1st May – Surrey & West Sussex
One of the things which I’m taking out of lockdown is walking between stations I need to revisit for photographs, or interesting looking walking routes in the area which can be fitted in alongside station revisits. Earlier this year I got shown the Walking Club website which has a lot of walks featured which make use of the railway network to go station to station (or circular walks) of which I made a list of ones which looked interesting, including a couple involving stations on the Mole Valley line (Horsham – Dorking) where I need all 3 stations for photos.
My original idea was to head to Gomshall and walk to Holmwood via Leith Hill, however with the forecast being grey skies & rain showers I decided to put that walk back (as I suspect it will be one with much better views on a sunny day). Instead I decided to walk between Ockley & Holmwood, on a mostly rural route towards a village called Walliswood, involving a bit of woodland which should be good to connect with nature.
The day began with the retimed 07:30 service which I took to Woking, followed by a pair of 444s to Guildford before a 165 on the non-stop run to Dorking Deepdene. Once at Deepdene I walked to Dorking (main) station (which only took a few minutes), and had a short wait before the Horsham bound 377. Oddly only a single 5 coach unit, where that is plenty for this end of the route but I would imagine it could be busy nearer London. Anyhow I alighted at Ockley station and after a couple photos began my walk.
377626 at Ockley Station
The actual route taken is detailed on here: https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/ockley-to-warnham, in summary it was a walk through woods, before entering some grass fields and then some more woods before joining a farm track to reach the main A29, crossing over before heading towards some more woods (this was a walk which involves quite a few trees). After a church I ran into a film set where I had to pause for around 5 minutes when they filmed some historic costume drama (two lovers having an argument). Once I cleared the filming I reached the village of Walliswood to begin the first section of road walking before reaching some farms and a footpath leading past several farms, before I got a bit lost trying to find a path near an area called “Wet Wood”.
It was one of those where the map & sign points one direction, but in real life the path continues straight on for another 50 metres (crossing over a stile into another field) before the path heads off in the right direction. I reached the county border to cross into West Sussex and onto another farm track (Monks Farm, before Dawes Farm then finally Chatfolds), the path being quite decent. Another road crossing before another path before a short road to reach a place called “Benland Wood” which was very scenic. Following the route I soon arrived in the village of Warnham and followed the route crossing over a busy road (A24) to reach the station road. After what felt like forever I reached Warnham station with around 15 minutes to spare before the next northbound train which gave me time for some photos and to have a short rest.
A 377 arriving at Warnham
Back on the trains, with another 377 to take me to Dorking before swinging via a nearby Morrisons local (located within the garage on the other side of the road from Dorking Deepdene). I had some time to kill before the next Reading stopper, and I noticed that called at Dorking West so I decided to have a gentle walk via a lake before reaching Dorking West. A 165 arrived to take me to Shalford where I began my next walk of the day; the idea was to do part of the old Cranleigh railway line before walking towards Guildford along the River Wey Navigation.
Other than a short shower, it was a nice walk, as I did a circular way via St Catherines Lock before walking towards a footbridge near Shalford Junction on the Portsmouth line, before joining up with the former railway line, walking towards the river. My original plan got foiled by a flooded footpath so I carried on with the riverside walk, coming off to walk along part of the old canal reaching “Stone Bridge” where the old railway line went underneath the Horsham Road, but the bridge has been filled in and replaced with slopes either side.
A 165 near Shalford
The former railway line was busy and quite scenic as it reached where it would have joined to the Portsmouth line at Peasmarsh (some old track left on the ground), before I headed back towards the River Wey Navigation, passing an old WW2 pillbox coming down to reach the river and started my walk towards Guildford. The tow path was variable in quality, some dips and rough ground (especially near an old chapel where it looked like it has slipped in the past). I ran into an issue as the towpath had been closed near a weir (looked like it had collapsed), so a divert via the road was needed as I eventually reached Guildford station, my legs telling me I had walked too far by the time I had reached the station (clearing 18 miles for the day).
At Guildford station it was a short wait before a pair of 450s rolled in to take me to Woking, before a short wait for some sprinters back home, where I relaxed after a busy day on my feet.
3rd May
After a rest day on the Sunday (went to see a work colleague), it was back on the rails for me. Although my original idea of walking from West Byfleet to Hampton Court got put on the back burner due to my foot acquiring a blister on the Saturday (plus the weather didn’t look the nicest). I was due to meet a good friend on the train from Hereford as he made his way towards Brighton, so I changed at Basingstoke from the 07:30 service, where I had a bit of a surprise.
I noticed on RTT that the 07:51(odd) Reading service had been cancelled, and saw it had departed the bay platform, but didn’t see it reversing into the main station to terminate onto platform 4, the next GWR service from Reading also ran into platform 4 to attach with the broken unit to haul it back to Reading, giving me the novelty of a GWR service from platform 4 at Basingstoke! Anyhow once at Reading I had some time to pop out to a nearby Sainsburys (noticing that a large office block had been knocked down). After grabbing breakfast it was back to Reading station to await the 800 from Hereford to have a good catch up.
A 165 looking a bit lost at Basingstoke
At Paddington we headed towards London Bridge, doing some linear hops on Thameslink, before a low mileage 700 took me to East Croydon, where I said my farewells and headed back to London Bridge, annoyingly the train I was on got delayed along the way so missed the connection with the hourly Thameslink to Rainham service (which today was starting from platform 6 at London Bridge), so with an hour to play with I did a short section of mileage hunting eventually getting a low mileage 466 which I took to Lewisham returning on a pair of 465s, before I took the 700 from platform 6 to Deptford (some unusual track), returning to London Bridge on another pair of 465s.
Canopy at Deptford
I decided it was time for a change, so onwards to Liverpool Street, going via Farringdon (Northern line was closed). I reached Liverpool Street and was a bit surprised that London Overground were only running single units on their services, I eventually got a required 710 which I took to Walthamstow, changing onto the Victoria line (was going to stay around for some more 710 hunting but those trains were just too busy). I took a Victoria line service to Blackhorse Road to look for some 710s on the Gospel Oak – Barking line, arriving as the wind was picking up. I was lucky with the 4th train being required so I headed towards Barking, changing over to board the next Fenchurch Street service, even getting a low mileage 357 (only needed 4 of the fleet, so an extra bonus).
Once I reached Fenchurch Street, I headed to Tower Hill and decided to be lazy and take the Circle line all the way to Paddington, where I jumped onto a required 345 to Hayes & Harlington, returning on another required unit, before making a tight connection onto a pair of 387s back out to Hayes & Harlington. A low mileage 345 was sitting in the bay, so I took that to Ealing Broadway, before another required 345 arrived from Reading to take me back to Paddington where I headed to the Bakerloo line to head towards Waterloo and the sprinters home.
Overall a productive mini red-pen day in London, just what my legs wanted after all that walking on Saturday.
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