Dorrei two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I walked this on a grey, but increasingly lighter Saturday afternoon, with lots of rain in the last few days, from Dorking to Reigate.

From the start there is an incline up towards Deepdene Avenue, which is a little hard to cross. The steep ascend to Deepdene Terrace (photo #1) is slightly further North along the road, and the path up to it is very steep. It has great views though (photo #2), and as this was my second walk of the day, I stopped here for packed lunch. From there on the route follows some roads (Deepdene Wood), and then along quiet lanes it goes through a public footpath towards Park Farm (photo #3). This is all quite lovely, with some stiles. After crossing under the railway, the route continued along a wet and muddy path over grass. This type of surface continued all the way around Pondtail Farm and along a stream (photo #4) to end up at Coach Road, which had a welcome and dry non-muddy surface. The route then continues towards Brockham (photo #5) where it crosses the River Mole on a bridle path. This was currently not possible as the river was too high. Instead, I had to detour along Brockham Lane and Kiln Lane before finding the footpath that was muddy and a steep incline to join at Mill Hill Lane again. In most cases, this wouldn't be necessary, so it doesn't warrant a new route. There are also pubs at Brockham Green too. The route then continues along lovely fields, with great views of the chalky North Downs (photo #6), although some sections were flooded (photo #7). After going through a churchyard, the route continues along a footpath a little higher up from a "Road liable to flooding" (photo #8) before turning North on the quiet Sandy Lane. After rounding the corner, there is a steep set of steps that leads you back up to farmland. A slightly detoured around a very muddy field before crossing some fields and stiles to end up at the Park Pit lake, where the route then continued through Dungates Lane where loads of Golden Retrievers where watching my progress. A path then gets you towards the Reigate Heath golf club with a windmill (photo #10), before dropping you at the Skimmington Castle pub along a narrow lane. From the Skimmington there is a muddy path (photo #11), first along Littleton Lane towards Reigate Park with its lake, before continuing towards Reigate along the busyish Park Lane.

It's again a great route, which I think I would have marked 5* if it wasn't this muddy.

Pleasant walk mainly along the Greensand Way. Pubs in Brockham, Betchworth and Skimmington make for useful refreshment stops. Hilly at the Dorking end but easy walking after this. Watch the navigation where Sandy Lane meets Old Road near Wonham - need to go onto Old Road briefly otherwise it's easy to turn right up a private road by mistake. Walked this from Dorking to Reigate and then quick half hourly train service back to Dorking.

Overall, this route is a pleasant walk through Surrey countryside, with a challenging section at the Dorking end (west to east) up to Deepdene Terrace with the reward of a view over the Downs. The start and end points are easily reachable by public transport and are good town centres with plenty of facilities; there are also three intermediate points along the route where you can stop at a pub; there are also shops and public transport in Brockham and Betchworth. The route isn't accessible to wheels as it includes some steep woodland sections and many stiles.

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