Description
This route bypasses the Ash Ranges to the South, going along the canal. If the ranges are open, you can go straight across them and have a route that feels like open moorland.
This route follows the canal to Ash (you can hug the ranges by crossing the canal at Ash Vale), then makes its way through a residential area to pick up an old railway line that used to connect Guildford to Farnham. The path follows the railway line (adding a few hundred metres just for the novelty) before doglegging to Ash Green Lane. You could follow the B3411 from Ash toward Ash station instead, and then use the A323 to go east past a pub if you prefer, then head south, passing west of East Wyke farm to pick up the path.
The route follows the Christmas Pie trail and heads into Wood Street village, on the outskirts of Guildford. There are a couple of nice pubs here.
Finally, the route makes a beeline into Guildford, going through Park Barn for a few hundred metres and passing by the Cathedral which gives good views over the town. If you'd rather avoid Park Barn (an area which doesn't have the best local rep, mostly undeservedly), continue east from Wood Street village and head for Woodbridge Hill (lots of traffic there).
If you're tiring, you can follow the road south of the cathedral, and enter Guildford Station from a door on the west side of the track
This route bypasses the Ash Ranges to the South, going along the canal. If the ranges are open, you can go straight across them and have a route that feels like open moorland.
This route follows the canal to Ash (you can hug the ranges by crossing the canal at Ash Vale), then makes its way through a residential area to pick up an old railway line that used to connect Guildford to Farnham. The path follows the railway line (adding a few hundred metres just for the novelty) before doglegging to Ash Green Lane. You could follow the B3411 from Ash toward Ash station instead, and then use the A323 to go east past a pub if you prefer, then head south, passing west of East Wyke farm to pick up the path.
The route follows the Christmas Pie trail and heads into Wood Street village, on the outskirts of Guildford. There are a couple of nice pubs here.
Finally, the route makes a beeline into Guildford, going through Park Barn for a few hundred metres and passing by the Cathedral which gives good views over the town. If you'd rather avoid Park Barn (an area which doesn't have the best local rep, mostly undeservedly), continue east from Wood Street village and head for Woodbridge Hill (lots of traffic there).
If you're tiring, you can follow the road south of the cathedral, and enter Guildford Station from a door on the west side of the track
Status
This route has been reviewed by 3 people.
There are no issues flagged.
Photos for Ashgui four
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Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 3
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (3)
There are currently no problems reported with this route.
Downloads - 5
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Ash Vale
Grid Ref
SU8926853324
Lat / Lon
51.27208° / -0.72171°
Easting / Northing
489,268E / 153,324N
What3Words
proven.grows.faded
Guildford
Grid Ref
SU9921949568
Lat / Lon
51.23667° / -0.58014°
Easting / Northing
499,219E / 149,568N
What3Words
shall.swift.calculating
| Ash Vale | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | SU8926853324 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.27208° / -0.72171° |
| Easting / Northing | 489,268E / 153,324N |
| What3Words | proven.grows.faded |
| Guildford | |
|---|---|
| Grid Ref | SU9921949568 |
| Lat / Lon | 51.23667° / -0.58014° |
| Easting / Northing | 499,219E / 149,568N |
| What3Words | shall.swift.calculating |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Petr Sadilek
16 Nov 2024Guildford to Ash Vale
Both ends of this route have long sections in an urban environment but they are both quiet and mostly enjoyable. The route was fairly easy to follow even though I missed a turn a couple of times.
Starting from Guildford station there were construction works going on which meant walking on the road (see photo 1). The route turns uphill towards Guildford cathedral soon (see photo 2). Footpaths in Guildford are rather wide, dual use with cyclists and well marked.
When the route leave the city onto a meadow after some 4km, there is a bench in the middle (see photo 3). Further on, when I reached Wood Street village, there was a pub - The Royal Oak - right opposite a wooden CoE church (see photo 4).
As the slowway continues through woods and under a railway bridge, it emerges at the edge of a field. When I was walking there the path across the field was not visible on the ground so I walked along the edge of the woods and towards the Homestead Farm (see photo 5).
Once the route joins West Flexford Lane, the next section is more or less along a straight wide paved or unpaved road with a bench roughly in the middle between Guildford and Ash Vale (see photo 6). There was hardly any traffic on this long middle section.
The route turns toward woods again right before a cottage that I took a photo of (see photo 8). It's easy to miss this turn.
After a 1km walking through the woods, the route joins a disused railway path as you can see on photo 9.
When the route enters Ash, it crosses Ash Church Road and the next section leads via a church precinct (see photo 10) and a well maintained cemetery behind it.
The last couple of kilometers before Ash Vale station leads along the Basingstoke canal which was rather pleasing to behold in the autumn season (see photo 11).
Even though it hadn't been wet a couple of days before my walk, there were muddy spots in some of the woods and footpaths could at times be narrow, leading through a thicket of brambles on both side so arms and legs protection was appreciated.
Danravenellison
10 Jun 2024I enjoyed walking this route with Dan in April. Some really beautiful countryside.
I really enjoyed the route, especially along the canal. As Dan says it had been raining a lot and I was pleased to be wearing waterproof walking boots... but it may well be a much drier route at other times in the year.
I think someone local might be able to design something a bit better, I'd 100% like to walk the route again!.
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Dan Barron
04 Apr 2024We walked this from Guildford to Ash Vale. The central parts of the route were really muddy but we have had huge amounts of rain in the last month.
It was easy to navigate although we did have to go through one field of crops where the farmer had not reinstated the correct path (just after crossing under the railway between Backside Common and West Flexford Lane), it would have been easier to walk the perimeter of the field instead.
Train stations at each end make this an easy route to get to and from and the final stretch just before Ash Vale provided an absolutely beautiful stretch up the canal which I really enjoyed.
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