Greensand Way 3 : Gomshall to Dorking Walk

This is the third stage of the Greensand Way - and a highlight of the walk. It traverses Holmbury Hill and then Leith Hill - the highest in the southeast at just under 1,000 feet. Both have good views to the south. Then you descend through woodland to Dorking.

This walk starts in Gomshall, and heads south for 4km on a long gentle ascent to join the GW on the crest of the Greensand Ridge. There are rare buses from Guildford via Gomshall to near this point.

You then follow the GW over Holmbury Hill (at 261m above sea level), to the Kings Head in Holmbury St. Mary for lunch. There also is The Royal Oak 500m further north.

After lunch, it is on to the summit of Leith Hill. At 294m, it is a Marilyn. Its summit is a nice open area, though the views are partially blocked by trees. There is a National Trust tower (a folly), the viewing gallery of which is over 1,000 feet (£3 entrance fee for adults, free for NT members). It has a small kiosk selling tea and biscuits. This is the recommended spot for a picnic lunch

Then it's a woodland trail north. The last few km are through surburban Dorking, and across its High Street

• Starting at a bus stop along Ewhurst Road (Bus Line 25 from Guildford via Gomshall to Cranleigh, Mon-Fri only), either in the hamlet of Hoe early into the route, or by the Duke of Kent School (just north of Ewhurst), taking out most of the early ascent. See the route map for the location of the bus stops.
• Start or finish the walk in Holmbury St. Mary on the main road, just after passing The Kings Head: Bus Line 22 (Crawley - Dorking - Shere - Dorking - Crawley), Mon-Fri only.
• Avoid the final ascent onto The Nower with its fine viewpoints just before Dorking by following the level shortcut shown on the route map.

• Take the train from London to Gomshall changing at either Redhill, Dorking or Guildford. Buy a return to Gomshall. If coming from Waterloo, make sure your ticket is valid via all routes.
• Dorking Main station has trains to Victoria and Waterloo which take about 1 hour

The Kings Head Holmbury St. Mary; 01306 735 050. 7.8 km from the start. Their shop next door sells coffees, pastries etc and is open to 14.00 Mon-Sat and to noon Sun.
The Royal Oak Holmbury St. Mary; 01306 898 010. 550m off route, north of the Kings Head.
Heartwork Coffee Bar Holmbury St. Mary; 07487 506 376. 8.1 km from the start. Open to 15.00 daily.

Servery/Kiosk in Leith Hill Tower.

Many places in Dorking's Dene Street and High Street, or the Lincoln Arms Hotel pub by Dorking Station

• 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 also have leaflets of the Surrey section, but not, oddly, of the Kent section [Aug-23]
• 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.

On the Greensand Way (Duke of Kent School bus stop)

Bus #25, 2 hourly, Mon-Fri only, from Cranleigh via Ewhurst to Gomshall (infrequent trains) and Guildford (frequent trains). The last bus going north to Gomshall and Guildford is at 13.24 on the current schedule, i.e. of not much use! The line runs to 18.16 in a southerly direction though to Cranleigh for frequent and late connections to Guildford. In summary: this bus line is useful if you start the walk from Duke of Kent School, or for catching an onward connection in Cranleigh after finishing there.

Ewhurst Village (2.5 km away)

Bus #53, hourly, daily, via Cranleigh to Shalford and Guildford, last bus just before or after 6pm, depending on the day of the week, thereafter they start from Cranleigh - check!

Ewhurst is 2.5 km steeply downhill from the Greensand Way's crossing of Ewhurst Road. It has better bus connections, and a pub (The Bull's Head). The #53 bus stops outside the pub, but then has a waitover at the next stop a little further south: The Glebe, so it's best to walk there.

The Bulls Head, 01483 277 447, closed all day Monday, Tuesday lunch and Sunday evening.

Last Resort

Cranleigh (a further 3 km walk from Ewhurst) has regular buses, even in the evenings, and Gomshall (station) is 5 km walk north of the Greensand Way.

Updated Aug-23. Bus service numbers and bus times change frequently - you must check using Traveline Southeast or bustimes.org

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

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

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

Aug-23 Andrew