Just 3 walkers today in - almost without interruption - rainy weather , at times with a "refreshing" breeze as well. The ground is now saturated everywhere, so we encountered a fair amount of mud in them woods, although - with the constant rain - boots and clothes looked fairly respectable at the end.

Got to the Cumberland Arms just before 1 and had a quality meal in the bar area (with a roaring fireplace nearby). Not many views were to be had, of course, but the South Downs made some cameos in the pm whenever the clouds lifted a little. Got to Fitzcane's for 15.40 and decided to let the next bus go and rather indulge in tea and cakes. Quality day out.

9.7m for a Thomas walk - is this just the pre-lunch warm up??? Hardly worth getting out of bed for...

Indeed. The keen ones save the bus fare and walk back to H'mere...

There's a £2.50 nightrider fare on the 7.05 bus back from Midhurst to Haslemere (or even Guildford) station. The normal fare is £5.

Plan A was to lunch in Henley, walk to Cowdray, take tea there and return to Hmere to have taped directions for both ways. That went out the window when the train picked up 80 mins worth of delays on its scheduled 48 mins journey (signalling problems at Esher, still ongoing). So Plan B was lunch in Fernhurst and the bus back from Midhurst, as posted. This is what we did, the 2 of us. The good part of the delays was that the rain fronts had moved through by the time we started the walk, so it was dry all walk with some sunny breaks .

Nice walk, good lunch, good beer, early finish, bus on time, fast train cancelled, now on the stopping service to The Smoke.

As I'm short of time on Saturday, rather than chance the bus I may do a variation, with a route back to a train station after lunch at Fernhurst (Haslemere circular, or Haslemere to Milford or Witley).

This is the first time this walk's been done by SWC.

The start (to Fernhurst) is similar to the TOCW1 Haslemere Circular. The afternoon is all new.

The walk's raison d'etre is the Duke of Cumberland Arms, so it might be worth trying it for lunch.

20 (23 said one source, but my count was 20) on this walk cloudy This was a most pleasant outing, a perfect autumn walk. Lots of sweet chestnuts which were showing good golden colours (and lots of nuts on the ground to collect) but the beechwoods were still all green. In two to three weeks time it would have been a riot of colour, but then in two to three weeks time there would have been lots of mud, whereas we had none.

The route is simple, with long stretches on car-wide bridleways, but nevertheless the brief directions could do with more detail in places. There was a great deal of map study and comparing of GPXs. To be fair, we also kept complicating things by introducing variations of our own.

The morning, as the walk notes admit, is very similar to the book one Haslemere Circular. We lunched at the Red Lion, the usual Haslemere pub, and they were friendly and served nice food. Their kitchen seemed to be run on biblical principles, however - that is to say the last to order got their meals first, and vice versa. We were directed to sit in the garden, possibly for the last time this year as it was a bit chilly. It then later transpired a table had been reserved for us inside.

In the afternoon into new territory and it was delightful - wooded but with lovely views. The later pub, the Duke of Cumberland, looked mouthwatering but had been pre-booked by another walking group, which is why we did not lunch there. Lingering looks were cast up to the Temple of the Winds and some wondered whether we might combine the morning of the OTHER Haslemere to Midhurst walk with the afternoon of this one.

This one definitely has a much better approach to Midhurst than its sister, a lovely gentle descent with fine views. The slightly posh tea room at Cowdray Park is also nice, though some sampled a range of English wines in the adjacent shop as an alternative.

The ruins of Cowdrey Hall are a great end to the walk and Midhurst is a very pretty town. A pity the buses don't run beyond 7pm or we might have had dinner there.

20 (23 said one source, but my count was 20) on this walk cloudy This was a most pleasant outing, a perfect autumn walk. Lots of sweet chestnuts trees which were showing good golden colours (and lots of nuts on the ground to collect) but the beechwoods were still all green. In two to three weeks time it would have been a riot of colour, but then in two to three weeks time there would have been lots of mud, whereas we had very little.

The route is simple, with long stretches on car-wide bridleways, but nevertheless the brief directions could do with more detail in places. There was a great deal of map study and comparing of GPXs. To be fair, we also kept complicating things by introducing variations of our own.

The morning, as the walk notes admit, is very similar to the book one Haslemere Circular. We lunched at the Red Lion, the usual Haslemere pub, and they were friendly and served nice food. Their kitchen seemed to be run on biblical principles, however - that is to say the last to order got their meals first, and vice versa. We were directed to sit in the garden, possibly for the last time this year as it was a bit chilly. It then later transpired a table had been reserved for us inside.

In the afternoon into new territory and it was delightful - wooded but with lovely views. The later pub, the Duke of Cumberland, looked mouthwatering but had been pre-booked by another walking group, which is why we did not lunch there. Lingering looks were cast up to the Temple of the Winds and some wondered whether we might combine the morning of the OTHER Haslemere to Midhurst walk with the afternoon of this one.

This one definitely has a much better approach to Midhurst, a lovely gentle descent with fine views. The slightly posh tea room at Cowdray Park is also nice, though some sampled a range of English wines in the adjacent shop as an alternative.

The ruins of Cowdray Hall are a great end to the walk and Midhurst is a very pretty town. A pity the buses don't run beyond 7pm or we might have had dinner there.

Another fascinating aspect of the Cowdray Estate was all windows and doors were painted a deep yellow colour (gold/orange tint)

The Cowdray Farm Shop & Café staff were also adorned with similarly coloured aprons (and served scrummy cakes).

It might also be worth noting that this Café was open to 6:00 pm giving slower walkers an opportunity to sup a cuppa and relax before catching the bus back to Haslemere.

Super walk!