pm Monday to Saturday and at 2pm on Sundays.
Travel by Train
  • Out:
  • Back:
Travel by Car

Start: Milford (Surrey) Station is near : GU8 5AD [gmap]

Finish: Haslemere Station is near : GU27 1DB [gmap]

Return to your car by train:

  • (park at the start) at 4pm
  • (park at the end) at 10am
OS Explorer Map

133 : Haslemere & Petersfield [Amazon]

145 : Guildford & Farnham [Amazon]
Revised

This walk was fully revised in : Apr-09

For the walk map, please see the Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Updates

The lunchtime pub has reopened (gastropub, nice beer garden). [details]
Other Surrey Hills Walks Liphook to Haslemere, Farnham to Godalming, Gomshall to Guildford, Milford to Godalming, Haslemere (round walk), Holmwood to Gomshall, Witley to Haslemere, Ockley to Warnham, Guildford to Farnham, Guildford to Gomshall, Effingham Junction to Westhumble, Coulsdon South Circular, Haslemere to Midhurst,

Walking Instructions 

[Numbers refer to the map]

  1. [1] Coming off platform 2 at Milford Station, exit by the grey gate and cross over the railway line at the level crossing (or use the footbridge) to continue on a tarmac road, your direction 345°, passing the railway station building on your right-hand side. Keep on the road, ignoring all ways off, as you head towards the village of Milford, passing Milford Golf Club on your way, with links either side of the road.
  2. In just over 1km, at the T-junction, go right and, in 10 metres, go left on the main road, signposted Guildford, your direction 300°, with the Co-operative convenience store on the corner on your left-hand side.
  3. Again, ignore all ways off as you walk through Milford, going past Whitley Parish Council’s offices on your left and a Farmer’s Market on your right, and in 450 metres, at the traffic light T-junction, where right is signposted to Guildford, cross here before going left (taking care as there is no pedestrian crossing), your direction now 230°.
  4. In 50 metres you go right on Lower Moushill Lane, your direction 280°. In a further 225 metres, you pass Moushill Court on your left-hand side.
  5. Stay on this tarmac lane and ignore all ways off (including signposted footpaths and bridleways to your left and right) and, in 170 metres, you then pass Chimneys House to continue on a bridge over the A3. Ignore the public footpath to the right, immediately on the other side of the bridge.
  6. In 100 metres, as the tarmac road becomes an earth road, follow the public bridleway sign straight on. In 70 metres you pass the entrance to Dairy Farm House on your right-hand side, and in 25 metres you take a fork to the right, a car-wide track that is a public footpath [2] your direction 300° initially.
  7. In 80 metres go over a stile on your right-hand side that has a yellow arrow on it (with a wooden fieldgate to its left) to continue straight on, along a car-wide earth track, along the fence of a house on your left-hand side, your direction 315°.
  8. In 225 metres go over a stile (a metal fieldgate to its left) with a wooden pole pylon to your right. Follow the line of these pylons straight on, due west, between fenced-off new plantations of Christmas trees (Norway spruce).
  9. In 200 metres go over a stile to go through a potentially muddy area between streams and then ahead through a waterlogged field. In 150 metres go over a stile and a wooden bridge with railings, across a stream.
  10. [!] Beside a three-armed footpath post, continue straight on across a grassy area with a house away to your right-hand side, ignoring more obvious ways off to the left, your direction 285°, to pass between shoulder-high wooden posts by a sign welcoming you to the Nature Reserve where you are soon following the line of wooden pylons into Bagmoor Common Nature Reserve [3].
