As some of you will know, for the last few months I've been pottering around the hills and dales of Surrey and Kent pursuing the
Pilgrims Way, and have, at least to my satisfaction, partly resolved this old track. Looking to the West, I've found the Pilgrims Way rather harder to follow, if we take this as a sill road running along the base of the Downs. There are bits of track, and there are footpaths, but there are also a railway and modern roads along what could have been the route, so it's much less satisfying than the route into Kent.
However, I have found something else. From Epsom Downs to Farnham I've been able to piece together a track that is more-or-less continuous, and is a decent ride in the dry. It runs along the chalk Downs, near the top. For much of it it's just below the top, on the sunny side, which makes sense. I've read a bit around it without finding anything definitive, some of what I've found is frankly, pretty soft. But it looks as if it was Saxon, or at least was used by the Saxons, with the direction of trade being from Farnham, where flocks were assembled, to the markets of London, specifically Smithfield. The railway would have taken the trade from about 1850, and my guess is that what we can see now mostly remains from that time.
Starting from Epsom Downs, you first pick up the track at the back of the car-park at the Epsom Downs Golf Club. It heads South-West, past the Derby Arms pub, down into Langley bottom and then up on to the bridle-way that the Ordnance Survey labels as Stane Street, a Roman Road. Nothing to say that the Saxons wouldn't have used what the Romans left, of course. Some of this is decent riding, some a bit mucky, but you can get along well enough just now - Summer is better.
This brings you to Burford Bridge. Now a Bur, or Burh, is a Saxon fortified town or village, and everyone knows what a ford is. To go West, you need to cross the Mole here, and go up the hill on the other side back to the top of the Downs. There are several convincing tracks that would line up and allow you to do this; I took the easiest, which is to go up through Denbies and pick up the Ranmore Common road at the top. From there, there's a footpath in the right place to be the old track, but the road is easier until you get to White Down Lane. A few hundred yards up the lane you turn on to a track, the Drove Road, that eventually, with a few wiggles, takes you past Newlands Corner and on to Guildford, just by the Castle.
Guildford is a Saxon borough, and again, we all know what a ford is - this time it would have been over the Wey. We're luckier, there's a bridge now, leading straight to The Mount, back up to the track at the top until we get to the Hogs Back. Here, I think, progress has messed things up a bit, and a sensible route for cyclists involves going a short distance down the hill to pick up NCN 22 through Puttenham and Seale to the Saxon town of Farnham - at the Shepherd and Flock roundabout, where there is an old pub. What's in a name? But Farnham did have a strong wool trade until the fashion for worsted gave the Cotswolds pre-eminence. You'd have to do something with the sheep, and selling them for eating by the hungry citizens of the Great Metropolis would be a sensible option.
So there's the ride - just over 28 miles from Epsom Downs to Farnham; trains back from Aldershot via Guildford, or just ride back to Guildford, which has connections to Epsom and London or Dorking and Redhill.
As ever, I've a gpx for those that want it, but if you're going to go, go soon, or wait until Spring. Some parts of the route will become very muddy once the rain starts.
Mark
38.5 miles and a puny 847 feet of ascent. Thank you Mike for back-marking and for your encouragement to ride in groups - perhaps we are getting better at it!
After a leisurely lunch to satisfy our modest appetites, if not to compete with La Gavroche, an amicable consensus agreed that we needed a modicum of climbing to earn some tea and cake. We settled on Destination Bike atop Box Hill, pulled back the joy-stick and thrust up past Headley Court, to approach Box Hill from the rear. Destination Bike was formerly Dauphin Sport. It now sports a tea and cake workshop, which serviced us most admirably. As a side-line it also has some pretty good bikes and accessories.
