Farbro one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

Walked Brookwood to Farnborough. A warm sunny day.

This is a gentle straightforward walk, mostly along the canal towpath, with some residential streets at Frimley Green and Farnborough.
I came close to docking a star at the end, the last kilometre from Farnborough North station was a bit ‘uphill roady’ and I was feeling tired, but it seems mean to knock back what is really a very good route for such a slight misdemeanour.

While the canal towpath is quiet, as in little used, there were continual adjacent sound effects from the army ranges at Deep Cut. The deep cutting and dense woodland reflected in the canal create a green magic, which I found quite entrancing, and a welcome bench allowed sunny contemplation of dragonflies and early autumn leaf drop.

At Frimley Green the route leaves the towpath and becomes more urban. I took refreshments in the Harvester, and then completed the journey to Farnborough Main station, passing Farnborough North.

The plotting is reasonably accurate, but it is not 100% clear which side of the canal to walk. The towpath mostly runs to the South of the canal - except at the Brookwood end it is to the North; the crossover comes at the Bisley Camp Road bridge (see photo of map with my walk-line in purple).

Also, at Frimley Green the route is drawn to walk around the green on the roads, but there is a good direct footpath across the green which makes more sense and is nicer. (See photo of map with my walk-line across the green.).

Farnborough to Brookwood:
This is one of the most enjoyable routes in that area. Exit from Farnborough is along quiet streets. The only tricky spots are when railway lines need crossing esp. if visibility is poor. Once the route passes Frimley Green it joins Basingstoke canal towpath. There are high slopes on one or both sides most of the way which dampens noise from the surrounding area. Even though I walked along this canal after a spell of rainy days there was always a way round puddles. The gradient is also fairly small as you would expect from a towpath. I attach a photo warning about a potential closure of the route and a another one showing a quiet stretch of the route.

Nice easy route. After walking along the footpath alongside the roads from Farnborough, the route crosses the A331 and passes the fishing lakes and through a quiet residential area to Frimley Green. From here the route was straight down the canal to Brookwood. Unfortunately after wet weather the canal towpath can bet quite muddy so take some waterproof footwear.

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