Horsley to West Byfleet Walk

Public transport information is very out of date for this walk. Horsley station is now served by an unevenly spaced 3 trains an hour Mon-Sat and 1 per hour on Sunday. Operator is South Western Railway rather than South West Trains.

The 515 bus mentioned at Wisley has been replaced by the 715 with both this and the 437 operated by Falcon buses.

With reference to the bridge used for the walk over the A3. Your note at the top of the directions is not quite right. In fact the footbridge has not been replaced as yet. At that place I popped into the cafe Ockham Bites and they confirmed that a new road bridge has just been completed and that the footpath next to the A3 was intact. So I walked SW alongside the A3 to the new bridge and was able to cross it to Wisley common and continue my walk. It adds on about 45mins . Thanks for all your lovely walks and directions. 29.11.24.

Please put a big flag on this page as the A3 bridge is not there. As others have said no real warning of this, and it will be months more before it’s rebuilt by the look of it.

I think it would be better to take this walk down for the time being.

Yes - same problem in July 2024. And it looks as if works will take a while.

I did this walk on the 17th May 2024 and there are massive works on the A3 with the footbridge being closed. The notice (of closure) is literally 200m before it which is scandalous : they don't give you early warning and you don't have any opportunity to arrange a proper alternative route.

We had to do an enormous detour,, following the A3 on the left and crossing it underneath at the B2039 / B2215 roundabout and rejoin the route after.

As others have noted, the field mentioned in paragraph 5 is no longer accessible. You have to walk on the road (Old Lane) instead. Traffic is fast and frequent.

Also at present (Oct 23) there is a lot of work going on to restore the heathland either side of the A3. Currently it's a blasted hellscape of mud and tracked vehicles. Might be better to wait until 2025.

I felt rather guilty about posting this walk in February as the rhododendrons and bluebells will make the start look much more colourful in a month or two (and the heather on the sandy commons will look better in the summer too). Still, there was virtually no mud and it made a very pleasant winter walk.

As others have noted, there is no field-edge path in [5] and you have to endure 600m along a narrow verge beside a busy road (in our case, stepping over a dead badger which failed to make it).

The diversion to the Semaphore Tower seems unnecessarily complicated and I've take the liberty of revising the GPS route to go directly to it. At the end of [9] you can take the path on the right which the directions tell you to ignore. This climbs gently along the edge of Hatchford Wood for 150m and comes to the <B>Samuelson Mausoleum</B>. The woodland path then heads north for 400m to reach the <B>Semaphore Tower</B>. A long straight path through the heath (with a blue logo "To Car Park") leads directly to the Ockham Bites café, a convenient refreshment stop halfway through the walk.

The paths around the A3 footbridge are likely to be affected for some time by the construction work for the A3/M25 junction widening, but it's easy enough to spot the bridge and find your way onto it from the café.

The route across Wisley Common described in [20-21] doesn't quite seem to match the conditions on the ground, but in effect you are simply following a broad path which curves round to head north-west. Towards the end the path becomes enters woodland and becomes less distinct, but by then you are walking parallel to Wisley Lane 100m off to the left and will be able to see Wren's Nest car park, which you cut through to reach the road.

In [25] the public footpath has been diverted to use the golf club bridge over the River Wey, so the warnings in the text about a possible detour are no longer relevant.

Really enjoyed this walk, despite being in Surrey it’s surprisingly peaceful for much of the route. and as of April 2022 loads of bluebells int the woods near the start.

A few updates:

Paragraph 5: “In 15 metres leave the road and go past wooden railings leading to the corner of a large field.” - we couldn’t find a way into this field, it might have been closed off. We followed the road (Old Lane) instead, mostly walking on the verge.

Paragraph 7: The “low stile” is now a metal kissing gate. This confused me for a bit as it looks like you’re walking across someone’s lawn but then I spotted the (very discrete) footpath sign on the gate.

Paragraph 25: The gold club bridge now has a footpath sign pointing to it so is now presumably the official route over the river. There’s still a sign by the mill about the path diversion but you can ignore this.

The River Wey towpath has re-opened (though a sign at one end showing it as closed still exists), quite possibly today as I could see at least two fallen trees having been removed. I am pleased to see how quickly the National Trust have resolved this.

As to the bridge, it seems a complete farce. The short answer is use the white metal golf club bridge and you will have no problem, it's even officially allowed, at least until December 2020.

