Graham Pearcey

Walk number 13 (6 miles / 2.50 hours):

• Park at The Talbot Inn, Ripley High Street, GU23 6BB. Food is served all afternoon until 9:30 PM Mon-Thu, 10:00 PM Fri-Sat and 8:30 PM Sun.
• With your back to the pub, turn left towards the centre of the village. Pass historic buildings such as Ceramics Café, Cobham Cottages, Wyllie & Mar store, Cranford, The Ship and the One-Stop shop. At Watsons Bakers turn left into Rose Lane. At Vintage Cottage cross the road and locate a public footpath alongside Appletrees. Access is through an electrically operated security gate. At Chapel Farm House the footpath turns to the right and through a gate into the eastern end of the churchyard.
• Pass to the left of the church to view the grave of Conor, Eric Clapton’s son, alongside the south wall of the nave. Locate a pathway beyond the church hall that leads back to the High Street. Cross towards The Georgian House and turn right along the pavement. Pass the Manor House, the yard leading to Clifford James shoe shop, and Fashion Trapp ladies wear shop. Turn left into Newark Lane but cross to take the safe pavement on the right-hand side. Ignore the first roadway on the right leading to Ripley Green, continuing along Newark Lane opposite Stansfield’s and the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel. Just before the gateway into Dunsborough Park, opposite the entrance to Wentworth Close, double back to your right onto the Green. As the Green widens, bear left to pass (on your right-hand side) a large hollow (formerly the village pond) and a children’s playground.
• The footpath passes through a small wooded area before affording a good view of Dunsborough Park. Merge with the main tarmac track and pass farm buildings and Dunsborough Cottages on your left; then swing left with the track and keep ahead. In just 130m pass cottages and bear left to follow the footpath signed “The Foxway”. Proceed over two small footbridges to reach Walsham Lock. Do NOT cross the weir but turn left along the towpath with the canal on your right. Continue for 850m to reach Newark Lock.
• Turn right over the Lock footbridge and continue along the canal towpath. The ruins of Newark Priory can be seen across the meadows to your right. On reaching a road, turn right along the pavement to cross the River Wey after 80 metres. Keep ahead along the road.
• When the pavement ends, cross the road with care to continue along the pavement on the other side. When the road bends sharp right in 200m, keep ahead on a rising path to pass St Nicholas Church, Pyrford on your right-hand side. Descend to the road. Proceed along the grass verge in front of Church Farm until the pavement resumes. Continue for 300m. After passing a bridleway sign on your left, reach a house and cross the road before turning right over a stile by a gate. Go along the field edge parallel to the road for 60m, bearing left to follow the fence line downhill. You have reached the half way point of the walk.
• At the end of the field, turn left and go along the field edge with the hedge line on your right and short pylons to your left. In 200m, pass (but ignore) a stile on your right before going over two stiles (or through the gap between them). Keep ahead towards a tall pylon, but before reaching it turn right to cross a field to a fence corner. After the fence corner, bear left keeping the fence on your left. Cross a stile and go down the driveway to the road, where the timber framed Glebe House dating from the 16th century is to your right.
• Cross the road, going slightly right to follow a path along the left-hand edge of a field and over a footbridge to reach a golf course. Follow the yellow waymark arrows, one by one, to zigzag your way over the golf course to eventually reach a road. Turn right at the road to cross a canal bridge alongside Pyrford Lock. Look for a footpath sign to the left of the yellow grit bin ahead of you (which may be obscured by parked cars), and go along this footpath for 400m. To your left, you may catch a view of Wisley Church through the trees.
• At the track junction, turn right along a tarmac track, leading to the Wisley Golf Course clubhouse, 800m away. At the end of a small wood, follow the public footpath signs right along a path, with the clubhouse on your left, and on for another 600m. You catch one view of the RHS Wisley glasshouse to your left almost immediately, and better views of it later on. On reaching some planted beds you need to bear right in front of the wooden pump-house to reach the golf-course perimeter and the Wey Navigations towpath. In front of you is Pigeon House Bridge, but you turn left along the towpath for just 100m, then left again onto a path through trees to cross the River Wey via a wooden footbridge.
• Continue over two small footbridges. Go over a stile by a gate and follow the driveway as it bears left, passing Ockham Mill on your right-hand side. Pass through gates ahead and go down Ockham Mill Lane. Immediately beyond a post-box, turn right onto a path. Keep ahead crossing two footbridges. Go immediate left after the second footbridge, and right at a signpost, to join a narrow bridleway into the woods. Follow the widening bridleway, ignoring cross tracks and paths, for 550m. When houses come into sight, immediately turn right onto a grassy path and walk to the left of the cricket pitch. Having passed the clubhouse, turn left to reach the High Street and cross back to The Talbot Inn pub.

This route was last walked on 10 June 2010, and the directions were accurate then. Please e-mail me if you find any errors, or if you would like a copy in Word format.

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