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SWC (Free) Walks
Walk 57 : Guildford via Chantries Hill Circular
Chantries Hill and the North Downs Way to St Marthas Church (viewpoint). After lunch in Chilworth, returning via mixed woods and the tranquil Wey navigation.
| Length
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15 km (9.3 miles)
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| OS Map
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Landranger 186, Explorer 145
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| Toughness
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2 out of 10.
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| Features
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This walk starts on the River Wey Navigation,
briefly follows the North Downs Way, and then veers off up to climb the
wooded Chantries Hill for fine escarpment views at the top. The hill also
has fine bluebell woods in late April/early May, and glorious golden beech
woods in autumn. You then rejoin the North Downs Way to climb to St Martha’s
Church, and descend on the Downs Link to lunch at Chilworth. After that,
there is a short climb up to the woodland village of Blackheath, from where
you follow the mixed woods and open fields of the Downs Link and the
tranquil riverside of the Wey Navigation into Guildford. Much of this is
already familiar to devotees of Time Out Country Walks book 1 and 2: only
the Chantries Hill section is entirely new. From Chantries Hill to Chilworth
this walk follows option 13b of book 2, and after Blackheath you are on the
route of book 1, walk 14 (Gomshall to Guildford). Basic outlines of these
sections are given below and should be enough to get you around the walk:
but it might be useful to bring the relevant pages from those books with you
for more detail. |
| Walk options |
You can end or start the walk at Chilworth. Its
railway station is almost directly opposite the Percy Arms, with trains
every two hours to or from Guildford. Buses to Guildford from the opposite
side of the road to the pub are much more frequent. The walk from Guildford
to Chilworth is 7km (4.3 miles) and from Chilworth to Guildford around 8km
(5 miles). You can also take the train one stop from Chilworth to Shalford,
which is very near the Wey Navigation, and leaves you maybe 2.5km (1.5
miles) to walk along it into Guildford. |
| History
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To be written.
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| Saturday Walkers Club
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Take the train nearest to 9.30am from
London Waterloo
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| Lunch
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The Percy Arms in Chilworth (01483 561
765) 7km (4.3 miles) into the walk is the larger of the two options, but can
get busy with family groups at the weekend. Currently it seems to operate
with table service more as a restaurant, though it is still definitely a
pub. It serves food from noon to 3pm daily and has outside seating. The
Villagers (01483 893 152) in Blackheath, approximately 1km (0.6 miles)
beyond the Percy Arms is smaller, more characterful, and currently (2008)
serves a wonderfully varied menu with an unusually large number of inventive
vegetarian options. It can get panicked when more than six people walk in
the door at once, however. It servides food to 2.30pm daily and has a garden
area |
| Tea
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Guildford has lots of options, but the
cafe of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a firm favourite with walkers:
it is large, efficient and only crowded if you catch the end of a
performance. There is a riverside terrace. It is not open on Sundays,
however: then look for other options in the High Street. |
Walking Instructions
Download and print the PDF file for complete walking instructions.
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