Parametric data
- Route name:
- Guildford
- Start point:
- Guildford.
- End point:
- West Humble.
- This route on OS maps:
- https://explore.osmaps.com/route/23325515/ ...
- OS Explorer sheet ref(s):
- 145 and 146.
- Distance:
- 15.3 miles walked, 11.0 miles flown.
- :
- 6.9 hours.[1]
- Ascent:
- 388 metres.
- Stiles:
- 0 (zero).
- Landmark of note:
- St. Martha's Church, Chilworth.
- Feasible excursion:
- Had to walk the A281 around the weir at Millmead
- Waypoints:
- Millmead, Shalford, Chilworth, Albury, Shere, Netley, Ranmore, Dorking.
- Refreshments:
- Coffee from Clapham Junction. Lunch at St. Martha's Church.
-
: -
13°C,[2] ☀️ A
cloudless sky extended daylight to the walk's end.
-
Avoiding roads: -
½ mile of Ranmore Common Road. Light traffic,
generous verges and
straight.[3]
-
Footpath construction: -
Frankly, this section struggles to achieve even this rating.
-
Footpath condition: -
Only due to the Tumbling Bay Weir. See notes.
-
Vistas: -
Ranmore
is shown as a Viewpoint on the OS, but St. Martha's and
Newlands Corner are also good.
Blackberries:-
Past their best now, but worth checking out another
year.[4]
Route map.
Walk notes.
My day gets off to the worst possible start with multiple train
cancellations due to one that has broken down outside Reading,
forcing me to travel to Guildford via Clapham Junction. A seven
hour walk needs an early start. 😖
Despite having worked in Guildford for 43 years I have yet to
explore
this part
of the NDW as it heads south from the
station.[6] A pity, since it is far more peaceful and
picturesque
than the gyratory where it starts, and which I endured many
hundreds of times. Here we go.
On the opposite bank, someone is tying up their boat; but not, I fancy, one of the leisure craft comprising all traffic today. If only The White House were ten miles further east then it would make a splendid stop for lunch. Sadly, neither it nor any other nutritional outlet serves where I need one. It has to be BYO food and drink. My earliest memories of Guildford encompass a time when vehicles were allowed over the Town Bridge. It's not a memory that I trust but, if that really was so in 1970, then it might just be correct. Since all motor vehicles then were Minis, they were no threat to a weak structure.[7]
The scenery was beautiful, but the actors got in front of it.
Still following the Wey southwards, I reach Millmead and additional historic Guildford: a reference to Guildford resident Lewis Carroll. Carroll began an academic career at Christ Church. During my years at the University here, I observed dozens of his counterparts in ¢20 Surrey, but all were less conventional, more imaginative, and authored more works of fantasy than Caroll. Blasts from the past here go beyond him. For a short while longer we have Debenhams but, in a couple of years, it will be gone; replaced by homes, and shops selling ... you tell me. My last visit was around Christmas 1990. Goodbye department stores, hello Amazon 😢
A few metres further on, I encounter more dead infrastructure:
the footbridge over Tumbling Bay Weir. This was washed away by
floods as recently as 2019. As no quotation for a replacement
comes in below seven figures, the lack of one now is
unsurprising. If you are sceptical about such costs then keep in
mind the magnitude of the problem: a chasm of no less than 20
metres must be
spanned.[8] The structure has to support the weight
of two or even three pedestrians. By comparison, the
QEII Bridge
was child's play. Only the naive will point out that the
bridge stood well enough for almost a hundred and twenty years.
It's useless to think that we could attempt today what the
Edwardians had not the least difficulty achieving then. Next,
you will tell me the trains to Guildford might run to schedule
😆
So, for now, the footpath is
fenced off
at both ends of the weir. You have one option: divert
round the
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, and
thence to the A281
and follow that south until the footbridge just before
Great Quarry. Worse things happen at sea.
Press on into Shalford. The info board about the water meadows is on the opposite bank, so I take a photo and read it when I return home. There's another board below St Catherine's Chapel, but the photo doesn't come out, so my ignorance remains to this day. The NT has a page about canoeing this stretch of the Wey. Before reaching St Catherine's Lock, I cross to the east bank by way of the footbridge below the Chapel. Take care if you follow in my footsteps. This bridge, all are agreed, is an economic impossibility. Who knows, it may disappear from beneath your feet while you cross - depositing you in the Wey.[9] You have been warned.
Now a change of direction: leaving the river to cross Shalford Park, and begin an ascent of the downs above The Chantries. By the A281, before the start of Pigrim's Way, there is another info board, extolling the sums of money spent on the NDW and related projects. However, post Brexit, further €millions have yet to reach Tumbling Bay Weir. OK, rant over. The next two miles are nearly all uphill, and take me to the church of St Martha. This is not the highest point on the NDW (Botley Hill), nor even the highest point on Section #2 (Hackhurst Down), but it has the better view, IMHO.[10] It also has a seat where I can consume a sandwich lunch.
As for the main part of Section #2, approximately eight miles of downland largely owned by the NT, I won't repeat what I have described on earlier walks. Mention can be made of the view at Wotton looking across the rail line and the valley of the Tilling Bourne towards Coast Hill and, beyond that, to the still higher ground of Leith Hill. Today's trek follows the NDW rather more closely (just follow the acorn waymarkers) along to Ranmore,[11] where I cross into the Denbies Wine making estate. I suspect the estate road sees much traffic only around harvest time, and no vehicle passes me. Admire the view of the vines and relax. Finally, if you use the OS route planner to draw up your own version of Section #2, then expect to put some effort into persuading it to stick to the line you require. The normal mode of the planner is to take the shortest route. However, Section #2 is anything but that; meandering as it will up hill and down dale. At the last ½ mile the OS will try to get to the station along the Mole Gap Trail, and you will have to add waypoints encouraging it to continue to the A24 and Westhumble Street. If you have a strong preference for rural over suburban then that is the way to go. How rural you regard the A24 is your decision.
