Parametric data
- Route name:
- Lingfield
- Start point:
- Lingfield.
- End point:
- Redhill.
- Distance:
- 11 miles.
- Seasonal suitability:
- Not recommended in winter.
- Ascent:
- 100 metres+
- Stiles:
- 8; but some of these were off the correct route.
- Landmark of note:
- Chapel of St Mark, Bletchingley.
- Feasible excursion:
- Use Ray Lane to bypass the showground. Proffered by Google as a walking route, but it's a 50 limit road without footway for the most part. Not for me.
- Walking in the road:
- One mile. Carlton Road, Whitewalls Road; very little traffic and useable verges. A short stretch of Outwood Lane; significant traffic.
- Footpath quality:
- For much of the route, tarmac or concrete. Some woodland trail, some ploughed field and some lakeside. Can be soggy around Glebe Cottage and Mercer's Park.
- Duration
- 5.2 hours (slow 'cos I'm battling brambles).
- Refreshments:
- Red Lion, Bletchingley.
Route map.
Route notes.
Lingfield village has some interesting ¢16 buildings, and might pay a future re-visit. On the day, I made my way from the station to the church along the alley connecting them.
Leaving Vicarage Road along a driveway, watch for an unsigned turn to the right where the public way continues across the fields to the north before Ray Close. Take care with the intruding brambles along here. On the approach to the show ground I took a right turn too soon and crossed the Eden Brook (or Ray Brook as the OS calls it) further east than I should. The Rambler's disciplinary committee meets next month to review my case. I shall plead that, in any case, no path around the show is discernible until Ardenrun on the north side.
Going west to the A22, don't worry about fallen trees; the fly tipping represents the greater hazard. Neither aspect to your perambulation is as unpleasant as the following mile of A22 through Blindley Heath. I can find no reasonable diversion. Remain on its eastern footway until opposite Carlton Road.
The middle stretch of this walk (nearly four miles, up to the A25) is a great deal nicer. Peace prevails so far as it can this near to Gatwick. You now approach the North Downs, so the gradient is generally uphill. There's no footway along Carlton (no through) Road but the traffic is very light. The driveway into South Park is the best kept footpath in Surrey, IMHO. Could hardly believe the SP.
I then missed a left turn and wandered off course a second time, obliging the Supreme Rambler to order my excommunication.
A feast for the ears on the home stretch arrives with the A25 but really flourishes with the M23. Its combination with brambles and mud around Glebe Cottage has to be the high point of the whole walk. Should you prefer, divert round that past Nutfield Church, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul; as was the church at Lingfield 🤔
