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| Lee-Stuart Evans on the Greensand Way at Waverley Abbey Ruins |
Prior to this blog I had run the entire North Downs Way ‘loop’ at the Kent end that takes in The White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral. This 2 day run was with both Claire and Dave (who I ran the whole Greensand Way with). My blog about that run is here
On Wednesday morning last week I hitched a lift with Dr G who works right next to Waverley Ruins in Farnham. I thought this would be a great ‘warm up’ at the Surrey end ready for ‘the main event’ at the Kent end.
Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian Abbey in England and founded in 1128 but for me made much more cool by being featured in the film 28 days later.
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| Waverley Abbey Ruins |
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| Waverley Abbey Ruins |
Having had a brief run round and posed for a picture in the refectory with my ‘no mates camera tripod on timer’ I set off down a nearby offroad track that is technically part of the Greensand Way. This is actually one of the link routes between the Greensand Way and The North Downs Way.
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| Mother Ludlums Cave |
Shortly into my run my first surprise was coming across Mother Ludlums Cave. Legend has it that a White Witch lived there. There are a number of different species of bat , but the inside of the cave has collapsed in various places during the drought of 1976 and the Victorians have added a large iron ornate gate to the entrance. The cave was formed naturally by a spring.
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| An 18th Century picture of Mother Ludlums cave |
As I ran towards the Moor Park College part of the path you could see signs of the World War 2 GHQ defensive line all around. There was an anderson shelter turned into a posh storage area and large concrete blocks designed to hinder tanks moving around nicknamed ‘dragons teeth’. I also saw two type 22 pill boxes buried in foliage in the woods.
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| Dragons Teeth in Farnham on the North Downs Way |
I then joined the North Downs Way by turning right and ran through a leafy suburb of Farnham and out into the open fields by the Golf Course at The Sands.
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| North Downs Way sign near The Sands |
Once out in the open I ran along a path through some massive open fields. Its the open field fields with the distance views and isolation that I often like the most when running. Farmers and people working on crops will often see walkers but I’m sure they don’t see people running these routes with huge blue rucksacks.
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| Open Fields near Seale Lodge on the North Downs Way |
Its common with the Greensand Way that you can experience bright open windy fields one minute and then be in dark shady woods the next minute. It was the same with the North Downs Way. I burst out of the woods once past Seale and saw the Hogs Back in the distance running parallel with it.
What surprised me for this stretch of the North Downs Way was I expected to be ‘up on the downs’ a lot and in fact I often found myself running at a distance to it. This may be to do with the North Downs Way following the Pilgrims Route in places.
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| View of the Hogs Back (A31) from the North Downs Way |
A few more miles through Totford Hatch and the great names of Long Bottom and Shoelands and I found an aged squirrel on one of the North Downs Way Signposts but he was so weather beaten I couldn’t tell if he was a toy or a carving in the post itself.
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| Little Squirrel on a North Downs Way Sign |
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| The Church at Puttenham on the North Downs Way |
I then left the countryside and onto the road that runs through Puttenham. It would have been Freddie Mercurys birthday that day so it was nice to run past Roger Taylors house. A quick dash across the main road and I was in Puttenham Heath and ran past the Golf Course.
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| Puttenham Golf Course from the North Downs Way |
I find that after an hour or two of running I settle into a steady rhythm and particularly if I’m on my own my mind starts to wander. I find I don’t even notice my legs anymore and its like I’m on a conveyor belt. That day was no exception and deep in thought I ran straight past the point at Loseley House where I was going to turn south towards Godalming.
I ran to Guildford by mistake.
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| View from East Warren looking towards the downs and Onslow Village in Guildford on the North Downs Way |
I picked up the Wey Canal Path at the chapel remains I blogged about in the past and did some mental calculations that my half planned half marathon was now going to be over 17 miles.
The Canal Path is straight and flat and it didn’t take long to get to Godalming.
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| Farncombe Boat House on the Wey Canal Path |
It was then a matter of running up through ladygarden in Catteshall and pop out by the Water Tower on Munstead Heath Road. Normally from here I use some paths that lead to Winkworth Arboretum via Thornecombe Street but I was over on mileage so i ran on the main road for a mile or so to get home from there.
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| The Water Tower at Munstead Heath Road in Godalming |
The run took me all morning and I got home about 12.30. I could feel my fitness levels were ready for the big weekend ahead, which was good because the run we did after this was much longer and much hillier than anything I’ve done before….I just didn’t know yet that my weekend was going to be the equivalent of running two of these runs per day ….for two days.
