Greensand Way 2 : Witley to Ewhurst Walk

This is the second stage of the Greensand Way (GW). Its a lovely walk through the rural southern reaches of the Surrey Hills which passes through several small villages with country pubs. After lunch, the walk ascends, then follows a forested ridge.

Transport is a problem on this walk. This walk ends near Ewhurst (its much too far to Dorking - the next train station on the GW), where there are these options:

• on the GW route, there is a rare bus (weekdays only) to Gomshall (and Guildford), which stops by the Duke of Kent school, on a minor road north of Ewhurst
• a 2km/1.5 mile extension (14 miles total) due south to Ewhurst village, which has more buses (hourly), but no (open) pub to wait in.
• a 5.4km/3.4 mile extention (16 miles total) due north to Gomshall Station (pubs nearby), making a very long walk, but it only has a 2-hourly train service.
• cut the walk short, and finish in Shamley Green (the lunch pub village) after 8 miles, which has regular buses (4 per hour) to Guildford. This misses out part of afternoon ridge - the best part of the walk however.

Consider doing the walk in reverse, take the train to Guildford, timed to catch the bus to the Duke of Kent School or Ewhurst Village, and then walk to Witley. Witley has hourly trains (but no station pub).

See 'Ewhurst' below for current bus details.

Currently, Witley to Ewhurst Village, a longer walk to Gomshall, or, the walk in reverse, Greensand Way (Duke of Kent School) to Witley are the most practical options

Witley to Ewhurst

Out: Take the train from Waterloo Station to Witley. Buy a day return to Witley.

Finish on the GW: On the minor road north of Ewhurst, take bus #25 to Gomshall or Guildford (2 hourly Mon-Fri only, check times!). From Gomshall Station, take a train to Guildford (every 2 hours) - you will have to buy a single ticket to Guildford for this journey

Finish in Ewhurst Village: Take bus #25 as above, or more frequent bus #53 (hourly, daily) to Cranleigh and Guildford, then take the train

Finish in Gomshall : Easy, take the train (2 hourly, you'll need a single to Guildford), or the rare bus.

Suggested train : nearest to 9.30am

Ewhurst to Witley

Out: Take the train from Waterloo Station to Guildford. Buy a day return to Witley (further up the line from Guildford). Then walk to Friary bus station (takes 10 mins) and take bus #25 (2 hourly, Mon-Fri) to the Duke of Kent School (between Peaslake and Ewhurst). About 1hr 40 mins in total.

Return: From Witley, take the train back to London (1/hour, about 1 hour)

Suggested train: whichever connects with the bus

Hascombe (6.5km from the start)

• The White Horse, Hascombe. 01483 208 258. Restaurant / gastropub.

Shamley Green (13.5km from the start)

• Bricklayers Arms, Shamley Green. 01483 898377. Good Reviews. Mains £10-17
• The Red Lion, Shamley Green. 01483 892202. Good Reviews. Baguettes, mains £10-17. On the village green.

Ewhurst Option

• The Windmill in Pitch Hill, about 2km from Ewhurst. No website. Phone to check if open: 01483-548389
• The Bull's Head in Ewhurst is closed mid-afternoon.

Gomshall Option

• Hurtwood Inn, in Peaslake, about 3km before Gomshall, upmarket.
• Gomshall Mill, under new ownership [2019] is the closest pub to the station
• The very popular Lavender Goose cafe/tearoom, even closer to the station, will probably be closed by the time you arrive.

• 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

Apr-19 Andrew