(S) Start on the small green next to Ship Hill, just in front of the Ye Old Ship Pub and next to the horse trough. Follow the footpath west (away from the pub) to the road and cross over to Westmore Green. Stay along the southern edge of the greenkeeping Ship Hill to your left hand side and the pond to your right hand side.
After 170 yards and at a T-junction, turn left to cross over Approach Road and then right along the LHleft hand sideS of the road (there is a footpath along the verge and now going south-west).
After 500 yards (at Furze Corner) and where the road turns left, turn right to cross over the road onto a lane (by a bus stop) and go onto a footpath (fingerpost) to the right of a set of wooden gates
Follow the footpath for 200 yards, when it opens out into a large crop field. Veer slightly right to follow a footpath directly west across the field.
(1) After 400 yards the path comes out, by a fingerpost, onto a road (Beddlestead Lane). Turn left along the lane and now going south. In a further 300 yards at a T-junction with Clarks Lane, turn left for just a few yards, then turn right to cross over road onto way-marked path (at 1.2 miles).
(2) Follow the downhill between trees. After 130 yards turn right at a fork in paths to join the North Downs Way. NOTE: For the next 9.2 miles (apart from a small diversion at 6 miles) we follow the North Downs Way to just before Merstham - it is waymarked by acorn signs and fingerposts.
The path soon descends some steps, at the bottom turns right to follow the North Downs Way as it climbs and runs parallel to a road (B269, Titsey Hill) on your left hand side. After 800 yards, where the footpath comes down to the road, cross straight over and turn right for a short distance.
(3) Immediately past the roundabout turn left and bear left past a small parking area and past a metal gate. Follow the North Downs Way downhill along a lane (Pitchfont Lane) into Titsey Park. Follow Pitchfont Lane downhill for 0.44 miles, then at a junction of paths/ways turn right up to some steps and through a wooden kissing gate. Continue straight on (west) on a footpath along the top edge of a field and with a wood (Titsey Plantation) to the right hand side (at 2.2 miles).
After 200 yards cross go through another kissing gate and continue straight on along the top edge of a second field, keeping the woods to your right hand side. After another half a mile, and at the north-westerly corner of the field, exit the field, by a fingerpost, onto an enclosed path which turns right and uphill. After 25 yards go thru’ a metal kissing gate and onto National Trust land at Oxted Downs. Follow the path left along the Down, now going almost due west, with a wire fence away to your left hand side.
(4) After a short distance (as the Greensand Way turn left and leave our route) continue straight on for 450 yards to a wood. On approaching the wood veer left, signed North Downs Way, on a track and gradually downhill, keeping the wood to your right hand side.
(5) After just over 100 yards turn right, through a metal kissing gate, and soon on to a set of steps which lead down to a road (Chalkpit Lane, at 3.15 miles). Turn right and uphill along the road for 50 yards, then shortly before reaching some houses, turn left onto a path (signed North Downs Way). Soon the path passes through a metal kissing gate and opens out with a field to your left hand side. Continue straight on along the right hand side of the field for 600 yards.
(6) As the field opens out in front of you, turn right, by finger-post, signed North Downs Way, keeping the edge of the field and Oxted Quarry, to your right hand side. Continue uphill for 200 yards to exit the field through a wooden kissing gate. Now on National Trust land at the second part of Oxted Downs.
Go straight on for another 80 yards and on approaching the trees go through a metal kissing gate and turn left keeping the woods to your right hand side and with a fence to your left hand side. Follow the path west for a further 530 yards.
(7) Then turn right and up a long steep set of steps (at 4 miles). At the top follow the path (North Downs Way) as it turns left along a surfaced track running parallel to a road (Gangers Hill), above and to the right hand side. Avoid paths going off to the right and follow the acorn signs of the North Downs Way.
The surfaced track runs practically parallel to the road for 0.4 miles, but with a few turns and many paths going off on both sides. Where the path comes out to the road, by a 4-way fingerpost, turn left along the road (Gangers Hill) and soon after turn left into Tandridge Hill Lane and downhill.
(8) After just 40 yards veer right (signed North Downs Way) onto a path just in the trees and running parallel to the lane and above it. After 0.3 miles go through the metal kissing gate down some steps and veer right staying on North Downs Way.
(9) In another 370 yards cross straight over a road (Gangers Hill), then up some steps and through a stile into a wood named Horse Shaw (at 5 miles). Follow the North Downs Way path, almost straight, through the Horse Shaw for half a mile. The path is waymarked, but do not turn off the main path. Exit the woods through a wooden stile onto a lane.
(10) Turn right to a T-junction, then left, past a lodge house to your left hand side, onto a wide track signed North Downs Way (at 5.5 miles). After 70 yards, when the track splits, stay straight on and past the larger track veering left. The track narrows to a bridleway and soon veers right, gradually downhill and soon with a vineyard below to the left.
After another 440 yards go straight on past a metal barrier. After 170 yards, immediately after a tall wooden fence and before a small carpark, turn left onto a narrow path. It is signed North Downs Way by a fingerpost on the right hand side of the lane. The path goes down some wooden steps and turns right, downhill through the wood. Follow the path for 90 yards where it comes out to a road (Quarry Road).
(11) Turn left along Quarry Road. (NOTE: the North Downs Way crosses straight over the road to climb some steps and then follow a path through a wood. We take a short diversion from the North Downs Way here). Follow the road for 220 yards, then turn very sharp right to go north and uphill along a wooded, sunken track.
Follow this track for 420 yards to where the trees open out with fields on both sides. (NOTE: the North Downs Way re-joined us, from the right, a few yards back in the trees). Turn left (be careful not to miss this) into and across a field to a footbridge over a dual carriageway (A22). After crossing the footbridge turn left and follow a path, signed North Downs Way.
(12) The path climbs and after 200 yards climbs some steps, then turn left, signed North Downs Way. In another 30 yards the path climbs some more steps. At the top, at T-junction of paths, turn left, signed North Downs Way.
550 yards later the path comes out to a small clearing and turns right. After another 250 yards the path comes out onto an open area named the North Downs Viewpoint, or Caterham Viewpoint (at 7 miles). Go straight on across the grass keeping the road (Gravelly Hill) to your right hand side.
At the opposite end of the open area, and near to the road, veer left onto a path through the trees and gradually downhill, signed North Downs Way. After 300 yards, at a fork, stay right. After another 160 yards, past public bridleway to left hand side, still following the North Downs Way.
(13) After 600 yards the path comes out to the junction of Hextalls Lane and a road (War Coppice Road). Go straight on along the road, signed North Downs Way. Follow War Coppice Road for 990 yards (0.56 miles) to a T-junction (be careful as there is no pavement). Turn right and then left, between brick pillars, and onto a lane to Willey Park Farm (still North Downs Way).
(14) After 650 yards along the lane, at a T-junction, turn left along Pilgrims Lane and soon past Willey Park Farm to your left hand side. Continue along Pilgrims Lane for 0.75 miles to just past Hilltop Farm. Cross straight over a minor road (Hilltop Lane) and continue along a wide tree-lined track (still Pilgrims Lane).
(15) In 440 yards, just after a large tree to your left hand side and shortly just before the Pilgrims Lane starts to veer right, turn left onto a well-defined footpath/bridleway steep downhill and diagonally across a large crop field, finger-posted North Downs Way. After 440 yards, at the bottom of the field, follow the path through a narrow wood and out into a second field. Veer right and continue downhill diagonally across the field.
(16) At the bottom follow the well-defined path as it turns left through a subway under the M23 (at 10.1 miles). Exit the subway and turn left to follow a gravel path up to Rockshaw Road. Cross straight over the road and turn right along the pavement.
After 260 yards, turn left through a wooden kissing gate, onto an enclosed fenced path between houses. NOTE: We leave the North Downs Way at this point. Follow the path downhill for 300 yards, where it opens out onto open grassland and veers right and eventually to a footbridge over the M25 motorway.
(17) Cross the footbridge and go straight downhill across open land to come out onto a residential road (Malmstone Avenue).
Turn right along the pavement. After 80 yards, and where the road turns left, cross straight over the entrance to a service road. Immediately after crossing over, turn right along the pavement adjacent to the service road, signed “Merstham Station 100 yards”.
Follow this under a railway bridge, as it becomes enclosed, and eventually to Merstham Station (at 11 miles). Climb the steps to cross the footbridge over the railway line. After descending from the footbridge to finish at the main entrance to Merstham Station.(E)
