services come from Waterloo, Dover's from Victoria or Charing Cross. A good many other country stations are located near enough to the North Downs Way to give reasonably easy access, and will be especially useful for anyone planning to tackle the route in day stages.
In Surrey these stations are at Guildford, Shalford, Chilworth, Gomshall, Dorking, Deepdene, Westhumble, Betchworth, Reigate, Merstham, and Oxted. In Kent they are at Otford, Kemsing, Borough Green, Halling, Cuxton, Eyhorne Street (Hollingbourne), Harrietsham, Lenham, Charing, Wye, Chilham, Chartham, Canterbury, Bekesbourne, and Shepherdswell.
Public transport information can be accessed by contacting Traveline at www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk or National Rail travel enquiries 08457 484950 www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Using this guide
For the purposes of this guide the route has been broken into 11 stages to cover the main walk from Farnham to Dover, with three additional stages for the northern spur via Canterbury. The shortest of these is just 7½ miles (12km), the longest 13¾ miles (22km), but since there's the possibility of finding accommodation at various intermediate points, it's not essential to stick to the itinerary set out here, and readers are advised to either shorten or lengthen most stages to suit their own needs.
Estimating timings
Although no indication of timing is given for any stage of the route, walkers should assume an average of 2–2½ miles per hour. When trying to estimate how long it will take to get from A to B, remember to make allowances for refreshment stops, photographic delays, and time taken to consult the map or guidebook, all of which are likely to add considerably to your total walking time. In hot, wet or windy conditions you will inevitably take longer, and if there are any ploughed fields to cross your pace will be much slower.
Accommodation and refreshments
The precise location of accommodation and refreshment facilities is not given, but a rough indication has been made to ease advanced planning. Where a bracketed distance, for example (+½ mile), is given in the panel at the beginning of the route description, this shows that accommodation or refreshments can be found half a mile off the NDW. A note in the text suggests the most direct route to take. (Should you intend to stop for refreshment in pubs or cafés along the way, please be considerate to the patrons and either remove your boots before entering, or cover them with plastic bags to avoid leaving a trail of mud behind you.)
Maps
Maps used in this guide are taken from the Ordnance Survey Landranger series at a scale of 1:50,000 (1¼ inches to 1 mile). While they show the route of each stage of the North Downs Way, walkers are recommended to consult the sheets from which they are taken to gain a wider appreciation of the surrounding countryside, and to locate overnight accommodation or important landmarks which may not appear on the limited map samples published here. Six separate Landranger maps cover the length of the NDW, but for greater detail the eight sheets of the Explorer series at 1:25,000 (2½ inches to 1 mile) may be preferred. Details of specific map sheets are listed at the heading to each stage of the walk described and are as follows:
Puttenham Camping Barn stands just a few paces from the NDW
Landranger: 178, 179, 186, 187, 188, 189
Explorer: 137, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150
The map booklet which accompanies this guidebook covers the whole route at 1:25,000 scale.
Also available are the two Harveys Waterproof Map sheets which cover the route at a scale of 1:40,000 (a little over 1½ inches to 1 mile): North Downs Way West (Farnham to the Medway), and North Downs Way East (Dover to the Medway).
Points of interest
Key points in the route that appear on the OS map extracts are highlighted in the text with bold type to help you follow the route on the map. Local points of historical, geological or other interest are described along the way. Where the route passes near a source of accommodation, refreshment or other facilities, this is usually highlighted in the margin.
Along the way
Whether this be your first or umpteenth long-distance walk, try not to be drawn into a race from start to finish, but allow plenty of time to contemplate the intricacies of the landscape, its life, its fragrance, its subtle hues, sounds and flavours. Walking through the countryside can be an education and an entertainment, an uplift of the spirits, a way of coming to terms with the essence of living. If you open your eyes, heart and mind to the splendours of the world around you, you'll grow richer by the mile. As an antidote to the single-minded attitude of getting from A to B as quickly as possible, this guide has been written with a more relaxed outlook in mind, and I've attempted to bring out the flavour of the walk by including a few anecdotal snippets from my own journeys along it.
Walking the footpaths of Surrey and Kent does not lend itself to epic adventures, but each time I step along the North Downs Way I experience the wonders of a countryside that has been tended, cared for and fought over for thousands of years. That countryside reveals the remarkable nature of the ordinary common scenes and pleasures that all may witness (and have witnessed over the centuries) by remaining alert when wandering the footpaths. It is my sincere hope that all who follow this route will absorb as much as possible of the landscape and the creatures that inhabit it, and gain a similar bounty of happiness to that which I have experienced along the way.
The NDW angles across Mill Hill above Cuxton (Stage 6)
But should you find the route has been altered in any significant way, and the descriptions in this guide no longer apply, I'd very much appreciate a note to this effect. As explained at the beginning of this guide, an email or letter sent in to Cicerone ([email protected] or 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY) will be gratefully received, and details checked in advance of any new printing or revised edition of this book.
The Countryside Code
And finally, as you journey along the North Downs Way, please treat the countryside with the care and respect it deserves and needs, and follow the Countryside Code:
be safe, plan ahead and follow any signs
leave gates and property as you find them
protect plants and animals and take your litter home
keep dogs under close control
consider other people.
The Countryside Code started life in the 1950s as the Country Code. It still adheres to the principles set out by Octavia Hill, a champion of the countryside and a co-founder of the National Trust, who wrote in the early years of the 20th century:
‘Let the grass growing for hay be respected, let the primrose roots be left in their loveliness in the hedges, the birds unmolested and the gates shut. If those who frequented country places would consider those who live there, they would better deserve, and more often retain, the rights and privileges they enjoy.’
STAGE 1
Farnham to Guildford
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