Walk the (Railway)line

It was time for something big ... Keswick to Barrow is less than two months away and I really needed to get some long walks under my belt. You may think well that's a good idea, and it generally is but being a couple of weeks outside of Easter things have been pretty mental work wise and I could have done with having a quiet weekend. Ah well where is the fun in that! Ray the builder had recommended a walk from Christ's Hospital, Horsham along a disused railway to Guildford so I thought why not have a crack at that. It would be the longest walk I had ever done and I wanted to get a couple of long ones in before the MEGA one.
Friday was looking pretty decent weather wise not too cold and light cloud. By the time I started it was bright blue skies and gorgeous! So I started by Christ's Hospital and (eventually) found a path that led through to the Downs Link path. This section of the Downs Link path used to be a railway line that ran from Cranleigh through to Horsham. It was pretty hard to miss the path and at some points it was a bit demoralising as you would look straight as far as you could see along the horizon and the path just stretch on. Nevertheless, the scenery was beautiful and really quite interesting to look at. There were lots of information boards explaining what it used to be like, disused stations and an interesting double bridge. The railway would have been too steep at one point so the authority insisted on bridging the gap higher up the bank to solve the issue. I found out that there are over 2,300 miles of disused railway in the country mostly closed in the 60's. Interesting stuff. Anyway back to the walk. I even walked in two counties yesterday! I started in Sussex and crossed the border into Surrey just past Rudgwick. I must admit after Baynard's Station which was quite pretty it was pretty dull through to Cranleigh. 9.5 Miles at Cranleigh and I stopped for lunch! After lunch it was back on the Downs Link through to Peasmarsh. Again it was pretty boring and there wasn't much to look at until I got to Bramley. Things opened out and I followed the Wey into Guildford. Walking right next to the Wey (and nearly falling in) was lovely as the light started to drop. Overall it was a fantastic walk ... some points were pretty dull but others were amazing. I would highly recommend walking just from Horsham to Cranleigh! As I said that in itself is 9.5 miles!
In all it was 18.5 miles, I'm a bit upset it didn't quite knock over the 20 mile mark but hey! It's nearly half of what I will be doing on the Keswick to Barrow ... 42 miles ... my word ... ha ha!

Remember I am doing this all for charity: The Rainbow Trust is an amazing charity and would love your help in supporting terminally and seriously ill children and their families. Please, please give what you can! This was Jim's wish and it is my honour to do this in his memory! Follow the link to donate: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/500mileschallenge

Walk total: 18.5 Miles
Total distance: 81.8

The Sussex/Surrey Border

Baynards Station

Lovely afternoon on the Wey

That ... is a long way ...