Walesh one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I walked from Esher to Walton-on-Thames.

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There is work being done from Feb 2024 to Feb 2025 on the bridge/weir crossing the River Mole and it will be closed for 'short periods during lifting operations'.

But on this day it was open.
Roadside walking out of Esher before some nice greenery around the Mole before entering the quiet suburbs of Walton-on-Thames.
The highlight for me was St Mary's church in WoT where there is a lot of interesting history and graves inside and out of this old and pretty church. The grave of William Lilly the King's astrologer is inside, and a 'Digger's Walk information board outside.

I walked this on a sunny morning from Walton to Esher.

It's an urban walk (photo #1, #3, #4), but with plenty of walking along green footpaths (photo #2, #5, #7). There were some less pleasant concrete bits (photo #6), but they were few, and soon replaced by lovely views (photo #8) of the River Mole (photo #9). The last section into Esher was full of traffic again.

Walked Walton to Esher. I agree with the previous two reviewers, this is a good route which more or less makes the most of available footpaths without going out of it’s way.

I partly explored the Cottimore Lane alternative to Ambleside Avenue, as suggested by the previous reviewer; this is a pleasant unpaved footpath alternative to what is a quite well used local road (with a fair bit of pavement parking on one side of the road).
It would also be possible to swap in George Froude Park for Stuart Avenue if you really want to cut down the road section at the Walton end and don’t mind a bit of soft ground.
However the route stands up well as it is drawn.

From Walton the way is downhill to the Mole valley. After crossing the river Mole (photo) the route goes uphill past Sandown racecourse to Esher; at school chucking out time the pavement here is nose to tail cars idling away. Esher is a pleasant town centre with, as usual, no shortage of cars passing through.
There are good bus links to Kingston and out to various Surrey towns. The railway station is a bit out of town.

One or two places on the route had cycle barriers narrowing the path (photo), and this along with the persistent pavement parking could make this one tricky for wheelchairs.
Mostly paved, some soft paths including the Cottimore Lane option. No flights of steps, but may not be dropped kerbs at all crossing points.

Good refreshments at either end but not much in the middle.

This is a pleasant suburban route. An alternative route may be considered through Cottimore Lane running to the north of Walton Oak Primary School that avoids a moderate spell on Ambleside Avenue but that would be less direct.

A nice walk on a mixture of minor roads and well maintained paths. Once outside of central Esher it is surprisingly free of traffic and noise. The route is accurately plotted on the map with no ambiguity in directions. Coming into Walton there are a number of options at the very end to bring you into various parts of downtown, all on residential roads.

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