The North Downs Way - A Walker's Guidebook

This walking guidebook to The North Downs Way in southern England takes in the high chalky country as it follows the route south of London from Dover in the east to Farnham in the west, with optional detours around Canterbury. At 130 miles (at the most) it is a straightforward trek through surprisingly remote countryside.

‘The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases… Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours’ march to dinner – and then to thinking!’

William Hazlitt (1778–1830)

I’m one with Hazlitt, when it comes to long distance walks. Except, perhaps, my preference would be for an eight or nine hour march to dinner, rather than just three. Spread the day thinly, I say; set out soon after breakfast with a cheese roll and an apple in the rucksack and dismiss from mind any thought of the next night’s rest – and simply wander. Let the trail ahead guide your feet, leaving each of the senses free to absorb whatever the countryside has in store.

Walking the North Downs Way provides ample scope for the liberty to think, feel, do just as you please. Mostly the trail is clear, waymarking adequate, the spacious Downs edging a far horizon as they make that long, generous arc round the low-lying Weald, so that there are few (if any) demands to check the map or compass, and you can free the mind to drift with the clouds. Others have done just that, for generations.

‘From the Straits of Dover to Farnham,’ said Hilaire Belloc, ‘Nature herself laid down the platform of a perfectly defined ridge, from which a man going west could hardly deviate, even if there were no path to guide him.’ And we, going east, could hardly disagree.

The North Downs have acted as a highway since before Neolithic times. Since the Wealden forest was too dense and tangled to allow easy access, the high and broad-backed downland gave an opportunity to hunt, to travel, or to drive livestock from one pasture to another, and (much later) from pasture to market. Drove roads gave way to green lanes, while some of the footpaths and trackways adopted by the North Downs Way in the 21st century may well have been stamped out long before the Romans came to these shores. Now there’s food for thought…

Today the line of the downland scarp is traced by motorways and a high speed railway, and nothing can better underscore the frenetic nature of modern living than to view in the distance the haste of wheeled traffic while you stroll across a rabbit-cropped meadow, birds singing from a nearby spinney, as you let the hours drift slowly by. Walking day after day for a hundred miles and more is the perfect antidote to the stresses of workaday life; it’s a means of getting life in perspective. And along the North Downs Way you can learn something of our ancestry, learn from the past and balance those lessons with the present.

The North Downs Way

The North Downs Way National Trail offers the walker a very different experience from that on the South Downs Way, for while the SDW challenges with some steepish ascents and descents, the NDW is much more gentle with fewer climbs, and where these are made, the gradients are generally much less demanding. There’s more habitation along the North Downs Way but, surprisingly in view of the proximity of major centres of commerce and industry, and large residential areas (especially between Farnham and Detling), you meet far fewer walkers. Even in mid-summer it’s perfectly possible to wander the trail for long periods in splendid isolation.

The North Downs are more heavily wooded than their counterpart on the south side of the Weald, but when the Way bursts out of the woods there’s often a surprise view to stop you in your tracks, the revelation of patterned field and meadow, or orchard, vineyard or hop garden spread below as if to underline the fact that the Downs form a backing in places to the ‘Garden of England’.

That garden is explored in detail on a spur to Canterbury, while the direct route to Dover excites with the famous White Cliffs plunging to the surf hundreds of feet below the footpath.

There are many historic sites along the Way. There are several Neolithic burial chambers, Roman roads, charming villages and tiny hamlets, England’s premier cathedral city and its busiest ferry port. There are bold stone castles and country cottages trim with thatch. There are streams and rivers, ponds and lakes that catch the sun and dazzle its light, that attract wildlife and a rich diversity of plantlife too – anyone interested in natural history will have a field day. And, of course, there are the contrasts of landscape that enrich each day’s walk and make a journey along the North Downs Way a truly memorable experience.