  11. Walk along a fern-bordered narrow pathway, at some times of year ill-defined, with birch trees all around until in 550 metres you leave the nature reserve over a grass-covered earthbank, with more Bagmoor Common welcoming signs on either side of the bank, to continue on a not very clear path that follows the line of wooden pylons, avoiding any boggy bits as best you can.
  12. In 225 metres you come to a green sward where the line of pylons bears off to the right. Keep straight on here towards a tarmac road 50 metres further on (with a lake beyond). [!] Turn left for a few metres along this tarmac road [4] till you are near another minor line of overhead wires, bearing a warning sign (to your right) – you should be beside what was once a concrete slipway into the lake, near the lake’s notice board with amusing warnings from the safety officer. From here look back across the tarmac road to see a waist-high wooden post. Walk to it and follow its white arrow (on a black circular background), at right angles to the tarmac path, across the open space, your direction 140°. Then in 20 metres, at a path junction, take the blue arrow right-hand fork, a bridleway, with a drainage ditch soon on its right, your direction 200°.
  13. In 200 metres the path swings to the right and in a further 50 metres you go under pylons, keeping to your path and following a faded arrow on a white disc on a low level post on your left-hand side. In 10 metres cross a broad track and keep ahead, your direction due south, towards Thursley National Nature Reserve. Continue to follow blue arrows and ignore any ways off for 450 metres, your direction now 200°, along a potentially muddy bridleway, with drainage ditches to left and right, until you reach a clearing with an island of trees in the middle containing a MOD training area warning notice and a Byelaws notice post.
  14. Go straight on for another 10 metres to a pair of wooden posts to the left, one with blue arrows pointing ahead. Follow this, ignoring the permissive bridleway sign. 5 metres beyond this is the “Welcome to Thursley” National Nature Reserve sign. Continue straight on, down a dip and up the other side. In 180 metres is a HR sign on a blue-topped post, and a path joins from the right. Go on down for another 75 metres to another HR sign on a post and keep ahead (slightly right) ignoring a bridleway off to the left through a wooden swing gate with on its right a metal fieldgate.
  15. In 140 metres, at a path junction, with a steel clad warehouse coloured green over to your left, fork right, your direction 220°, further into the pinewood.
  16. In 150 metres there is a lake 30 metres to your left-hand side. In 70 metres, for a pleasant detour to the lake, fork left, your direction 165°, to walk beside the lake.
  17. In 190 metres, at the end of the lake and 25 metres before the end of the wood (marked by a fence line – with a house and lake some 250 metres away over to your left), you bear right with the potentially overgrown path until in 80 metres you rejoin the bridleway, still with wooden fencing on your left-hand side, your direction 220°. In 75 metres bear left with the path, keeping beside fencing, and ignore a fork to the right.
  18. In 25 metres you pass under mini-pylons. In 10 metres, by a post with a faded blue arrow on a white disc, fork right, your direction 215°.
  19. In 40 metres you come to a track junction (there is a house visible away to your left). Go right. In 20 metres by a post with blue bridleway arrows, turn left on a car-wide earth track [5], your direction 190°.
  20. In 30 metres fork right, your direction 240°, following blue arrows. Follow this sandy bridleway, initially uphill, before it levels out. For the next mile you walk through the area of heather, gorse and bracken which was devastated by fire in 2006.
  21. In 500 metres you come to a bridleway junction with a waymark post ahead. You turn left along a broad sandy track, your direction 155°, to keep on this main way, ignoring a fork left in 5 metres.
