03/11/18 - London Countryway Stage 9 - West Byfleet to Sunningdale

Distance - 10 Miles
Start - West Byfleet
Finish - Sunningdale
Geocaches - 7
Pub - The Broomhall Hutt, Sunningdale
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8


No one would have believed you could walk in England's South East and experience such wilderness.

In Stage 9 of the London Countryway, we cross from Surrey to Berkshire via two distinct landscapes - the urban oasis of the Basingstoke Canal and two commons, Horsell and Chobham.

Its a short distance from West Byfleet station to the Basingstoke Canal.  I've walked it before, last time turning right and heading for Weybridge.  Today, its left and towards Woking.   Pleasant walking seeing how many of the houses have accommodated the canals into the back gardens.  Private boat mooring inlets and extravagant decking with tree houses were admired for their owner's vision.

The canal was derelict when KC wrote the guide to the Countrway.   Nice to see that sometimes things do get better.

Easy Walking along the canal

A short length of road walking delivers me to the heavily wooded Horsell Common.  If the name sounds familiar, you've probably read the opening line of the blog in Richard Burton's voice. 
Location for the first martian attacks in War of the Worlds.

Yes, I was singing "the chances of anything coming from Mars...."

The link to the next common is via equestrian fields and skirting the edge of an airfield.  If I had been quicker on the camera draw, I could have provided an impressive take off photograph.  The footpaths run right at the end of the runway.

Instead, you can make do with a sign to live your life by.

Sound Sentiment 

Onto the most surprisingly of all the commons encountered today and on previous legs.  I've never heard of Chobham common before today and you don't expect such vast swathes of wild heath land to be present so close to London.   574 hectares, apparently.   It takes me a good 90 minutes to walk across it, encountering more birds than people.

Surrey Wilderness

The common butts right up against Sunningdale - the end station of today's walk.   Not really heard of Sunningdale either and the locals don't seem to refer to it by this name.  Both the pub and the OS Map are marked Broomhall.

I'd checked on Google Maps before heading off to see what post walk entertainment was available.  Nothing really came up, so I vowed to just see what was there when I arrived.

An Event

An unexpected pub

The Broomhall Hutt is geared up for diners.  Initially, I thought post walk thirst was to be sated by Doom Bar but closer inspection showed a Rebellion Brewery IPA.

Never sure of the quality of ale in establishments like this, I asked for a sample and was provided with a rather large 1/4 pint measure.   It was perfect.   And the sample helped top up and under poured pint.

Holiday's are coming!

The London Countryway keeps delivering... today was a beautiful and varied walk.