Greensand Way 2 : Witley to Ewhurst walk

This is the second stage of the Greensand Way (GW). Its a lovely walk through the rural southern reaches of the Surrey Hills which passes through several small villages with country pubs. After lunch, the walk ascends, then follows a forested ridge.

Transport is a problem on this walk. This walk ends near Ewhurst (its much too far to Dorking - the next train station on the GW), where there are these options:

• on the GW route, there is a rare bus (weekdays only) to Gomshall (and Guildford), which stops by the Duke of Kent school, on a minor road north of Ewhurst
• a 2km/1.5 mile extension (14 miles total) due south to Ewhurst village, which has more buses (hourly), but no (open) pub to wait in.
• a 5.4km/3.4 mile extention (16 miles total) due north to Gomshall Station (pubs nearby), making a very long walk, but it only has a 2-hourly train service.
• cut the walk short, and finish in Shamley Green (the lunch pub village) after 8 miles, which has regular buses (4 per hour) to Guildford. This misses out part of afternoon ridge - the best part of the walk however.

Consider doing the walk in reverse, take the train to Guildford, timed to catch the bus to the Duke of Kent School or Ewhurst Village, and then walk to Witley. Witley has hourly trains (but no station pub).

See 'Ewhurst' below for current bus details.

Currently, Witley to Ewhurst Village, a longer walk to Gomshall, or, the walk in reverse, Greensand Way (Duke of Kent School) to Witley are the most practical options

Witley to Ewhurst

Out: Take the train from Waterloo Station to Witley. Buy a day return to Witley.

Finish on the GW: On the minor road north of Ewhurst, take bus #25 to Gomshall or Guildford (2 hourly Mon-Fri only, check times!). From Gomshall Station, take a train to Guildford (every 2 hours) - you will have to buy a single ticket to Guildford for this journey

Finish in Ewhurst Village: Take bus #25 as above, or more frequent bus #53 (hourly, daily) to Cranleigh and Guildford, then take the train

Finish in Gomshall : Easy, take the train (2 hourly, you'll need a single to Guildford), or the rare bus.

Suggested train : nearest to 9.30am

Ewhurst to Witley

Out: Take the train from Waterloo Station to Guildford. Buy a day return to Witley (further up the line from Guildford). Then walk to Friary bus station (takes 10 mins) and take bus #25 (2 hourly, Mon-Fri) to the Duke of Kent School (between Peaslake and Ewhurst). About 1hr 40 mins in total.

Return: From Witley, take the train back to London (1/hour, about 1 hour)

Suggested train: whichever connects with the bus

Hascombe (6.5km from the start)

• The White Horse, Hascombe. 01483 208 258. Restaurant / gastropub.

Shamley Green (13.5km from the start)

• Bricklayers Arms, Shamley Green. 01483 898377. Good Reviews. Mains £10-17
• The Red Lion, Shamley Green. 01483 892202. Good Reviews. Baguettes, mains £10-17. On the village green.

Ewhurst Option

• The Windmill in Pitch Hill, about 2km from Ewhurst. No website. Phone to check if open: 01483-548389
• The Bull's Head in Ewhurst is closed mid-afternoon.

Gomshall Option

• Hurtwood Inn, in Peaslake, about 3km before Gomshall, upmarket.
• Gomshall Mill, under new ownership [2019] is the closest pub to the station
• The very popular Lavender Goose cafe/tearoom, even closer to the station, will probably be closed by the time you arrive.

This walk is one of 11 stages of the Greensand Way - a regional long distance path in the Southeast of England

• Surrey Council have several leaflets of the Surrey (west) part of the route with OS mapping and directions (but not accomodation or public transport information) available from their website
• Kent Council have an online book with instructions and map extracts of their (east) half of the route. [Dec-20] The route and directions are dated and differ from the ground in places.
• The original guidebook to the walk is long out of print and hard to get. It did have OS mapping (with the contours removed!). In any case, the route has had many small changes in the meantime.

After the walk, we would love to get your feedback

You can upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

Start GU8 5TD Map Directions

Finish GU6 7NS Map Directions

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Travelline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Apr-19 Andrew