BOAT: Water Lane

• Overall Rating: 5
• Location: Albury Downs, near Guildford, Surrey.
• OS Explorer Map 145, 'Guildford & Farnham, Godalming & Farnborough'.
• Starting OS Grid Reference: TQ044493
• Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 13' 58.07" W000 30' 21.44"
• Finishing OS Grid Reference: TQ047484
• Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 13' 32.99" W000 30' 09.69"
• To see: Guildford, Newlands Corner, the North Downs, the Surrey Hills, Type 22 pillbox,  The King's Head.
• ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!

Water Lane starts at the car park at Newlands Corner, just near the popular cafe. As such, it'd be a great place to break for lunch during a busy day's greenlaning! 

Turning into the car park, Water Lane forks south almost immediately from the entrance. Initially a gravel surface which changes to chalk (pictured below right) where it begins a long sweeping turn towards the south east, this BOAT is very easy to drive indeed and there is no undergrowth to worry about. As it descends the side of Albury Down it provides some quite incredible views (pictured left) over the Surrey Hills towards Shamley Green and Peaslake, and this coupled with it's proximity to Guildford makes it possible to occupy an entire day in this area. Thus I feel it justifies a high rating for a relatively short lane.

Continuing downhill, the lane turns sharply to the south west at the point where it meets a Type 22 pillbox. Unfortunately access cannot be gained as its been bricked up. After around 150m the lane turns due south, eventually becomes metalled and heads down to meet the A248 just west of Albury.

Guildford, the county town of Surrey, is awesome and has far too many attractions to go into here, especially when Wikipedia does such a good job, but it is most certainly worth stopping by to explore at least the Guildford Museum and the castle. For an excellent post-lane pint, I can recommend Guildford's oldest and (apparently) most haunted pub: The King's Head in Quarry Street. It has a great beer garden, and carries a quality range of food and drink.

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