Trail Run: Godalming to Thursley Common

1. Godalming to Milton Wood (1.7 km)
Exit the railway station, turn left and take the stairs down to the lower car park. Turn left onto Westbrook Rd, then right in to Vicarage Walk after 50 m. Emerging onto Borough Rd, turn left and follow the lower footpath over the wooden bridge and through Guardian House car park. Continue under the railway bridge. As the road curves, turn left onto the footpath (marked by a metal fingerpost) just before the small bridge over the river. Continue on, passing the Westbrook Mill development on your left to join the asphalt path on the river bank. After 500 m the path forks. Bear left, following the footpath directly alongside the river. Follow this for 500 m as the river bends in an ’S’ shape and you come to an old WW2 pillbox. Carry straight on up the rough track by the end house. Turn left at the top and take the public footpath through Milton Wood.

2. Milton Wood to Lower Eashing (2 km)
Follow the narrow footpath through Milton Wood as it winds, dips and rises. This track can be muddy and there are boardwalks in some spots that can become slippery. Continue for 400 m until you pass through a wooden gate onto a small lane. Turn left at the sandy crossroad of paths at Hurtmore Bottom and follow the track round, bearing left as it bends sharply and rises through the trees. After 200 m, the track broadens, with meadows to the left and woods to the right. Continue directly on the bridleway for 1 km, passing through a five barred gate (by another WW2 pillbox) and Greenways Riding School on your left, until you reach the road at Lower Eashing.

3. Lower Eashing to A283 Guildford Road (1.45 km)
Turn Left on Lower Eashing and follow the lane for 250 m, crossing the 13th century bridge over the River Wey. Continue past the Abbey Mill buildings and The Stag PH for 200 m. Just as the road starts to kick uphill look out for the marked path and stile on the right just past a large half-timbered cottage. Take this path as it zigzags up a steep grassy bank and enters a large crop field. Follow the central track across the field for 400 m and exit onto Eashing Ln through a small metal gate. Turn right and after just 60 m, take the small unmarked track on the right into the trees. Continue as the path skirts the perimeter of a field with a hedgerow to your right. The track bears left at the corner of the field, passing through a tunnel of scrubby trees. In 150 m you will emerge onto the grass verge of the A283.

4. A283 Guildford Road to Lower Moushill Lane (1 km)
Cross over the A283 and rejoin the footpath directly opposite through the trees. This skirts housing to your left. After 450 m, the path pivots 90° left to join Old Elstead Ln. Continue straight and turn right into Amberley Ln after 150 m. Continue on Amberley Ln as it narrows and turns into a rough track until you join Lower Moushill Ln after 400m.

5. Lower Moushill Lane to Borough Farm Road (2.15 km)
Turn right onto Lower Moushill Ln and continue for 400 m, crossing over the A3 on the road bridge and passing houses either side. Stay on the lane as it begins to kick slightly uphill, ignoring the fingerpost and woodland path which forks off to the right. After 250 m, the lane becomes a rough track, passing a row of period cottages. Stay on this main track as it skirts the edge of Rodborough Common, curving gently through mixed woodland and heather. In 1.5 km you will emerge onto Borough Farm Rd.

6. Borough Farm Road to Thursley Common (2 km)
Turn left then immediately right to rejoin the track through the trees, passing the house and gates of Little Borough on your right hand side. Follow the unmade lane through pine trees and pale fencing for 600 m, as it gradually descends and bears left by a large oak tree, then crosses a brook and ascends gradually to arrive at an intersection of tracks among pine and oak trees. Turn left on the main track marked with a waypost and blue arrow and continue on this bumpy, winding track to skirt Forked Pond on your left. Continue on the track, passing a cluster of cottages. After a further 500 m bear right to emerge onto Thursley Common, among heather and sparse birch trees.

