3. St. Martha's Hill to Ranmore Common

8 miles. 3 hours; 37 minutes

This leg of our journey was a bit longer than the previous two but we made an early start and paced ourselves accordingly. We picked up the path again on the western side of St Martha's Hill where the Downs Link Path peels off to the right, on its way down to connect the North Downs Way with the South Downs Way.

From there the path was a little bit downhill and a lot more uphill to Newlands Corner. It was still early morning and we were ahead of the hiking, mountain-biking, dog-walking, motorcycling, pushbike-pushing crowds that gather at this wonderfully picturesque twist of the A25.

We didn’t pause and pressed on, over the road and now along the North Downs proper. We walked through woods and crossed fields; where the view was not obscured we looked south over the countryside and relished the sight of the fields and villages laid out below us.

We spotted deer in the woods on two separate occasions. They were just fleeting glimpses but we were only 20 yards away from them before we saw each other. It made me feel that we really had escaped to the countryside. Indeed, at one point we stopped to listen and it was wonderfully quiet with no man-made noise encroaching on the scene. But only for a moment, pretty soon an aeroplane rumbled far off and away. Nevertheless, we had left the sounds of road traffic behind us and we’d surprised those deer at walking pace not barreling down a lane in a fast car. 

 

Looking south from Newlands Corner.

2. Puttenham to St. Martha’s Hill (Guildford Lane)

Sunday 31^st October 2010

It was a bit wet today but a lot of the walking was through the woods and the trees provided some shelter. In fact, the damp probably made the going easier on the sandy paths.

Our route took us under the A3, then over the River Wey, and finally up to the top of St. Martha’s Hill which, at 172m above sea level, is 3m higher than Box Hill. (For reference, this is about as high as the the Post Office Tower, or the BT Tower, or whatever it’s called now... but there's no lift.)

Sadly visibility from the top was restricted by cloud and mist, but looking out over Surrey and down to the woods and fields below, we could see we’d climbed a long way up since crossing the River Wey.

Careful to take the North Downs Way and not the footpath down to the church car park, we got our bearings for the next leg, then quit for the day on Guildford Lane.

6 ½ miles. 2 hrs, 39 minutes

A reminder that this is the Pilgrims' Way as we pass

under what I guess must be the old A3. The new one

is a thunderous dual carriageway, 15 yards behind us.

An altogether more peaceful crossing. The footbridge over the

River Wey, south of Guildford. Much wider than it was at Farnham.

Look, there's room for a rower.

Chantries Wood. It's autumn, of course, and the leaves are
changing colour and falling. Just after I took this picture I caught what I
think is a rowan leaf as it fell in front of me and tucked it in my
guidebook to carry home as a golden souvenir.

The church of St. Martha on the Hill. Some historians suggest that

"Martha" is a corruption of "martyr" and Christian missionaries were burned

here by pagans around 600AD. There's no record of what they tasted like but I

imagine the flames and smoke would have been seen for miles. What a

wonderfully ghoulish thought for today. It is Halloween, after all!

And the cloudy view from the top of St. Martha's Hill.

Canterbury's over that way. I think.

1. Farnham to Puttenham.

Sunday 24th October 2010.

The adventure begins. And it does feel like an adventure... the North Downs Way stretches before us, to Canterbury and on to the coast. It's a pedestrian-friendly approximation of the Pilgrims' Way.

I have a map to show the way, stout shoes, and a congenial Walking Companion. I am also carrying several spare stones, not as a penance but rather the penalty in itself for years of over indulgence.

Anyway, it was a virtuously early start today. Out of the house before dawn. The full moon was still high and bright, even after sunrise, large and silver in the blue sky. A good omen on this bright and frosty autumn morning.

The path runs roughly parallel to the Hog's Back and the A31, through fields and woodland and along country lanes. The walking was pleasant and not so hilly as I'd expected. Perhaps "undulating" at times. I suspect there are more challenging inclines to come but as we made our way to Puttenham it felt that we were climbing onto the North Downs and starting our journey east...

7 miles. 2hrs, 34 mins.

Me. At the start. 153 miles to go.

Llamas. They come from South America, you know. I wasn't expecting

to find them here but it was a treat to spot them in this frosty field.

Over the River Wey. It's only about 20 feet wide at this point.