  22. In 100 metres [6], turn right onto a sandy way by a burnt signpost, your direction 240°. In 40 metres ignore a faint path to the right and keep ahead, on a path which descends then starts to go uphill. In 220 metres ignore a path that goes up a hill to your left.
  23. In 100 metres go through wooden fence poles to continue uphill, on a sandy way. In 110 metres a fence starts on your right, and you keep ahead, steeply uphill. In 100 metres at the top of the hill you pass burnt out fire paddles on your left-hand side. Continue ahead, now on the level, on a broad track, your direction 215°.
  24. In 320 metres, at a bridleway junction, ignore a footpath post directly ahead (part hidden by gorse) with its blue bridleway arrow pointing to the right. [!] Bear left and in 6 metres cross a wide bridleway to go straight on, slightly to the left. In 15 metres pass to the left-hand side of a wooden fieldgate, to go onwards, your direction 220°.
  25. In 235 metres you come to a tarmac road T-junction (with the entrance to Foldsdown Cottage on your left-hand side). Here you go right, to cross the road to the Three Horseshoes pub just along on the left-hand side, the suggested lunch stop.
  26. Coming out of the pub after lunch, turn left. In 80 metres, by the Old Vicarage, fork left on The Street. In 250 metres turn right on a signposted public footpath, an earth drive, leading towards Church Cottages, your direction due west.
  27. In 65 metres go left, up steps, into the churchyard to visit the Church of St Michael and All Angels. Coming out of the church door, go straight on to exit the churchyard by the wooden swing gates (or over a stone step built into the wall, with a two-way footpath sign on its other side) to go right uphill on the tarmac road, your direction 245°.
  28. In 15 metres you pass Hill Farm House on your right-hand side. Keeping to the left-hand side of the road, your pavement is parallel and above the road. In 100 metres go through a metal barrier, and in a further 100 metres, rejoin the road.
  29. Keep ahead, gently uphill, and in a further 225 metres, you pass Hill House on your left-hand side. In 200 metres ignore a public footpath to the right (by a sign for Hedge Farm).
  30. In 35 metres [7] branch right to take the signposted narrow footpath, over a stile, your direction 250°, with a field fence on your left-hand side and a hedge on your right.
  31. In 300 metres, having zigzagged with the path (often overgrown with nettles in the summer), go over a stile and continue straight on, now steeply downhill. In 110 metres, having veered left with the path, go over a stile. In 25 metres go on a bridge over a stream to continue on a track with an uneven bed of rock outcrop, quite steeply uphill, your direction 225°.
  32. In 200 metres ignore a fieldgate opening to the left to go straight on, along an earth farm track, now on the level. In 75 metres you pass Ridgeway Farm house (marked on the OS map), to continue on its tarmac driveway, now gently downhill. In 135 metres, at a road junction, with a sign to Upper Ridgeway Farm pointing to the right, turn left on a signposted public bridleway, a sunken path, your direction 175°. In 15 metres ignore an entrance through metal double fieldgates on your right. In 10 metres ignore a metal fieldgate on your left-hand side, to keep straight on uphill on this sunken path.
  33. Ignore ways off as you progress uphill and in 440 metres you pass a National Trust sign on your right. In 10 metres go through a wooden swing gate, with a blue arrow on its gatepost, and keep straight on, still uphill, your direction 190°.
  34. In 200 metres as the path levels out ignore a path to the left. In 125 metres as the path swings to the right ignore a fork to the left.
  35. In 10 metres, at a path crossing and by a post with four blue arrows on top, turn left, downhill, your direction 145°, keeping on this main way.
  36. Here you have a choice.

