North Downs Way

The North Downs Way starts in Farnham, in Surrey, and heads east along the chalk that runs from here to the sea at Dover. The first miles are quiet: through Runfold Wood, which the National Trail says is home to roe deer and dormice, and the village of Puttenham, then below the Hog's Back, the ridge between Farnham and Guildford.

At Guildford the path crosses the River Wey and climbs to St Martha's Hill, 175 metres, where the church of St Martha-on-the-Hill stands on the summit and can only be reached on foot. It was rebuilt in 1848–50, keeping parts of the twelfth-century church. From here the view opens south across the Weald, and the path keeps to the Surrey hills, through woods and along the top of the downs, before dropping to the River Mole at the foot of Box Hill, across the valley from Dorking.

This is the old Pilgrims' Way country: the track along the foot of the downs that was named, much later, for the pilgrims said to have walked it to Becket's shrine at Canterbury. The name went onto the Ordnance Survey's maps in the 1870s, and the Survey has since called it an enduring blunder; the track itself is far older.

It is 36.7 kilometres from Farnham to Dorking on our line, with 470 metres of climb.

The day starts with the best-known climb on the Way. The path crosses the River Mole, where there have been stepping stones since at least 1841 (taken up in the Second World War against invasion, put back in 1946), and climbs Box Hill, named for the box woodland on its steep chalk slopes. Much of it belongs to the National Trust, the first of it given in 1914. The National Trail counts the stretch from Guildford to Reigate, St Martha's to Box Hill and Colley Hill, as the most challenging on the whole Way.

East of Box Hill the path runs along the top of the escarpment to Colley Hill and Reigate Hill, with viewpoints over the Weald, and passes the restored Reigate Fort. Then it drops to Gatton and Merstham.

It is 18 kilometres from Dorking to Merstham on our line, with 373 metres of climb: short, and steep in places.

From Merstham the path climbs across high farmland to Whitehill Tower, a Victorian folly, and runs through woods the National Trail says are rich in wildflowers, including rare orchids. Above Oxted it reaches the highest ground of the whole Way near Botley Hill, 253 metres on the path by our terrain.

Soon after, the path crosses the Greenwich Meridian, marked by a plaque, and passes into Kent and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Charles Darwin's home, Down House, is nearby. The path keeps along the scarp and comes down to Otford.

It is 32.5 kilometres from Merstham to Otford on our line, with 533 metres of climb.

Out of Otford the Way climbs back onto the downs and alternates between the ridge and the old Pilgrims' Way below it. Kemsing Down is a nature reserve with nine kinds of orchid, and further on Trosley Country Park's chalk grassland has the rare musk orchid.

Past Wrotham and Vigo the path leaves the scarp and turns north towards the Medway, through quieter country, and comes down to the river at Cuxton.

It is 24.8 kilometres from Otford to Cuxton on our line, with 405 metres of climb.

The Way crosses the Medway, with Rochester's castle and cathedral in view; in the National Trail's words, the river divides Kent culturally. On the far side the path climbs Bluebell Hill and passes Kit's Coty House, three standing stones and a capstone, the chamber of a long barrow built around 4000 BC: one of the Medway megaliths, the most south-easterly group of them in Britain. English Heritage looks after it, and it is open all year.

The path then follows the scarp east, above Maidstone, to Detling.

It is 19 kilometres from Cuxton to Detling on our line, with 363 metres of climb.

East of Detling the Way passes Thurnham Castle, the flint ruins of a twelfth-century castle built in the reign of Henry II, with one wall of its bailey still standing, in White Horse Wood Country Park. Then it comes down to the old Pilgrims' Way and follows it for long stretches along the foot of the downs, past Hollingbourne to Lenham; near it a sculpture of a resting pilgrim, Brother Percival, stands beside the path.

At Charing the village keeps the remains of the archbishops' palace. A little beyond, near Boughton Lees, the Way divides: the Canterbury loop goes north-east through Chilham and Canterbury to Dover, and the main line, which this guide follows, goes on through Wye to Folkestone and the coast.

It is 33.2 kilometres from Detling to Wye on our line, with 396 metres of climb.

From Wye the path climbs steeply past the Wye Crown, a crown cut into the chalk in 1902 by thirty-five Wye College students for the coronation of Edward VII, about 180 feet tall. The North Downs Way was opened on this hillside on 30 September 1978, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Beyond it is the Devil's Kneading Trough, the deepest dry valley in the area, in a national nature reserve.

The path crosses the high, open downs above Stowting and Etchinghill, and the sea comes into view. It runs along the top of the hills above Folkestone, past Castle Hill.

It is 27.1 kilometres from Wye to Folkestone on our line, with 540 metres of climb.

The last day follows the cliffs. From above Folkestone the path runs along the top of the Heritage Coast, with the Channel below. It passes Abbot's Cliff and Shakespeare Cliff and climbs to the Western Heights, the forts and ditches built above Dover against Napoleon, with the Drop Redoubt and the Citadel. English Heritage looks after the Drop Redoubt.

Then the path comes down into Dover, with the castle on the far side of the town. Dover Priory station is 800 metres from the end.

It is 10.8 kilometres from Folkestone to Dover on our line, with 90 metres of climb, along the chalk cliffs most of the way.