Get Lost! Weds 6 May

Get off the road!! we are sometimes advised by kindly passing motorists.    Well, today I tried it, and it's not so bad.   I set out without a plan and modest expectations - quite common these days - and decided to head Claygate-wards, via Long Ditton and the tunnel under the Kingston Bypass.   Just as I arrived in the outskirts of Claygate I saw a not-very-obvious bridleway going in the wrong direction, so I tried it.  Quite by accident, I found the tunnel under the A3 which was infamous a few years ago for being flooded by a sewage leak (animal sewage, so slightly less yuk, perhaps).

Still a bit lost, I headed south to Witney Hill and then was forced back into Claygate briefly before finding Claygate Common, another place I'd never been.  It's tiny, it's wooded, and with lots of tracks it felt like an adventure.   I crossed the A3 again on our regular bridleway to the south of Claygate, nice and dry today, and on Dave Ferrett's recommendation, explored Princes Coverts, or at least a bit of them - they are massive. After nearly reaching the summit of Telegraph Hill, I could have  descended to Ashtead Common but instead I came out to the west, on the Oxshott-Leatherhead road.

Princes Coverts

I was getting near to the 'red zone' (more than 10 miles* from home) so I didn't dare to go further south in case I turned into a pumpkin.   Instead I headed for Stoke d'Abernon, with a little diversion to look at St Mary's Church, the oldest church in England, or so the sign says.   It's looking remarkably well for its age, but it's self-isolating, so I didn't go in.

St Mary's Church, Stoke d'Abernon

Look! No turrets!   Fairmile Park Road.

Gasping for air, I reached the rarefied heights of Fairmile Park Road and Lebanon Drive, where most mansions have turrets and big electric gates, and you're nobody unless you have at least three cars.  I knew that ultimately I would be dumped back onto the Oxshott-Esher road, not my favourite road, so I was elated to find a bridleway to the left into a wood, signposted Esher Common.   I took it. 

Esher Common

It was lovely.   Heading directly north through another big pine wood, a bit sandy under tyre at times, it took me over a nice footbridge over the A3, and continued north until I bumped into the Blackhills estate.  Well, the perimeter fence, well guarded with warnings of CCTV, guard dogs and in some places, barbed wire coils on top of the fence.  The fence runs a long way east-west:  I could have gone east and ended up back on the Oxshott-Esher road, but instead I went west, to arrive on the old Portsmouth Road.

Then I realised I could continue into West End Common, which is even nicer!  Just across the road is a small car park (blocked off to cars) with a bit of a maze of footpaths through magical oak woods behind.   It's somewhat hilly, and route-finding is a bit haphazard, but I like that sort of thing, and I kept arriving in enchanted glens in the forest, which looked lovely in the dappled sunlight.  I could have spent a lot longer exploring, but eventually I ended up in West End, by Garson's Farm.

West End Common

West End, Esher

Trees

All in all, a surprising lovely day out, and several places I need to re-visit.  Thank you, kind motorists!

* Just to clarify: 10 miles is the furthest I'm prepared to walk home (on a nice day) if I have a mechanical, which avoids me having to ask Liz to make a non-essential car journey.