Graham Pearcey

The route:

• Park at The White Hart, The Green, Pirbright, GU24 0LP. Food is served until 3:00 PM and again from 6:00 PM Mon-Sat. Food is served all afternoon until 8:00 PM Sun and Bank Holidays.
• Cross the A324 to take the side road signposted Parish Church, and walk along this road for about 200 metres.
• Enter the graveyard on the right. See the granite lump marking the grave of Stanley and continue along the graveyard path, past the church’s south door and out to the footpath beyond it.
• Turn right and walk along the path between fields. Cross over a road and take the public footpath through the wood. Ignore a side path on the right towards a children’s playground, and soon reach a road junction. Cross Gole Road carefully. Walk extra carefully under the railway arch then immediately bear left to cross over the Basingstoke Canal at Pirbright Bridge. Do NOT take either towpath but continue along the pavement on the right-hand side of the road for another 100 metres.
• Just after the two driveways at the bend, turn right onto the footpaths. Immediately turn right again onto the narrow muddy path, which parallels the border fence with houses, and leads in a short distance through a pair of wooden gates into Sheet’s Heath. The path climbs a hill, merges with another path from the left, and reaches a narrow tarmac lane. Cross the lane to follow the wide track. Ignore the many side paths until, after about 500 metres, you clearly see telegraph poles in front of the boundary trees to your right.
• As the current track reaches its closest point to the telegraph poles, turn right onto a path that cuts through the heather to the poles. Pass through a kissing gate and turn right onto a wide track. At a junction after 60 metres go straight ahead onto a road that passes another telegraph pole (right) and Sheets Cottage (left). The road descends and then rises again to reach the canal. Bear left with the road to proceed parallel to the towpath, popular with ducks, up to the cart bridge.
• Cross the bridge and go up through Brookwood, over the main road, past The Brookwood (pub) to the train station. Using the main door, pass through the station tunnel to enter Brookwood Cemetery.
• Turn right onto Pine Avenue and pass (on your right) the graves of Cypriots, Turks, Turkish airmen, and Parsees. Just before the Zoroastrian Cemetery, at the triangular junction, bear left down the hill, and through a gate onto a tarmac drive. Take the next turning on the right, then turn left to pass through the Brookwood Memorial.
• Turn left onto Long Avenue and pass through another gate. Pass Western Avenue, Oak Avenue and Railway Avenue, before following the bend right to pass the Najmee-Baag (Muslim burial ground). Descend to the other end of Railway Avenue and emerge onto a main road.
• Cross into the other part of the cemetery and stay on the main tarmac drive (St Cyprian’s Avenue) to the fork at the Saint Edward Orthodox Church and Brotherhood. Fork right through the open gate onto St Chad’s Avenue that becomes St George’s Avenue as it passes the Serbian Orthodox Cemetery.
• Keep following St George’s Avenue clockwise. You’re circling back towards where you came from, but when you cross St Mark’s Avenue (the sign has its back to you), turn left.
• Go straight for 550 metres. After passing a new (2005) grave with bird feeders on the tree next to it, the main path forks. Take the right fork through the trees to a crossing with a broader track; here bear slightly to the right to take a very muddy (but fortunately short) path through trees to merge with a byway and reach a tarmac lane.
• Double back left past houses. Take the track branching to the right - Whites Lane - and continue on the footpath to the next road.
• Go left along the road towards Whites Farm, but just before reaching it take the Public Footpath (look for the partially hidden sign) to the right over a stile. Bear left but diverge from the boundary of the field towards another stile 60 metres from the left corner (look for the yellow waymarker sign) and proceed over the bridge and straight along the path through the wood and subsequent plantation.
• At the very end of the path, turn left along the track which becomes a tarmac drive and passes Cricketers Cottage to reach a road. Turn left. Pass The Cricketers and Pirbright & District Social Club on your left, to return to the White Hart pub.

This route was last walked on 2 October 2008, and the directions were accurate then. Please e-mail me if you find any errors, if you would like a copy in Word format, or if you would prefer a version that starts and ends at Brookwood station.

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