The sun disappeared half an hour before the start and reappeared half an hour after we finished, so 10 + 1 dog had a rather cold and cloudy walk through varied Surrey countryside. Neither a very early or very late pub lunch seemed to appeal so we all stopped at the picnic area around the Ockham Bites café, which although exposed to traffic noise from the A3 got high marks for its bacon rolls and other snacks. Lots of trees have been felled here for the A3/M25 junction widening, but the footbridge over the A3 remains open and it was easy enough to pick up the route from the café. At the end of the walk there was talk of stopping for tea'n'cake in West Byfleet but in practice all but one followed me onto the station platform and caught the 15:10 train.

Some gremlins seemed to have got at the GPS route so a new and hopefully more accurate version has been uploaded. I've taken the liberty of revising the main GPS route to take in both the Samuelson Mausoleum and the Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower; it's more interesting and no longer than the "twisty route through a boggy section" described in the written instructions, which has been left in as an option.

is anyone going on this walk pls?

Hello anon, I'm going and hopefully a few others

I'm going. Guildford train 10:03 seems to go straight to Horsley

Scrap that. Not showing on board!

Catch the 10.00 and change at Surbiton as posted

10 off the train in foggy conditions lifting to dense cloud in the afternoon. We walked through some lovely woods and heathland and lunched on benches around the semaphore. No one stopped at the first pub. One walker had phoned the Anchor to discover it is temporarily closed. We stopped for mulled cider at Wisley. Five got the bus from there, five continued the walk and may report any adventures en route.

The bus toolk a long time to get to Surbiton. Four got trains from there at 4.43/45, one continued to Kingston to continue her journey home by bus.

The notice at the Anchor said closed due to staff isolating, so hopefully will be open next time we pass.

Not much more to report, Wanderer, we had a nice walk along the Wey navigation into West Byfleet where three of us got straight on the train and I'm afraid to say, got to Surbiton before you. Thanks for posting - a nice walk to do in the mist I thought, and less muddy than expected especially across the commons

Sandy

If intending to walk the extension to Weybridge is a Guildford return ticket still the thing to buy?

30 on this walk on a day that was cloudy but bright at times . Though I say so myself, this proved a good winter pick as it was really remarkably un-muddy - lots of fairly dry heaths and woods and a canal path that was firm underfoot.

We put our top negotiator onto the job but despite his best efforts the Anchor still said it could not accommodate us, even two tables of six at 2.30pm. So lots went to the early pub which I hear was perfectly satisfactory. A few did squeeze into the Anchor. I fell between two stools, thinking lots had gone on to the Anchor when they had not. In the end three of us ate at the kiosk by the A3, joining two sandwich eaters.

I likewise failed to find the Semaphore even though lots did and said it was worth the detour. There was general agreement the the directions are confusing at this point. Ideally the Semaphore directions need to be boxed off from the main directions - and having two routes to it is over-complicated.

The footbridge over the river is still gone with no sign it will ever be reconstructed. But the golf course has laid a wood chip path to its bridge 20 metres to the right, suggesting it is at least resigned to walkers using this.

We kioskers got to the Anchor by 2.30 and stopped there for nice puddings. We then saw most of the rest of the group traipse into the pub for tea in dribs and drabs. I personally regretted not getting a chance to talk to many of you during the day - but that is often the way with big groups. I don’t know if anyone walked to Weybridge: the vast majority were happy with the standard walk (walk posters take note). But three of us, inveterate walkers in the dark, did a triangular night route along the canals, ending in West Byfleet, and just got the 18.06 train.

5 caught 5:06pm train and met three others who walked to Weybridge. So, looked 6 did the extension. I'd say the earlier lunch served us well as Anchor provided a nice tea break for the afternoon although they run out of teapot by the time we got there. (They could not serve tea in a cup as they only had posh tea leaves). 5 hardcore tea drinkers had the second chance at Costa near the West Byfleet station.

Just to add for the record that five of us who were mainly sandwich eaters headed for the Anchor Pub and came to the part nearing the closed footbridge. Not knowing that there was an alternative bridge we did a detour as advised by the notice and following GPS which meant we joined the canal much earlier, probably walking about a mile or so extra. It was quite pleasant as an alternative route. After sandwiches, pudding and cancelled tea at the very busy Anchor three of us walked onto Weybridge along the canal and got there in darkness. This part of the walk is okay, not great, and it's quite a long way to the station when you get to the town - possibly there is a shortcut you can take direct from the canal. It was nice to bump into the others who got on the train at West Byfleet!

I believe that this footbridge is still missing - as a Surrey Council Tax payer, I find this very irritating! I can explain the diversion options on Saturday. Last time we did this walk with the diversion we still got to lunch in just over 3 hours.

15 on this walk on a misty day. This is a pleasant and varied outing which should get an airing more often, with woods, heaths and a section along a canal. Road noise is not as evident as the map suggests it will be.

As for the famous missing footbridge, you can actually bypass this by taking a golf club footbridge 40 metres downstream but this would clearly be a trespass and so obviously none of us did that. Instead the walk author researched a not much longer detour which I believe he is going to write up and include in the walk directions.

