BOAT: Ponds Lane

Location: Row Ln, Guildford, Surrey GU5 9, UK
  • Overall Rating: 3
  • Location: Shere, Surrey.
  • OS Explorer Map 145, 'Guildford & Farnham, Godalming & Farnborough'.
  • Starting OS Grid Reference: TQ064443
  • Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 11' 15.24" W000 28' 48.38"
  • Finishing OS Grid Reference: TQ073466
  • Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 12' 32.48" W000 27' 54.72"
  • To see: The village of Shere.
  • ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!
PLEASE NOTE: This lane is subject to a TRO between 30th September to 1st May every year. As such, do not attempt to drive this lane between these dates. Although we have not had a chance to check it out yet, it has apparently been resurfaced by the council, which is where the TRO stems from. For more info, please see here

Make no bones about it, this BOAT is certainly not easy! It is however quite deceptive, as 90% of it is relatively straightforward. Don't drive this lane unless you posses a high level of experience.

We drove it from south to north. Starting pretty much as a driveway heading north from Row Lane in Farley Green, the lane travels for around 600m, almost due north, between several houses and emerges again without fanfare onto a very brief metalled section of Lockhursthatch Lane. There really is not much to report about this section: a Ford Fiesta would have no trouble! Turn right at this point, and then almost immediately left onto the BOAT proper.

Ponds Lane continues as an unremarkable wide driveway as far as Dilton Farm, and then changes dramatically. The prepared surface comes to an end, the hedgerows close in, and the lane becomes a steep washed-out gulley (pictured right, although that doesn't do it justice). The danger here is that with such rapidly changing and uneven terrain, your vehicle will take some often unnerving attitudes very quickly. If each wheel is not in exactly the right place at the right time, you seriously risk damaging your vehicle, or even tipping it should you get it very wrong. Should you chose to drive this lane, which I don't recommend to those new to greenlaning, take extreme care and do this section at a crawl in low box and first. Better still, get out first, walk the route to get a feel for it (the 'tough' section isn't all that long) and then use a spotter to guide you through it.

Once through, the lane turns back into a driveway at Pounds Farm and continues north until it meets the North Downs railway line, at which point it is forced to turn 90 degrees east, passes Parklands Farm and emerges onto Sandy Lane just south of Shere.

View Ponds Lane in a larger map


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