    1. Main Walk : Down into the Punch Bowl

      1. Turn left, downhill, your direction 145°, keeping on this main way.
      2. In 12 metres ignore two ways off to the left. Your direction is now 185°. In 300 metres you pass a bridleway down to the left (by a part-timbered cottage). Keep ahead as the path levels out.
      3. In 500 metres, go through a wooden fieldgate, ignore the second wooden fieldgate immediately on your left and take a kissing gate beside the third wooden fieldgate on your left [8], to go on a footpath steeply downhill, your direction 105°.
      4. In 65 metres go across a stream on a new wooden bridge with wooden railings and go up the steps on the other side. In 100 metres, at the top, go through wooden posts and keep ahead, slightly left, with Hindhead Youth Hostel off to your right. Continue on a track with a ditch on your right-hand side, your direction 70°.
      5. In 100 metres go through a wooden swing gate, marked NT (and with YH engraved on the other side), to the right of a wooden fieldgate, and in 12 metres go on to a tarmac lane, where you go straight on, your direction now 100°.
      6. In 80 metres you come to the tarmac entrance driveway to a house on your right-hand side, and carry on uphill, on a tarmac lane. In 50 metres take a footpath fork off to the right by a post with one yellow and two red arrows, and by a yellow grit and salt bin, your initial direction 185°.
      7. In 40 metres go through a wooden kissing gate. Keep to this main path for 800 metres through the Devil’s Punch Bowl. At the bottom of the bowl you come to a track junction [9] with a small stump on your left-hand side (its former markings long gone). Here cross over the junction and bear half right for 15 metres. Now take the left-hand path of the two paths uphill, your initial direction 175°. In 35 metres the path swings right past a single pine tree, your direction now 230°, and the path goes steadily uphill.
      8. In 200 metres the path becomes stepped. At the top, with the noisy A3 road only 10 metres to your left-hand side, bear right along a level path, your direction 300°. There are fine views north to the Hog’s Back and beyond.
      9. In 200 metres, you go through a kissing gate and, in 30 metres further on, fork left, slightly uphill, your direction 200°. Follow this path to reach the car park, and then, at the other end of the car park, the Devil’s Punch Bowl Café in Hindhead [10] – a possible tea stop.

    2. Option : Walk around the Rim of the Devil’s Punch Bowl

      There are two paths around the western rim of the Punch Bowl, 150 metres apart and parallel to each other, which offer lovely views.
      1. When you arrive at the path crossing by a post with four blue arrows on top. [!] Do not turn left, downhill, but choose either either the eastern or western rim paths.
        1. The Eastern Rim Path : (recommended) around the rim with views of the Punch Bowl below and to your left
          1. Keep straight ahead, at the 'post with 4 blue arrows junction', your direction 210°, on a broad sandy track between heather.
          2. In 200 metres you start to have fine views of the Punch Bowl below and to your left. The path gently ascends as you keep to its rim.
          3. In 250 metres ignore a path on your right by a footpath post.
          4. In 200 metres the path levels out by a bench. Here bear left on a semi-circular path to a viewing point with benches and in 60 metres there is, on your right, a memorial to two brothers killed in the First World War.
          5. In 80 metres the semi-circular path rejoins the main path. In 5 metres, by a post topped with discs and arrows, [!] the western path joins you from the right.
        2. The Western Path
          1. Turn right at the 'post with 4 blue arrows junction'.
          2. The western path initially follows a line of electricity pylons in a shallow valley before it enjoys views to its right and behind. This path the rejoins the eastern rim path below.
      2. Keep ahead, your direction now 190°.
      3. Keep on defined ways near the rim on your left and pass viewing benches. In 275 metres you pass a National Trust Notice Board on your right (on the reverse side of this Board to you is a map of the Punch Bowl).
      4. In 25 metres go through a wooden swing gate to the left of a cattle grid and then go under a vehicle barrier.
      5. In 15 metres ignore a path on your left which descends steeply, and by a post with directional arrows on its top and side, [!] bear left on a path (5 metres before a track junction), your direction 170°.
      6. Keep on this path, as it climbs gently, and in 90 metres you pass a bench on your right. The path levels out and goes through a more wooded area, now with a fence on your right to the back gardens of large properties.
      7. In 300 metres ignore a path on your left which descends steeply into the Punch Bowl and in 5 metres ignore a track on your right.
      8. In 30 metres you pass on your right a short cut to the café.
      9. In a further 110 metres you come to a main viewing point over the Punch Bowl below and to your left. Here, bear right and take the path as it swings right through a car park to the [10] Devil’s Punch Bowl Café.
  37. Exiting from the café to the main road (the A3), cross it with care. To your right is the Devil's Punch Bowl Hotel, a possible late lunch or early dinner stop.
  38. Here you have a choice, follow the main walk, or take the recommended detour to a fine viewpoint.