For lunch we squeezed into the busy Anchor at Pyford Lock, a lovely canalside pub whose only deficiency is that it is too near the end of the walk: next time I might be tempted to explore the earlier pub option. As it is we were at tea by 3pm and most then got the train home. Not wanting to finish so early, three of us decided to preview next Saturday's walk by following the canal onwards from West Byfleet. We enjoyed an atmospheric dusk, before doubling back to Byfleet and New Haw for a train home. It was still only 4.30.

Yes, an atmospheric walk on a dank and misty December day. I took the opportunity to visit the RHS gardens at Wisley which has a nice Cafe for light lunches, loos etc. There were also eight Seasonal German style Christmas Market Stalls on the day.

The much mentioned footbridge will be closed until at least August 2017, but Ockham Mill just before the closure is well worth a butchers.

The diversion via Walsham Lock is relatively straight forward and I'm happy to write this up (and the extension to visit the RHS Gardens) if t'other Mike wishes

Mike A

Feel free!

As far as I'm aware the footpath closure in Paragraph 26 is still in place so unless you can walk on water you will need to detour. Someone needs to check the Woking Council website for this. There is an unnecessarily complicated alternative on their website which involves crossing the Wey navigation where you could walk along it and there is another more direct option which is not an official path, but you do need to have a map if the bridge is still not in situ!

Thanks for alerting us to this issue, Mike. The temporary footpath closure order made by Surrey County Council (not Woking Council) in February 2014 has been extended to August 2016 (repairing an unsafe footbridge takes ages, doesn't it?).

Rather than follow the official diversion, or the slightly more direct unofficial option, both of which would add 15 minutes or so to an already long morning, a better bet would be to divert along a road well before reaching the closed footbridge.

At the end of para 22, where you come out to a road by the Wren's Nest car park, turn right on this road (Wisley Lane) instead of left. Go through the small village of Wisley and cross the River Wey at Wisley Bridge, ignoring the footpaths on the far side. Pass a sewage works on the right and ignore a footpath to the left just before the road bends sharply left. 80 metres beyond the bend take a footpath to the left. This wiggles around for about 800 metres and emerges at Pyrford Lock with the Anchor pub just to your right. This diversion cuts about 1km off the length of the walk and gets you to lunch a bit sooner than you were expecting. Hurrah!

9, cloudy but very mild (15 deg C). Good to get out into some fresh air and exercise after the holiday. Surprisingly remote feel to Oakham Common despite some background noise from the A3. Diversion works OK but paths/tracks across golf course no longer aligned with the OS map and are poorly signed. The Anchor has been (recently?) refurbished and was very welcoming and efficient. Only two of us eating and they found us a table despite it being a busy Sunday. Larger groups need to book unless eating outside. Food is good and affordable and a selection of ales.

I tried to add this comment to the main walk but it didn't seem to work. I have raised a complaint with Surrey County Council over the lack of action on a repair, here is their response.

Further to your correspondence regarding the matter of the damaged bridge over the River Wey at the junction of the above public footpaths. I have been asked as the Senior Countryside Access Officer to respond to your complaint. This is in response to two replies from the Countryside Access Team explaining that we have been unable to secure the necessary funding to remove the old bridge and replace it with a new structure.

I appreciate and share your frustration that we have been unable to replace this bridge and obviously this is not how we would wish things to be. We recognise the value of this public footpath and would very much like to resolve this situation. I accept that it our statutory duty under Section 130 Highways Act 1980 to assert and protect the network and this bridge is a Surrey County Council structure. Perhaps it would be useful if I explained what we have been doing to resolve this problem. There are several challenges with this project. Firstly there is no vehicular access to this site with anything larger than a 4WD. Normally a bridge of this size would require a large crane or two smaller cranes to lift on and off the structure. Secondly, as the River Wey is a main river, we require a Flood Defence Consent from the Environment Agency which allows us to put in a bridge. The EA dictate such things as the height of the bridge and can also influence the design. In this instance they are requiring us to remove the artificial build out on the southern bank. This another engineering consideration and will also necessitate a bridge approximately 5 metres longer than the present one, making any new structure requiring a span of approximately 30 meters. Because of the dynamics of the river we are also required to pile footings for the new structure which will mean our trying to get a piling rig on site.

All of these elements, including any repair work to Wisley Golf Course if we need to access via that route, suggests a tentative estimate of approximately £300 000 to £400 000 to remove the old structure, dispose of it, purchase a replacement structure and install. To put this amount of money into context, the Countryside Access Budget for last year was approximately £570 000, which roughly equates to £260 per mile of path, to carry out all our maintenance requirements on the public rights of way network of footpaths, bridleways and byways in Surrey . We were required to make budget savings this year of approximately £100 000 and we expect a similar amount in the next financial year.

Obviously the Countryside Access budget cannot fund the replacement of this bridge and we have been making representations for additional capital funding for this project which have unfortunately to date been unsuccessful. We have however made the decision to instruct a engineering company to do the necessary soil sampling and investigative work and for them to suggest a plan with costings as to how to move forward. We had originally hoped to pay for this from the additional funds for the bridge that we had hoped to raise, but as this has not been possible we will try and find the money for the report from the Countryside Access budget as it is hoped that it will make our case stronger if we can definitely say how the works will be carried out and how we will access the site.

I apologise that this public footpath has been closed for so long but please be assured we have been and will continue to work on replacing this bridge and , of course, continue to make requests for the necessary capital funding. If you are unhappy with the decision reached at Stage 1 please contact our Customer Relations Team who will review the complaint and consider the need for a further investigation.