Hiking the Devil’s Punch Bowl – day trip from London

When a friend mentioned hiking the Devil’s Punch Bowl in Surrey as a great day trip from London, I was immediately intrigued. What’s in a name, right? Later that day I researched the place and was quickly convinced that hiking the Devil’s Punch Bowl was to be my next day trip from London.

History of the Devil’s Punch Bowl

Let’s start with some history. On the exact location of the National Trust site “The Devil’s Punch Bowl and Hindhead Commons”, a busy A-road from London down to Portsmouth used to run. In 2011, the A road was disused and a motorway covering the same stretch opened. However this came with a tunnel going beneath the Devil’s Punch Bowl. One can still see the contours of the old road along the walk.

An intriguing name like Devil’s Punch Bowl surely must be linked to an array of local legends. The most popular one describes the following story. The devil got upset because of the popularity of the Church in Surrey and all the new churches being built. In his rage, he started digging a canal from the South Downs down to the coast, attempting to flood the area. The lumps of earth that he dug out and threw away are said to have become local landmarks. We encountered some of these, like Gibbet Hill, on the walk. The devil kept on digging, but when he reached the village of Poynings, the crowing of a cock frightened him. Assuming the sun was about to rise, the devil jumped back into the hinterland. The place where he landed, leaving a ditch in the ground, became known as the Devil’s Punch Bowl.

Planning a day trip

Back to my hike at the Devil’s Punch Bowl. My husband and I are used to the drill of getting up early for weekend escapes so the train ride to Haslemere (just under an hour from London) felt very easy. After a breakfast on the train and with our packed lunch and plenty of water in the rucksack, we were all ready to hit the trail. Haslemere station is not right at the Punch Bowl, but it is the closest stop. There are two options to reach the Punch Bowl, we took one on the way in and two on the way out:

• Follow a walk through the countryside that surrounds Haslemere. I found a free walk online that took about 5 kilometers in total;
• Walk up Farnham Lane and follow it all the way to the end. You cannot miss the wooden gates that lead to the National Trust area. It’s a quiet residential road and a good option if you want to get there a bit quicker.

First things first – we called at the National Trust visitor centre and got a map outlining the different walking options. We studied it over a coffee at their nice café, but ended up not using the NT walks. Instead we followed a route I’d found on the internet. This went beyond the National Trust area and was quite a bit longer. It was super easy to find several options online.

The hiking route

The first part of the hike roughly followed the old road. Apart from the fact that the surface is remarkably flat, it was hard to believe that we were walking on what used to be an A-road. There is no more sign of concrete or other leftovers. That said, as we continued the walk, we started to see the shape of the old road more clearly (it’s easy to tell from the wider stretches where the hard shoulder used to be) and we stumbled on the odd milepost. The only slight nuisance throughout the walk is the noise of the motorway which at times is very audible. The views into the Punch Bowl made up for that though.

The track turned into a paved road after a few kilometers and then again into a track. We crossed a ford and walked passed lovely farmhouses. The second half of the walk took us through a pine forest, where we stopped for our pick-nick lunch. We then followed the path down into the Punch Bowl for the last stretch back to the visitor centre, pausing to watch grazing cattle on the way.

Although the map displays a couple of village names, we did not encounter any facilities. This means a packed lunch is a must. Generally, the paths were in good condition. Despite some up and down, we did not find the route particularly strenuous. There are many options to customise the length of the walk based on your fitness level and how much time you have.

Extending the hike and dinner

We weren’t pressed for time, so we added an extra loop from the visitor centre to see some of the nearby landmarks (this time I did follow the National Trust map). Then a meal at the Devil’s Punch Bowl hotel, at the end of the parking lot was just what we needed to wrap up the day. The chicken with mash and vegetables was nothing special, but it did just the job. The hotel is the only option for dinner, unless you make a detour and venture into nearby Hindhead village. Since darkness was falling, we took the slightly faster route back to Haslemere, straight down Farnham Lane. We hopped back on the train to London and agreed that hiking the Devil’s Punch Bowl had been a very good day out. A recommendation for anyone who likes a countryside escape within easy reach from London.