    1. The Main Walk

      1. Take the footpath [!] nearest to the left-hand side of the Devil’s Punch Bowl Hotel, your direction 160° [!] (the direction is important here). Ignore the more obvious – and signposted – paths to your left.
      2. Follow this broad, and often muddy, path and in 80 metres, at the end of the fence on your right-hand side, bend left with the main path and stay on it, ignoring all ways off. Continue due south, parallel to the back gardens away to your right-hand side.
      3. In 250 metres you pass the entrance gate to The Shieling on your right-hand side and ignore a path to the left, to follow the direction of the blue arrow on the footpath post, to go straight on downhill, your direction 130°.
      4. In 95 metres you go through a wooden swing gate and in 110 metres, as you come out to open heathland on your left-hand side, you are joined by a path from behind on your left. Here bear right, gently downhill, your direction 190°. [Note: many of the footpath posts for the remainder of the walk appear to be in the process of being replaced with new. As at April 2009, the new posts have yet to be coloured or given markings with directional arrows].
      5. In 200 metres you come to crosspaths, with a new, unmarked post and to a wooden swing gate and a fieldgate on your right-hand side. Follow the Greensand Way arrow straight on, uphill, on a sandy path, your direction 170°.
      6. In 210 metres you ignore a path crossing to keep straight on, going through heather, with a magnificent view out to the south-west.
      7. In 150 metres, as the path descends, you cross another path to continue straight on and in 20 metres you pass a new post on your right to continue straight on, steeply uphill. In 110 metres you cross a path by another new post to keep straight on, your direction now 170°.
      8. In 145 metres you go through a wooden kissing gate and in a further 30 metres you come out on to a tarmac road, with Little Scotstoun House opposite. [!] The Gibbet Hill walk option rejoins here [!]. Here you go right, your direction 210°, on this road (Farnham Lane).

