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 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.