The long answer is that the original bridge was washed away a good few years ago (2014) and has never been replaced. The path is still officially "temporarily" closed, with the temporary closure now extended to August 2021 (see https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/land-planning-and-development/countryside/footpaths-byways-and-bridleways/rights-of-way-public-notices/public-footpaths-82-woking-and-5-ockham-temporary-closure). The path suggested as a diversion on the map on the above link (and it's a long diversion) is however now also temporarily closed, as of June 2020, see https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/land-planning-and-development/countryside/footpaths-byways-and-bridleways/rights-of-way-public-notices/footpath-34-ripley-and-footpath-123-woking. However this notice contains the text "An alternative route has been negotiated utilising a bridge over the Wey on Wisley Golf Course with their permission. Maps showing the diversion will be posted on site. "

You can probably guess which bridge this is referring too - the one most people have been using for some time and ignoring the long diversion. Which means of course the long diversion of the first path isn't really needed because they have neogiated to use the bridge on the golf course as a diversion for the other path that is closed!

Hello Mike I’ve just done this walk and can highly recommend the Black Swan as the recommended lunch stop. Great gastro pub with large garden. After lunch we got hopelessly lost at Point 10 onwards as the Ockham to Wisley section needs careful compass bearings to approach the A3 footbridge. I picked up the trail after Wisley Gardens because I used to

live opposite at the hamlet of Elm corner but I lost the plot at the Semaphore Tower option.

Later on you need to distinguish the route from the River Wey and golf course to the Wey navigation towpath. Thereafter it should have been straightforward except that the recent thunderstorms have brought down 4 massive trees across the Wey navigation one smashing into a canal boat, so the towpath is closed until at least next Monday when work begins to cut a ‘Wey’ through!

Lovely walk which we really enjoyed but it took forever to sort out without any compass bearings or GPS. Marion.Watkinson @gmail.com

The situation regarding the missing footbridge over the River Wey in para 25 is curious. All trace of the damaged bridge has been removed and Surrey County Council shows no intention of replacing it, on cost grounds. The official notice on the ground (Aug 2019) says that the "Temporary Closure" in place since 2014 has been extended yet again to August 2020, but in all likelihood it will be extended indefinitely.

Another official notice (Dec 2016) mentions that no agreement has been reached with Wisley Golf Club about walkers using its private bridge nearby to get across the river. But as reported in Jan 2018, someone has laid out a roped-off wood-chip path between the public footpath and the private bridge on both sides and there seems to be no objection from the golf club about walkers using this. It seems clear enough that walkers can use this bridge to complete the walk as written without the need for any major diversion (but thanks to those walkers who suggested alternative routes). [Sean]

A really nice little walk. Thank you.

BEWARE - since the 29th of January 2018, the bridge in the Golf Club is closed. No repair will be made (no funds).

There is a diversion proposed by the Council. Here is one that is shorter and easy. It adds about 1.5 km to the whole hike.

Just before Ockham Mill (about 50 m before), turn left on a public footpath. Just follow this path until you come to a large grassy area on your right. A few meters in, you find a grassy path on your right going straight to the other side, towards Dunsborough Park lane. Keep straight on.

When reaching the lock (Walsham Gates), cross it but keep on the path with the canal on your left, and the river on your right. When reaching The Anchor, follow the path on its left, with the river-canal on your left. You will rejoin the main path after Manor Farm / Boat House.

This makes a good winter walk - the heaths not too muddy, the canal path towards the end firm. The earlier lunch pub seems to be a good enough choice, judging from walker feedback. The Semaphore Tower is interesting and worth visiting.

The missing footbridge over the river shows no sign of ever being reconstructed, but the golf course bridge 20 metres to its right is a viable alternative. This is NOT a right of way and no inducement to trespass is intended, but a wood chip path now runs from the missing bridge to the golf club one, suggesting that other walkers have been this way. Otherwise a diversion by road is signposted on the fate about 500 metres before the bridge.

I have raised a complaint with Surrey County Council over their lack of action in repairing this footbridge. I quote in full below and I have raised it to the next stage (yet to receive a reply). If you can't be bothered to read it, they basically say that it is going to be expensive to fix and difficult to get equipment to and they still have no idea when or how it will be repaired.

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.

The temporary footpath closure order made by Surrey County Council (not Woking Council) in February 2014 has been extended to August 2016.

There is an official diversion,which would add 15 minutes or so to the before lunch section, or you can divert along a road before reaching the closed footbridge by using the folowing directions:

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.

Thanks for the mention of my updating of the Countryway. I didn't abandon the project and certainly didn't lose interest, it was just an issue of finding the time. My online description of the Countryway is now complete and even includes a couple of alternative routes plus a restoration of the original route via Epping, now that the M25 has been around for a while. See the index page at desdemoor dot blogspot dot com on the menu bar underneath the heading. I've now moved on to the London Loop!