A 174km path from Haslemere to Hamstreet, the Greensands Way was developed in the 1980s and follows the Greensands Ridge of green coloured sandstone. I walked part of it in half a day, from Sevenoaks Weald to Chartwell, enjoying views from some of the highest points in South East England.
The path is reasonably well marked, though slightly confusingly the colour of the signage does change, look out for the circular logo.
From Sevenoaks Weald it was straight into fields, and the first of a number of herds of cows to avoid along the way.
There was quite a lot of signage to protect them from dogs and runners!
Followed by more fields and cows, so it was a relief to escape the sun into the woods. It proved a bit of an obstacle course wearing shorts to avoid being stung or scratched by the foliage.
I started to get some views though and the woods were a pleasant and shady place to walk through.
Ide Hill is a popular spot, particularly with cyclists, and offered views.
The village of Ide Hill was home to an attractive church, with this well engraved tombstone, and a presumably Victorian era school.
The path then returned to fields, but the loveliest of the day, with long grass and wild flowers.
Although I’ve become used to almost every gate adopting a different design, this was the first time I’ve seen one anything like this.
It was getting seriously hot by this point so I was glad of the shade around the rather exclusive community of French Street.
I was on the home stretch then to Chartwell, home to Winston Churchill, though there was one final surprise in the form of this memorial in the woods to someone who died too young, and his mum.
