Walks Day walks # 178

Oxshott to Ashtead walk

The River Mole and the heaths, commons and woods of metropolitan Surrey. Including Oxshott Heath, Esher Common, Prince’s Coverts, Ashtead and Epsom Commons.

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Updated: Fri, 21-Feb-20

Date	#	Post
Sat, 01-Feb-20	30	Stargazer Saturday Walk Wind Down in the Wild West on the Day After SWC 178: Oxshott to Ashtead (or Epsom) t=swc.178 Distance: 12.1 miles or 19.5 km for those more metrically minded (with options to shorten suggested in the instructions) Difficulty: 3 out of 10 Transport: Take the 10:03 AM Guildford train from London Waterloo (Clapham 10:12), arriving in Oxshott at 10:37. Return trains from Ashtead are at 17; 27; 48 and 57 past the hour and from Epsom are almost every 10 minutes. By a day return to Effingham Junction. This walk has a very wild and remote feel, despite being a short journey from London. It explores various heathlands and woods and passes through the Princes Coverts….From the Oxshott station platform, you are transported almost directly into open heathland with largely sand soil….More information about the walk and the instructions can be found here. Lunch: The recommended lunch stop is the Star (8 miles/13.1 km into the walk). Tea: In Ashtead, the Woodman is recommended and in Epsom, the Cricketeers Inn is suggested. Enjoy the walk! Anonymous, 30-Jan-20 Hi. Newbie. Is there a watering hole before 8m?Thank you. Stargazer, 31-Jan-20 According to the walk notes and map, there are no refreshment stops before the Star. Walker, 31-Jan-20 For a shorter distance to lunch, if you look at the map of the walk route, you can see that there is very obvious potential to make a short cut on Esher Common. Anonymous, 31-Jan-20 Thank you for going the extra mile, Mr Walker. Anonymous, 01-Feb-20 27 walkers turned out on a mild and sometimes sunny day. The morning section started off dry under foot across areas of lovely sandy heathland, enjoyable despite the road noise. However, the flooded A3 underpass proved to be a sign of things to come. A few braver than me walkers removed their boots and socks and waded through the calf high water but most detoured to cross the road via a bridge. Princes Coverts was atrociously muddy in parts (especially the bit via Jessop's Well) and Ashtead Common was similar. Nonetheless, this is a really nice walk across heathland and through some lovely open woodlands that deserves another outing during in drier times. Walker, 01-Feb-20 We counted at least 30, I think, and it was the underpass under the railway just after the A3 one that was flooded. Kudos to the lunchtime pub which had a booking for 8 but cheerfully extended it to 13 or so as more turned up and they let us order at the bar. Nice people! A few ate somewhere in Claygate. The mud on Ashtead Common was indeed shocking or rather the standing water on the paths was. It had the odd result that my boots ended up quite clean. I noticed with interest that some who had been happy to wade through the underpass flood were remarkably reluctant to walk through the mud. “Straight through the middle” is my motto. The tracks on Epsom Common were by contrast quite dry. The pub on Epsom Common was a kiddie hell. Packed with ‘em at 5pm or so. Was it Kiddie Pub Tea Saturday or something? Anonymous, 02-Feb-20 How do you dry your feet after underpass wading? Portable Dyson driers?
Sat, 23-Mar-19	13	Dirk Oxshott To Ashtead (or Epsom) t=SWC.178 Length: 20km (12m) Toughness: 3 / 10 Transport: Take the 9:33 from London Waterloo, arriving at Oxshott at 10:07. Return trains from Ashtead (or Epsom) are frequent. From Epsom (one stop closer to London than Ashtead) you can go to either Waterloo or Victoria. Since Oxshott and Ashtead are on different lines which merge at Effingham Junction a ticket to the latter should definitely cover both legs of the journey. This is a lovely walk through woodlands and commons not far from London, following in part what feels like remote stretches of the river Mole before climbing up onto the Ledge, a steep escarpment above the river. 2/3 of the walk is before lunch at the Star followed by a walk through pretty Ashtead and Epsom Commons which display a mixture of wood and grasslands with a few ponds thrown in. You can also end the walk in Epsom and have tea in the cosy Cricketeers Inn, a pub next to a duck pond. If you do that, I recommend to follow the "backway" along the railway line to the station and thus avoid the main road. Anonymous, 19-Mar-19 Epsom now Oysterable. Sean, 20-Mar-19 Yes, Epsom finally got added to the Oyster network three weeks ago. It will be more useful for any walk to or from another Oyster station, but be aware that the station is outside Zone 6 and so a Zone 1 6 Travelcard or Freedom Pass is NOT valid there. Anonymous, 20-Mar-19 Thank you both for the Oyster info. Anonymous, 22-Mar-19 Hi Guys hope to some of you on this which I have done before. See you at Waterloo. Monica Anonymous, 24-Mar-19 13 set out from Oxshot under a typically lid on the Tupperware box sky. Service at the lunch pub was average. The majority took the longer afternoon route to Epsom, w Just 3 walked to Ashstead. The morning section was around two thirds of the total walking. Weather brightened a little in the afternoon. Beer in the Woodman at Ashstead was of variable quality. Four return trains an hour made for an easy return journey.
