The Concrete Hike!

The third walk!! Wohooo!! Feels like accomplishment. This time I planned the Tillingbourne trail, Shalford. The description on the website sounded incredible – it covered many landmarks (some historical), walk alongside the river Wey, had open landscapes. I was thrilled. A long-time friend who has recently moved to the UK decided to join me which I thought would be so much fun. We would get time to catch up after a long, long time.

I picked him up from Blackwater railway station around 1 pm and we were all set to go. He played beautiful songs that made us journey through our teenage days. We reached the starting point which was the Shalford Rail Station but we couldn’t find the entry to it. We went around in circles probably 3 times when I thought why do we need to get to the station – only to get to the exact start point? Well that’s not needed! Parking would probably be paid anyway. We know we are at the right place, then why not just find a free parking. We then parked on a street that had free parking.

We both had the website of the trail on our phones. We were supposed to start from the Shalford Cemetry but we couldn’t see it anywhere, so we looked for the next marker, Dangley Lane. We walked and walked on that lane; part of which was alongside the main road after which it turned into a residential area. We kept walking until we hit the Shalford Cemetery. There was a narrow public footpath with the Shalford Cemetery on the right. We were talking and savouring the only view we had – that of the cemetery. Soon after, the public footpath ended, and it brought us to a main road. Well, it was THE main road where we had started!!!! Duhh!!

Now we studied the map and description again with, umm little more attention, but in vain. We then spotted a road-sign across the road that said Public Footpath. We took it. Soon we found the first monument of the trail, the 18th century Shalford Mill located on the River Tillingbourne. It was closed so all we could do was click pictures of beautiful big red roses all around the gate of the mill. We crossed the small bridge and took the shady path (as instructed by on the website).

And I thought, Yessss!! The walk starts now. Just when the feeling of being in the woods was growing, we reached open meadows. The spectacular view of the meadows with horses left us spellbound. We clicked as many pictures as we could for the best light with horses in the background. I told him I would love to learn to ride a horse and he thought I was crazy (he has known me long enough to know how crazy I can think.

We crossed the meadows and reached a kissing gate beyond which we could see, a level down, a narrow residential street. We were again unsure of the path and the instructions did not say anything about it. All it said was to follow the East Shalford Lane and ignore the Tilehurst Road. Now, we couldn’t find either! Whilst standing at that gate, trying to make a guess about what do to next, an old lady with her dog came through the gate into the meadows. We asked her. She was a local but wasn’t sure about the names of the streets. However, she made an informed guess using the eliminating method. We thought to check it out.

Upon crossing the gate, we were one level down than the meadows at a narrow T-junction, with houses on one side and wall of the meadows on the other. So now we had 3 directions to go. After assessing our options, we followed the direction that the lady advised. After walking about 20 mins we hit another T-junction giving us 3 more options. We checked the route but yet couldn’t figure out where we were and where we should be heading until a few minutes later when I spotted the sign. Whoppppieee!! The sign said, ‘Tilehurst Road’. The one we had to ignore. We were on the right track indeed.

Happily, we continued. We reached another small bridge over the River Tillingbourne, known as the Lemon Bridge. We could once back relate to the instructions we were following. We again crossed paths with the lady who had guided us, on the Lemon Bridge and we all were delighted that my friend and I weren’t lost after all.

Just ahead of the Lemon Bridge, was the main road again. I thought this was the end of it. By now, my friend had taken the lead on navigating and interpreting instructions. On hitting the main road, right in front of us was another landmark, the white cottages. We turned right on the main road and followed the road. Few steps further down on that road, we reached a monument, The War Memorial, honouring the glorious dead of World War I & II from Shalford.

There were benches close to the memorial under a tree. The memorial is located at a junction, on the other side was of which was the Shalford Churchyard (another landmark on our trail). We sat on the bench and talked about various things – one of which I distinctly remember – different work cultures across the world. I thought this was the end of the eventful – rather landmark-full trail. This was the first time I had spotted every landmark – all thanks to Ankit.

I said, “ok! So that’s it, I guess!” indicating this was the end of the day for us. To which this guy says, “oh no no, there is still something left. There is supposed to be a Water Treatment Plant.” One more landmark, ugh! This trail was nothing as I had expected. But we continued. We reached the treatment plant in 5 minutes and found out it was closed (wasn’t even expected to be open that time of the day anyway).

Well now that is it. This must be the end. I didn’t come all this way to walk on concrete. I was tired of getting bored, not from the company but from the non-woods walk. But this guy wouldn’t give up. He too is a hiker, trekker and writer or as I like to say someone who expresses what he feels (https://akreviews.wordpress.com). And he is stubborn, so he went back to the instructions and spotted a tiny gate leading on to yet another public footpath. Well I was in as long as it was an off-road walk.

Off we went and soon we arrived at meadows. We followed the periphery and few minutes later we found a path, a gate that was opening into deep woods!!!!! My goodness, the walk is getting started, NOW!

The entire walk was alongside the River Wey. To our surprise, there were many people enjoying fishing and bathing in the river. Young kids were jumping off the bridge into the river. Dogs were playing around. Some were just enjoying a drink or reading a book. It was a completely different world! My tiredness, boredom, annoyance from the heat, everything just disappeared. Puff!

We climbed a small hill but since we didn’t know what was on the other side, we came back on the track. We walked for about more than an hour and came across many more landmarks, St. Catherine’s Lock, Lengthmans cottage and Riff Raff (sharing some pictures below). We finally were on to the main road and spotted our final landmark – Snooty Fox Café. The landmark-full, enriched conversations-full and the beauti-ful walk thus came to an end, leaving us both pleased and content (not to mention, knackered!)