Route 47 from volume 1 of the TimeOut Country Walks near London.

We start this walk earlyish, arriving at Ockley on the 9:30 train. The first half of the walk proves fairly intricate, threading our way through woodland paths and referring to the instructions every couple of minutes. One section requiring navigation based on a beech tree and a cypress tree is particularly confounding and requires a few goes before we get it right. Also the ground underfoot is notably boggy in places, so I dread to think what this walk is like in the early spring.

Despite all this circling, we’re still at the Scarlett Arms pub in Walliswood just before midday. If we were revisiting this and planning to stop there to eat, I’d probably aim for 1030 start, which would probably allow for a 1240 or so lunch, assuming no getting lost at the Cypress tree.

I did take some photos in the woods, but didn’t come out well, I think the ‘green’ sensor on my camera got overloaded!

The second half of is easier in terms of route finding, a mix of farm tracks and footpaths across fields for the most part. There are a few bits of road walking too, which is a little disappointing (especially as the traffic is pretty fast). We’d hoped to stop at the Sussex Oak in Warnham for a post walk pint, but the hourly train was beckoning, and it’s worth noting it’s a 15-20 minute walk from the pub to the station.

Both sections have excellent views, as the photos hopefully show, and for a ‘sleepy corner on the Surrey-Sussex border’ it borders on the idyllic in parts. We also see quite a bit of wildlife including a foal (shown in the photos), swallows, and some curious cows.

All in all, lots of greenery, fields and woods makes for an excellent escape from London. For June it’s still remarkably muddy in places, and we thought this one is probably best as a sunny day walk (which is thankfully what we had).

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