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July 21, 2025 – Two weeks from tomorrow – Tuesday, August 5 – I’ll fly back to London. At the end of the week I’ll hook up with two hiking partners – my brother and his wife – and from there take the train to Winchester and start hiking the Pilgrims’ Way. (Also called the Canterbury Trail.) I did seven posts on the preliminary “recon” trip in May – listed in the Notes – but now it’s time to get serious. Time to see what kind of terrain we have to look forward to.

One article I found – Walking the Pilgrims Way – Explore Kent – spoke of the “ancient trail stretching some 150 miles across Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.” The first part described the path from Winchester to Surrey Hills. At the cathedral in Winchester the writer got a guided tour from a local, including the chance to pray at the shrine of St. Swithun. (The Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester, later patron saint of Winchester Cathedral, who died in 863.) 

But once he started hiking he found things a bit different. He met day hikers who were interested in his journey, but also “locals who honestly just thought I was mad for walking all that way.” Such negativity was offset by “some of Southern England’s finest landscapes.”

Some other highlights? The village of Chawton (once home to Jane Austen), the views of Farnham Castle from Farnham Park, the serenity overlooking the Hog’s Back between Seale [Surrey] and Puttenham (in Surrey), and “everything about sitting beside the church at St Martha’s [on the] Hill and the views over Dorking from the top of Box Hill.”

I’ll be checking those links on my tablet, hopefully each night before the next day’s hike.

The next section of Walking the Way – Kent, covered Sevenoaks to Canterbury. The writer reached the border with Kent on day 6, “transitioning from the Surrey Downs to the Kent Downs.” The scenery continued amazing. “The views from the top of Star Hill (near Chevening) and Shore Hill (near Kemsing) across never-ending rolling green hills were just breathtaking. Then, only a little further along the trail were the magical woodlands of Trosley Country Park where I would stumble across hundreds upon thousands of glistening bluebells.”

Then the outskirts of Maidstone. “There is so much packed into this beautiful 35 mile stretch of trail; amazing viewpoints up at Blue Bell Hill and White Horse Wood Country Park and beautiful woodland trails in the King’s Wood.” Then on to “some of the prettiest villages that Kent has to offer. Detling, Hollingbourne, Charing, Boughton Aluph, Wye and Chilham,” one right after the other. “The hardest decision I was having to make was where to stop for lunch!”

On his 10th and last day he hiked up “St Dunstans and through the Westgate Towers.”

The Westgate is a medieval gatehouse in Canterbury, Kent, England. This 60-foot (18 m) high western gate of the city wall is the largest surviving city gate in England. Built of Kentish ragstone around 1379, it is the last survivor of Canterbury’s seven medieval gates, still well-preserved and one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks. The road still passes between its drum towers.

For myself – and as noted in the “Fat Henry” post – on last May 14 an earlier travel companion and I did a day trip by train from London to Canterbury. (I wanted to check out some of what lay in store for me in August.) We stopped for lunch at The Old Weaver’ Restaurant, then walked the four minutes to the cathedral. That included going down Mercery Lane, “the same lane I’ll walk at the end of August, after hiking the estimated 133.8 miles or so from Winchester.”

Another note. Instead of covering the distance in 10 days, my brother, his wife and I will take 16 days, but that includes two days off from hiking. (All three of us are retired and in our 70s.)

Returning to what kind of terrain we’ll cover, I found some other posts. They divide the hike up in sections and one, St Swithun’s Way: Alton to Winchester – AllTrails, does the first part backwards. But it adds that it’s generally a moderately challenging route, taking an average of 8 hours and 16 minutes to finish. (Our route will be slightly different in that part, due to a quirk in finding suitable lodging.) And the link has over 500 photos, along with the comment, “This trail is [also] great for backpacking, hiking, and running, and it’s unlikely you’ll encounter many other people while exploring.” But hopefully some place to stop for lunch – and maybe a beer?

Next, Saint Swithun’s Way: Alton to Farnham – AllTrails. “Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 4 h 53 min to complete. This trail is great for backpacking, hiking, and walking, and it’s unlikely you’ll encounter many other people while exploring. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime.” The link has 198 photos.

Next, Farnham to Guildford Station. Section 1 : Farnham to Guildford – National Trails says:

“From breakfast at Farnham to tea at Guildford, enjoy this peaceful linear walk along the first section of the North Downs Way with rural views and chances for exploration. A relatively easy introduction to the National Trail with no major hills, it is a long route at 17.5km setting off from the hustle and bustle of Farnham and slips into the tranquillity of the Surrey countryside. Much of this section is flanked by stretches of arable land and livestock. Pass through Puttenham with pubs to choose from, or stop at Watts Gallery tearoom at Compton. You can take a minor detour up to the ruins of St Catherine’s Chapel for sweeping views, or press on to Guildford town centre to relax after your adventure. [I added the emphasis.]

But North Downs Way: Farnham to Guildford – AllTrails says “Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 5 h 9 min to complete. This is a very popular area for backpacking, hiking, and running, so you’ll likely encounter other people while exploring.”

Next North Downs Way – Section 2: Guildford to Dorking. “We started in Guildford, watching boat clubs zoom along the river Wey. Then we turned off onto the main route by crossing a pretty bridge.” That hiker did the route on a rainy day in January, so much of the trail was muddy with huge puddles. (Hopefully we won’t have that problem in August.) Then added, “As you walk through the woods you slowly climb higher and higher. Finally  you’ll reach the top by the church at the top of St Martha’s Hill. From there, you’ll be able to see down into the valley below. Well … at least you should be able to see the views if it is not too cloudy and rainy.”

Finding the path to Albury Downs, the hiker and his companion found “easily the busiest part of our walk. There were lots of other runners, kite-flyers and dog walkers.” There is apparently quite a view from Albury Downs, which led to crossing a busy road getting to Newlands Corner, followed by “easy going as it is quite level ground surrounded by woods.”

Which makes this a good place to stop. Writing this I found that a lot of place names – supposedly on the Canterbury Trail – were similar to or identical to other places in England but much farther away. Plus this post and the last one were both way longer than what I like to write. (And probably way longer than the attention span of today’s average reader.) So I’ll call a halt here and wait until Wednesday the 23d, when I’m supposed to get this book from Amazon.

Bottom line? All this is an experiment, trying to get a better handle on what kind of hike the one in August will end up. I’ll let you know in future posts how all that turns out, but as a fallback I could just turn to John Steinbeck, who once said, “You don’t take a trip, a trip takes you.” 

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The upper image is courtesy of Pilgrims’ Way – Wikipedia. Full caption: “In the Middle Ages the pilgrims’ route left the ancient trackway to climb St Martha’s Hill.” The hill is a landmark in “St Martha in Surrey, England between the town of Guildford and village of Chilworth.”

Links to past posts on the trip. Starting last March, Next up – Hiking the Canterbury Trail, then A mid-May “Recon,” “London, Liverpool and Stratford,” A return, to “London, Liverpool and Stratford,” From Stratford-on-Avon to Byng Street in London, From “Fat Henry” to Gipsy Moth pub, and From (a) Bath to “The Gun.”

For this post I also borrowed from Pilgrims’ Way Stages: Winchester to Canterbury | One Step Then Another. Also Along the Pilgrim’s Way From Winchester to Canterbury.

Re: Steinbeck on trips. The actual quote is “people don’t take trips. Trips take people.” John Steinbeck – Travel Quote of the Week – Authentic Traveling. As for using the quote repeatedly, you could cut and past “steinbeck trip takes you” in the search engine above right.

The lower image is from Julia Cartwright Pilgrim’s Way Winchester To Canterbury – Image Results.

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