    2. Walk Option to Gibbet Hill, Sailor’s Stone and down the Rim of Hindhead Common

      1. This walk option first takes you to two historic sights and a magnificent viewing point before you follow the rim of Hindhead Commom, with valleys to left and right, to join the Greensand Way on the Main Walk near Stoatley Green and on to Haslemere.
      2. To head for Sailor’s Stone, you can either turn left and at the National Trust acorn sign and post to Sailor’s Stone, take the surfaced path parallel to the A3 on your left for 500 metres all the way to the Stone, or you can take the Greensand Way route which takes you away from the road noise a little earlier.
      3. The latter: Cross the A3, and follow the public bridleway sign to Hindhead Commons, passing through metal posts, your direction 125°. In 90 metres you pass a National Trust portakabin office and warehouse on your left, and in a further 50 metres, go through a wooden swing gate to the right of a wooden field gate, on the Greensand Way.
      4. In 10 metres you pass a Surrey County Council Notice Board and keep ahead, your direction now 110°. Soon there are fine views over to your right if you wish to detour briefly.
      5. In 200 metres ignore a fork to the left by a footpath post and keep ahead. In 150 metres at a path dip and a main path junction, fork left, your initial direction now 60°.
      6. In 110 metres at a path junction by a new footpath post with multi-disc directional arrows, keep ahead, your direction 30°. In 90 metres go through a wooden fieldgate to the left of a cattle grid, and in a further 30 metres you come to a muddy track junction. Bear left to follow the main track.
      7. In 80 metres bear right, go past a vehicle barrier and:
        • To visit Gibbet Hill : follow the National Trust sign to Gibbet Hill. In 80 metres you reach the trig. station at Gibbet Hill. To its left is the Celtic Cross and a Notice Board. There are magnificent views ahead of you at this viewing point. Then reverse your steps to the vehicle barrier.
        • To visit Sailor’s Stone : turn left through 2 metal posts and bear left on the surfaced path for about 110 metres. On your right is Sailor’s Stone, a headstone memorial, and an information board giving details of the gruesome murder of the sailor and the retribution brought against his three murderers. Then reverse your steps to the vehicle barrier
      8. Return 80m back to the muddy track junction above.
      9. Follow the direction of the red arrows on the post at this junction, and bear left with the main track. You follow this track, or parallel tracks, for the next 750 metres, along and down the rim of Hindhead Common, your direction south-west, with valleys to your left and right. In more detail:
      10. Follow the track, gently downhill. In 300 metres, at a path junction, turn left to a viewing point with benches. Now keep on this upper path, parallel to the main path below, for views over to your left.
      11. In 200 metres the upper path swings right to rejoin the main path. Keep ahead, from time to time switching between parallel paths to enjoy views left and right.
      12. In 250 metres the path swings left towards a Notice Board (with a map of Hindhead Common on the reverse side to you). In 20 metres go through a wooden kissing gate and come out onto a road (Farnham Road) with Stoutley Hall Queen Elizabeth II Sixth Form Centre opposite.
      13. Turn right down the road, your direction 210°, in 200 metres passing the Royal School, Haslemere on your left.
      14. In 150 metres you pass a bridleway sign (Greensand Way) on your right, with Little Scotstoun House on your left. You rejoin the Main Walk here.
  39. In 100 metres ignore a bridleway to the right.
  40. In 255 metres you pass the entrance to Thursley House on your left-hand side, and turn left on a signposted public byway, your direction 130° – passing the entrance to Beech House on your right-hand side.
  41. In 85 metres, at the entrance to Pucksfold House on your right, keep left downhill along a path in a gully (muddy in winter), your direction 120°. In 150 metres continue straight on, along a tarmac driveway, with Little Stoatley House on your right.
  42. In 300 metres, having passed a horse farm, you swing right with the tarmac way and come out to a tarmac road T-junction, with Anchor House opposite and a signpost on your left, to go left on this road, your direction due east. In 40 metres you cross a stream.
  43. In a further 35 metres you go right on a narrow public footpath, signposted Greensand Way, steadily uphill, with a fence on your left and with hedgeline, bushes and trees on your right, your direction 155°.
  44. In 300 metres you cross a tarmac road to continue on between hedges, the signposted public footpath marked GW. In 200 metres you come out on to a tarmac road, with Ventnor House opposite, and turn right downhill, your direction 130°.
  45. In 180 metres you come to St Bartholomew’s Church, Haslemere, on your right-hand side. Keep left with the road so that the triangular green is on your right-hand side [!]
    • For a direct route to the railway station and the hotel bar opposite it, you bear right here and follow Tanners Lane until you reach the railway station.
  46. On the main route, in 80 metres you go over the railway bridge [11]. In 15 metres you follow the public footpath sign on Pathfields, your direction 190°, on a tarmac lane. Ignore all ways off.
  47. In 275 metres ignore a footpath to the right signposted “footpath to town”. Bear half-left on the path, now between brick walls, your direction 140°.
  48. In 65 metres you come out on to the High Street. Turning left would take you to the museum, in 70 metres. Turning right takes you, in 80 metres, to the suggested tea place, Darnleys tearoom, on the right-hand side (or to other possible tea places or pubs in the same street).
  49. Coming out of Darnleys tearoom, turn right and in 25 metres turn right down West Street, signposted to the police station.
  50. In 120 metres, where the main street curves to the right past the police station (which is on your right-hand side) continue ahead on the street for 50 metres until you reach the fire station. Turn left down the front elevation of the fire station and turn right on a footpath signposted “to the station”, your direction 315°.
  51. Follow this surfaced path, as it bends to the left and then right, with a stream soon on your right and later a playground to your left, until you come out on to a tarmac road with Redwood Manor opposite. Turn left on this road and in 40 metres turn right on the B2131, leading in 260 metres to Haslemere Railway Station on your right-hand side. The Metro Café is on your right-hand side just before the station and the Inn on the Hill opposite the station. For platforms 2 and 3 – for London – cross the footbridge inside the station.