7. Thursley Common: 1 (1.85 km)
Turn right and take the broad, sandy track with open common to your left and patches of woodland on your right. This begins to descend gradually to join another track after 600m, marked with a waypoint post. Continue straight for 500 m. The landscape opens out, with stands of Scots pine, rolling heather and small hills surrounding. You will skirt a small field to your left through a clump of oak trees. Turn right onto the sandy track as you exit the trees and carry straight over the crossroad of tracks in 30 m, headed towards a small stand of pines. Follow this track as it curves left and after 40 m, take the right hand turn onto a short section of boardwalk. This joins a vehicle track through the heather. The common is very open here, with very few trees. Follow the track for 400 m as it curves past some birch hurdles, then take a hard left turn onto the Dragonfly Trail opposite the dragonfly sculpture.

8. Thursley Common: 2 (0.7 km)
The next 250 m are on a winding boardwalk over ponds and wetland. In summer, these are teeming with with many species of dragonfly and can be busy with families and bird spotters. As you exit the boardwalk, cross directly over the broad, sandy track and into a copse of pine trees. After 80 m, take a right hand turn in the trees to join the path that skirts The Moat pond on your left. After 200 m you will cross a small wooden bridge. Turn right onto a wider track and in 40 m you will join a wide sandy bridleway at a crossroads. Ignore the signposted boardwalk directly opposite and turn left onto the bridleway. in 130 m, turn right at the junction of tracks.

9. Thursley Common: 3 (1.75 km)
Follow this bridleway, with the wetland area of Pudmore Pond to your right and Elstead Common on your left, dotted with occasional pines and small flashes of water. In 500 m, the bridleway broadens out, with deep sand underfoot and a chain of small flashes to your left. Continue straight ahead into a large stand of tall pines. After 300 m, turn right where the bridleway joins a forestry road at a t-junction. After 200 m bear right onto a narrow, signposted path into a grassy common dotted with oak and birch trees. After a further 200 m bear right at a t-junction of tracks and after another 200 m you will emerge at a crossroad of paths, marked with a wooden post. Turn left here and after just 60 m, turn right into a narrower track, marked with a waypost and blue arrow.

10. Thursley Common: 4 (0.9 km)
Follow this narrow track through the trees for 150 m, bearing right as directed by another waypost and blue arrow. After 100 m, turn left on a small path into the trees, marked by a large ‘MOD Training Area’ sign. Don’t worry – this is a permissive right of way and perfectly legit! Bear slightly left where the track forks after 70 m and continue on the winding track through bracken and trees. After 150 m take the left hand turn at the t-junction of tracks marked by a signpost and blue arrow. The path narrows further here and is very flat. Follow this track for 400 m, passing through a silted stream before taking a right hand turn onto a footpath marked with a waypost and yellow arrow.

11. Bagmoor Common to Bagmoor Cottage (1.2 km)
This track emerges from the trees into more open common, becoming grassy and dotted with numerous oak trees, before merging with a vehicle access track. This directly follows a row of small pylons and overhead electricity cables. After 180 m, take a right hand turn, marked with a fingerpost, onto a winding track through the woods of Bagmoor Common. After 300 m, turn left at the t-junction of tracks marked with a post and yellow arrow. Continue directly on the broad track through the birch trees. This area can be waterlogged in all but the driest of periods, so expect mud and surface water. In 500 m you will arrive at a grassy t-junction of tracks, with Bagmoor Cottage directly ahead.

12. Bagmoor Cottage to Lower Moushill Lane (0.75 km)
Turn right at Bagmoor Cottage onto the bridleway through a small stand of trees to cross over the brook. The terrain becomes more open and grassy here and you will head through a copse of pine trees, following an obvious track which winds its way back to Lower Moushill Ln, through woodland with fields visible either side.

13. Lower Moushill Lane back to start (6.5 km)
From Lower Moushill Ln, you will retrace your route back to Godalming (Steps 1 to 5 in reverse) by crossing the A3 and A283, cutting back through Lower Eashing, Hurtmore Bottom, Milton Wood and the River Way footpath back to the start point.