The Wey South Path is a 51 km trail that follows the banks of the River Wey and of the Wey and Arun Canal. It starts in Guildford (Surrey) and enters West Sussex not far from Loxwood. Then it snakes its way past Stopham, and on to Houghton Bridge, near Amberley.
A rough guide to the route
The Wey South Path passes what was once the Dunsfold Aerodrome and through woods at Dunsfold. Then it wiggles past Loxwood, where you’ll see sleepy canal boats chugging along, and the canal locks at work. Then past Drungewick Manor you turn south and follow the waterway past Billingshurst, across open countryside and through woods until you approach Pulborough.
At Pulborough, you cross the old Roman road of Stane Street and head into Waltham Brooks Nature Reserve. As you approach the end, the trial takes you across Amberley Wild Brooks Nature Reserve.
All the way, you can expect an abundance of wildlife, historic bridges, and sleepy waters. It is well waymarked but in winter it can get very muddy.
The trail crosses three Ordnance Survey maps, namely: the OS Explorer 145 , 34 and 10. Allowing 20 to 25 km a day, you should allow two to three days to walk the whole route. Towns and villages close to the trail include Loxwood, Billingshurst, Pulborough and Amberley.
An historic waterway
The Wey & Arun Canal was once part of a waterway route than linked London to the sea at Littlehampton. The Wey and Arun section went from Shalford in Surrey to Pallingham near Pulborough. For the last 50 years, the Wey & Arun Canal Trust has been restoring the canal which had fallen into disuse and become hopelessly overgrown. The Trust has a guide book of the Wey South Path that you can buy from their website.
If you’ve enjoyed this post about the Wey South Path, you may also be interested in:
