Get Lost! Weds 6 May

Get off the road!! we are sometimes advised by kindly passing motorists.    Well, today I tried it, and it's not so bad.   I set out without a plan and modest expectations - quite common these days - and decided to head Claygate-wards, via Long Ditton and the tunnel under the Kingston Bypass.   Just as I arrived in the outskirts of Claygate I saw a not-very-obvious bridleway going in the wrong direction, so I tried it.  Quite by accident, I found the tunnel under the A3 which was infamous a few years ago for being flooded by a sewage leak (animal sewage, so slightly less yuk, perhaps).

Still a bit lost, I headed south to Witney Hill and then was forced back into Claygate briefly before finding Claygate Common, another place I'd never been.  It's tiny, it's wooded, and with lots of tracks it felt like an adventure.   I crossed the A3 again on our regular bridleway to the south of Claygate, nice and dry today, and on Dave Ferrett's recommendation, explored Princes Coverts, or at least a bit of them - they are massive. After nearly reaching the summit of Telegraph Hill, I could have  descended to Ashtead Common but instead I came out to the west, on the Oxshott-Leatherhead road.

Princes Coverts

I was getting near to the 'red zone' (more than 10 miles* from home) so I didn't dare to go further south in case I turned into a pumpkin.   Instead I headed for Stoke d'Abernon, with a little diversion to look at St Mary's Church, the oldest church in England, or so the sign says.   It's looking remarkably well for its age, but it's self-isolating, so I didn't go in.

St Mary's Church, Stoke d'Abernon

Look! No turrets!   Fairmile Park Road.

Gasping for air, I reached the rarefied heights of Fairmile Park Road and Lebanon Drive, where most mansions have turrets and big electric gates, and you're nobody unless you have at least three cars.  I knew that ultimately I would be dumped back onto the Oxshott-Esher road, not my favourite road, so I was elated to find a bridleway to the left into a wood, signposted Esher Common.   I took it. 

Esher Common

It was lovely.   Heading directly north through another big pine wood, a bit sandy under tyre at times, it took me over a nice footbridge over the A3, and continued north until I bumped into the Blackhills estate.  Well, the perimeter fence, well guarded with warnings of CCTV, guard dogs and in some places, barbed wire coils on top of the fence.  The fence runs a long way east-west:  I could have gone east and ended up back on the Oxshott-Esher road, but instead I went west, to arrive on the old Portsmouth Road.

Then I realised I could continue into West End Common, which is even nicer!  Just across the road is a small car park (blocked off to cars) with a bit of a maze of footpaths through magical oak woods behind.   It's somewhat hilly, and route-finding is a bit haphazard, but I like that sort of thing, and I kept arriving in enchanted glens in the forest, which looked lovely in the dappled sunlight.  I could have spent a lot longer exploring, but eventually I ended up in West End, by Garson's Farm.

West End Common

West End, Esher

Trees

All in all, a surprising lovely day out, and several places I need to re-visit.  Thank you, kind motorists!

* Just to clarify: 10 miles is the furthest I'm prepared to walk home (on a nice day) if I have a mechanical, which avoids me having to ask Liz to make a non-essential car journey.

Author: Simon L

6 Comments:

Dave Vine 06 May 2020 at 22:10 BST

Looks like a fun afternoon Simon.

mike morley 06 May 2020 at 22:55 BST

Sure It does Dave/ Simon. I am about to Ponder where I went today but I came across our group ride guidelines 31st March 2015 and although I appreciate now is not the ideal time to update, should we be looking ahead to do so?

Ged Lawrenson 06 May 2020 at 23:30 BST

Mike - look on the Information on the web site - Ride Guidelines updated & re-issued Sept. ‘19.

https://541357ee-a86d-46d7-af1f-a7dfac3469bf.filesusr.com/ugd/ae52c5_df2a62d7d008428cac368a74e5b9c62a.pdf

mike morley 07 May 2020 at 09:16 BST

Thank you Ged, excellent!

Simon L 07 May 2020 at 09:30 BST

Mike - of course the group ride guidelines at the moment are very simple - Don't! My ten mile limit is the distance I'm prepared to have to walk home without asking Liz to make a non-essential journey to come and get me. Usually I prefer to stay within five miles of home.

Geoff Gregory 07 May 2020 at 11:53 BST

Good morning, thank you for the ride and the photos. Yeaterday I downloaded the ride you took us on to Greenwich thought I would try it with a few diversions around the parks, got as far as the Wandle Trail and decided the paths were to narrow for the number of people around. Then the Garmin and I decided to part company, I choosing to use roads and it went off in a huff and that was it, made it to the bottom of Crystal Palace hill and so decided to make my way home, so after the climb it was all down hill.
Enough from me thank you once again for the write up
Geoff G.