Sussex
Scrapbook ~ Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 19th April 2014
Shalford - Wey Canal - St. Martha's Hill - Chilworth - Shalford... Surrey!
9 miles
The A281 to Shalford
from Horsham is in so much better condition that most of our roads in Sussex and
it was a real pleasure to bomb down there without worrying about putting our
spines out of place.
The ride here was great and so was the walk too. Through water meadows down to
the canal, where we watched a barge go through St Catherine's lock, then along
the canal on the Scholar's Way to the next bridge and onto the
Pilgrim's Way. This took us up gently to the top of
St Martha's Hill and the isolated church at the top. Fantastic views from up
there and the Downs Link footpath back down to the south. From there a beautiful
stroll through fields of flowering Rape and secluded tracks back into Shalford.
There are some huge houses in this area and lots of horses so there is certainly
a lot of money about. Not surprising really as this is a very scenic and quiet
area of Surrey that is close enough to Guildford to make commuting to the City
very easy. It's not in Sussex though, so they can't have everything!
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This bridge took us onto both the Pilgrim's Way and the North Downs Way, at the
same time!
St. Martha's on the hill which was serving up tea and cake today
and was infested with hoards of visitors all suffering terribly with tea and
cake deficiency.
Pictures, at least mine, do not do justice to the beautiful views around here.
Almost as good as Sussex!
The start of the
Downs Link on the North Downs side.
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Shalford Church, tea and the end of today's walk.
Take the time to read
the
countryside code for yourself and please stick to it at all times.