Wed, 07-Nov-18	7	Thomas G Wednesday Walk - Surrey Heaths, Commons and Woods: Oxshott to Ashtead Length: 19.5 km/12.1 mi Ascent/Descent: 194/195m Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ½ hours Toughness: 4 out of 10 Take the 10.03 Guildford train from Waterloo (stops Vauxhall, CJ, Earlsfield, W’don, Surbiton etc.), arrives Oxshott 10.37. Return trains: 6 per hour (irregularly, 42 mins journey time). Buy an Effingham Junction return (but don’t use a Network Railcard, as the price is below the £13 threshold). This walk links together several diverse heaths, woods and commons in metropolitan Surrey. It begins by heading North through Oxshott Heath and cuts West across Esher Common and round Black Pond to the A 307 (Portsmouth Road). The route descends through Winterbottom Wood to take in a section of the River Mole, heading North, then climbs up to the Ledges with views down to the river. You cross the A 307 again and continue through Esher Common from a high vantage point, now heading first East, then South-East on farm lanes and well-marked bridleways through Arbrook Common to the little-known Crown Property of Prince’s Coverts. You emerge to the South of the Estate by the Star Inn for lunch. In the afternoon you take a convoluted route around Ashtead Common and Epsom Common, with options for taking a more direct route to Ashtead station. Lunch: The Star (12.5 km/7.8 mi, food all day). Tea: a pub, a coffee shop and a bakery in Ashtead. For walk directions, map, height profile and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.178 Thomas G, 07-Nov-18 Just a hardy bunch of 7 walkers out for this today, as the weather turned out as forecast: heavily overcast with periods of drizzle then rain. It was dry initially and again in the last hour or so, but inbetween all kinds of gear had to be put on. That didn't distract from what is a very good autumn walk, with plenty of varied woods en route (all with good colour displays), amongst the sandy paths, heathland and ponds. The ground was muddy in places but not much. The Star Inn was busy but with some tables available and friendly and efficient, and we got to Ashtead station just before 16.00 hours. 3 went to the platform, the other 4 to The Woodman. The directions could do with some more compass bearings at critical junctions (there are always more paths in the woods than a map suggests) and some of the waymarkers etc were not there anymore, adding to doubts about the onwards route in places. All good stuff, apart from the obvious downsides: the closeness to the A3 and the noise it generates, and some stretches along an HV pylon line.
Sat, 26-Nov-16	20	Walker Saturday Second Walk - Heaths, commons and woods of metropolitan Surrey SWC Walk 178 - Oxshott to Ashtead Length: 15.3km (9.5 miles) or 19.6km (12.2 miles) Toughness: 3 out of 10 10.03 train from Waterloo (10.12 Clapham Junction, 10.19 Wimbledon) to Oxshott, arriving 10.37. Buy a day return to Effingham Junction, which will also cover your return from Ashtead For walk directions click here. This walk just beyond the south west edges of London has not had an SWC outing for more than two years, or a Saturday outing for three years. On the latter occasion the walk creator famously got lost on the morning section. Others of us reached the lunch pub without trouble, however, so the directions do work (or did in 2013) if you pay close attention to them. This is a very woody walk and so will be a good opportunity to catch the last of the autumn colour (of which there still seems to be quite a bit despite last Sunday's gales). Another plus point is that you are on sandy soils, which should be less muddy than usual (though I wouldn't turn up in open-toed sandals even so). The full walk is 12.2 miles but you can cut out a loop on Epsom Common at the end for the 9.5 mile version. There is a further 2 mile shortcut possible at point 11 in the directions, though this misses a nice river section. Both lunch and tea pubs still seem to be active, if their websites are anything to judge by. Benya's Coffee Shop in Ashtead is now Shakespeare & Co (Isn't that a famous bookshop in Paris? - Ed) and according to my good friend Dr Google is open until 9pm. Trains back from Ashtead are very frequent 08, 14, 27, 37, 44 and 57 past the hour Walker, 26-Nov-16 20 on this walk, delighted by unexpected sun for the first two hours after which it was cloudy. The mix of woods and heaths and ponds on this walk looked especially pretty at this time of year, with autumn colours still good gold on birch trees, yellow green on understorey hazel, and brown on oak. The lunch pub, The Star, was very busy. It is 8 miles into the walk and it is probably just as well we arrived there a bit later when they were starting to get a few free tables. Nine of us lunched there that I know about whether any faster walkers were turned away earlier, I do not know. The pub is deservedly popular as the menu is extensive and the service very cheerful. After lunch we walked through Ashtead Forest magnificent oak colours and then Epsom Common as stipulated: there was a fine red dusk sky here. We then went off piste in search of a pub on Epsom Common of which we had nice memories. That was either closed or being refurbished, but we found another also very busy: pubs in these parts are doing good business, evidently which served us wine, beer, teas or pudding according to choice. We then got the 18.40 something train from Epsom station.
Sun, 04-May-14	12	Oxshott to Ashtead
Sat, 19-Oct-13	23	Oxshott to Ashtead