As the above quotation from Belloc suggests, the route could be tackled from Dover round to Farnham, but the journey described in this guide takes the opposite view, preferring instead to walk eastwards, as would the pilgrim. So for the sake of our modern-day pilgrim the National Trail, which was officially opened in September 1978, begins in Farnham and ends in Dover. At Boughton Lees near Wye the route forks; one stem heading north to Canterbury, while the main route continues through Wye and follows the escarpment to the outskirts of Folkestone, then on to Dover by way of a breezy path over Shakespeare Cliff. The direct route to Dover measures roughly 123 miles (198km), while the Canterbury loop is about 130 miles (208km) long, and for most of its course between Farnham and Canterbury, it either coincides with, or parallels, the older Pilgrims Way.

For the first 14 miles (22km) out of Farnham the route traverses a range of sandy hills to the south of the Downs, but after crossing the lovely viewpoint of St Martha’s Hill east of Guildford, it then strikes north to the chalk crest of Albury Downs at Newlands Corner. From then on the North Downs Way remains true to its name and largely traces the southern escarpment on a series of footpaths, tracks and brief stretches of quiet country lane as the North Downs spread east and south-east across Surrey and Kent before being abruptly cut by the English Channel.

In four places the downland wall has been breached by river valleys. In Surrey it is the River Mole below Box Hill which causes the first breach. In Kent it is the Darent at Otford, the Medway at Rochester and Great Stour near Wye that have broken through the lofty chalk barrier to create valleys whose characteristics are all very different from one another. The Mole’s is a comparatively narrow valley, a wooded slice with Dorking to the south and Leatherhead to the north. The Darent Gap north of Sevenoaks is a much more open swathe, the low-lying water-meadows beside the innocent stream teasing with prospects of gentle walks for other days. The most profound breach is that caused by Kent’s major river, the navigable Medway, tidal as far as Allington near Maidstone. Where the Medway has muscled its way through the Downs, the valley has been industrialised, although the trail of the North Downs Way barely has a glimpse of this before crossing high above the river on the M2 motorway bridge. Contrast this with the Great Stour whose valley breaks the downland wall between Wye and Canterbury, a rural backwater of splendid tranquillity and long views.

Between Farnham and Guildford the trail remains low, weaving across farmland interspersed with woods, coming now and then to a patch of heath from which the Hog’s Back is seen to the north. The Ordnance Survey map shows major highways scoring through the country nearby, yet walkers on the North Downs Way are largely ignorant of unseen (and mostly unheard) traffic on those roads. In springtime bluebells make a haze of blue on the woodland edge, in summer foxgloves stand sentry beside the trail, and in early September ripe bilberries tempt among the heathlands.

The River Wey interrupts the line of the walk on the outskirts of Guildford, shortly before the path joins that of the Pilgrims Way leading onto St Martha’s Hill, crowned by a flint-walled church at 573ft (175m) above sea-level. Though of modest altitude (on paper, that is) St Martha’s offers the first of many awe-inspiring views across the heavily wooded Weald, but it is here that the route deserts both the Pilgrims Way and the sand hills, turning north to cross a shallow valley then slanting up to Newlands Corner on Albury Downs and the walk’s first true chalk downland.

For some distance east of Newlands Corner the trail pushes through woodland, breaking out here and there to cropped grass and orchids, and surprise views south to Leith Hill and an extensive ridge of greensand beyond which lies the Weald. Then, having crossed Ranmore Common, the route skirts a large vineyard as it descends into the Mole Valley. Here the river is crossed on romantic stepping stones, followed by a sharp ascent of much-loved Box Hill. This signals the start of a roller-coaster section, dodging in and out of woodland interspersed with open panoramic highpoints, one of the best being between Colley Hill and Reigate Hill.

Between Reigate Hill and Ockley Hill a plague of motorways and railway lines threatens to disrupt the onward route, but the North Downs Way planners have successfully negotiated a way across with very little tarmac underfoot, and soon after leaving Merstham the crest of the Downs is regained once more, where the Pilgrims Way carries the journey over agricultural land for a while. Above Oxted the unmarked line of the Greenwich Meridian is crossed, and between here and Westerham Hill the trail exchanges Surrey for Kent. Where the county boundary is met, a special marker stone announces that you’ve walked 48 miles since Farnham, but have another 65 miles to walk to Canterbury, and 77 to Dover.

