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Woking to Lightwater

This route leaves noisy urban environment at Woking quite early. When you cross the wide Victory Lane, watch out for the Trinity Methodist church (photo 1) and turn right after it into a paved footpath. It will lead you through quiet residential streets, sometimes paved, sometimes on gravel.

Once you leave the town and enter a forest, the footpaths are wide, with no obstacles and easy to follow. When the route passes a couple of houses, it turns left into a narrow footpath just before an electrically operated wide gate - see photo 3. It then enters what looks like a garden center. When I was walking along this section last time the footpath close to the Heath-Hill farm was deep under water and electric fences were on both sides of the flooded footpath. This time, it was passable and my electric tester didn't identify any voltage on the electric fence - see photo 4. When this footpath emerges onto a road there is a sign saying No public access. I don't believe it applies to this route - see photo 5.

When the route passes through Chobham with plenty of opportunities to eat and drink and meadows behind it it joins Pennypot Lane - see photo 6. The next turn off Pennypot Lane is not intuitive. There is an option to take a public footpath but walkers following this slow way should take the wide paved street instead - see photo 7.

Once the route reaches Bagshot Road, there is not always a pavement next to the road but the road edge is wide enough for pedestrians - see photo 8. The exit from Bagshot Road is shown on photo 9.

Walking through West End is straightforward. Only the turn to a narrow footpath after a junction with Guildford Road is a bit concealed - see photo 10. The final section before Lightwater leads uphill through a forest and then down a heathland. The footpath down to Lightwater is not always easy to spot on the ground but it leads to the left of the truss tower with overhead lines - see photo 11.

It was an enjoyable walk overall given the fair weather and dry ground conditions. It may be more tricky in Winter. There are many kissing gates and very narrow paths on the way so not suitable for wheelers.

This route leads mostly through a flat area partly built-up with residential neighborhoods but often through woods and fields some of which were restricted by fences. There are no obvious reference points on the horizon so following the gps route is important. I started my outing at Lightwater and as it happened on a similar route out of Lightwater a couple of months ago I missed the entry to woods near the end of Guildford Road. Some engineering works may be hiding it at the moment. It is nevertherless easy to get back to the route from Gordon Boys roundabout further up.
The next bit is easy to follow. There are a couple of not-so-busy streets to cross. A path between Fairfield Lane and Bagshot Road seemed closed to public at first glance but there is a marked public footpath at both ends. The path along Guildford Road is not always paved but there is enough space for a safe walk along the edge of the road.
Finding one’s way through Chopham is easy, just remember that you need to turn left at the end of the Cricket Ground.
Things get tricky when you reach Heath-hill Farm. I was walking along this stretch of the route only a couple of days after rainy days and the bit between Heath-hill Farm and Deep Poole Lane leads through a narrow footpath which is borded by wired electric fences on both sides. At one spot, there was a long, knee-deep pool of water which I could not get round without risking electrocution. I had to retrace my steps and go back to Station Road and then turn to Deep Poole Lane again. The rest of the route went smoothly to the center of Woking.
I think this route would be acceptable after many hot days when the ground is dry enough and large pools of water disappear. Otherwise, a slightly modified route avoiding Heath-hill Farm could be an option.

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