Ambling in the time of Corona

This route was recorded on Thursday 23 April 2020 during my early morning dog walk.
Distance: 3.5 miles (5.7 km) — OS Route Map

I was getting bored with the same old walk around the village so I thought I would try something different. 

I set off from the village green towards Elstead Mill and, as I was crossing the bridge, I noticed a footpath sign pointing down along the river. I had never walked that way so I thought I would try it. I hadn’t walked far before I came across a diversion; the path used to follow the river but, due to an unstable bank, the path now went along the side of a field. It came out onto the road and I followed that up to Fullbrook Farm where I turned right. The path then took me across a field and through some woodland before it came out onto Lombard Street in Gatwick. There, I turned right and followed the road to turn right again at the first junction. There were lots of lovely bluebells in the woods.

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After a while, I found another footpath on the right which I took and this ended up just before Somerset Bridge. Across the bridge, I turned right and passed through the new residential area. There is a section of boardwalks there that takes you on a nice little loop next to the river, but I didn’t take it this time. Instead, I continued across open land where the path took me between some horse paddocks and beside some rather boggy ponds and came out at the bottom of Ham Lane opposite the recreation area. I then followed Ham Lane to the main road, which I crossed, and then took the Back Lane to return to the village green. 

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This was a lovely walk, and the paths were fairly dry but clearly liable to get very muddy after rain. It was easy to find my way as I always turned right.

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