Briefly beyond Westerham Hill a hint is given of high-rise buildings on the outskirts of London – a reminder that the city is half a day’s walk away. But you quickly shun this by dodging back into woodland, and when the path re-emerges it is to see the Darent Gap looming. Before tackling this, graceful Chevening House, official country residence of the Foreign Secretary, is seen slumbering below at the foot of the Downs.

Across the Darent Valley at Otford another sharp climb returns the trail to the downland crest for a section that mostly keeps to the scarp edge – with all the visual delights that entails – before making a sudden descent to the Pilgrims Way which, since Otford, has been restricted to a narrow metalled lane. Where the North Downs Way joins it, however, this becomes a track, then footpath, leading to Wrotham. Trosley Country Park is next and, thanks to its great popularity, it is whilst walking through it that you’re likely to lose any sense of solitude – though this is short-lived.

Out of the Country Park a sunken track takes you down to the Pilgrims Way yet again, joining it just a short stroll away from one of the Neolithic burial sites that form part of what has become known as the Medway Culture. The Pilgrims Way is followed eastward for only a mile before returning up the scarp slope at Holly Hill, then plunging into an extensive woodland section above the Medway Valley.

Crossing the Medway on a motorway bridge in view of Rochester’s castle and cathedral is at once exhilarating and hideous! Exhilarating because you’re high above the river and with long prospects downstream with the Downs arcing blue into the distance; hideous on account of the heavy traffic thundering past, forcing you to muse on the madness of speed and its effect on the environment. Thank heaven that crossing is soon over!

Over Wouldham Common sanity is restored on an undemanding walk to Blue Bell Hill, then it’s down to Kits Coty House, the giant upright stones of another Neolithic burial chamber standing on a downland slope with far-reaching views across the Medway Valley.

East of Kits Coty a long stretch with few distant views delivers the North Downs Way to Detling Hill, beyond which a sudden return to open country shows the vast expanse of the eastern Weald spread below. The trail tucks round the outline of Thurnham Castle, slopes down to rejoin the Pilgrims Way at Hollingbourne, and follows that gentle route for many miles above Harrietsham and Lenham, only just missing Charing – a village well worth making a short diversion to visit. But from there until you reach Boughton Lees, you lose any meaningful association with the Downs – despite the fact that you’re actually on them. However, there are compensations, one of which is the crossing of Eastwell Park and an opportunity to look at the remains of St Mary’s Church on the north shore of Eastwell Lake.

With the North Downs Way dividing outside Boughton Lees the continuing eastward option enters Wye, a lovely small town noted for its agricultural college, then climbs onto the downland crest for one of the finest sections of the whole walk. This hugs the scarp edge for a while across Wye Downs and Broad Downs, then deserts it in order to pass through Stowting. But soon after, another glorious stretch is encountered which takes the walk above Postling (where Joseph Conrad once lived), descends to Etchinghill, then up again to wind round the steep upper scarp above the gruesome marshalling yards of the Channel Tunnel Terminal. Ignoring this blot on the landscape the trail makes a loop round ancient Castle Hill, site of a 12th century Ring and Bailey castle, before setting out on the final clifftop march that leads over Shakespeare Cliff and ends in Dover itself.

The northern spur option from Boughton Lees visits Chilham, one of Kent’s most attractive villages, then to Old Wives Lees, passing through acre after acre of orchard country on the way to Canterbury. The architectural glories here are enough to tempt a delay, but pushing on takes the walk to Patrixbourne (whose church demands a brief visit), then across Barham Downs to Womenswold in the back country, continuing then through pleasant but un-downlike agricultural landscapes to reach Shepherdswell. From here a final eight mile walk makes an exploration of gentle East Kent farmland that culminates with a remarkably easy entry into Dover, whose castle overlooks the town from a prominent site that has been fortified for nearly two thousand years.