BOAT: Silkmore Lane

• Overall Rating: 3
• Location: West Horsley, Surrey.
• OS Explorer Map 145, 'Guildford & Farnham, Godalming & Farnborough'.
• Starting OS Grid Reference: TQ074545
• Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 16' 46.83" W000 27' 48.32"
• Finishing OS Grid Reference: TQ075536
• Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 16' 17.06" W000 27' 29.95"
• To see: nothing much.
• ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!

STOP PRESS: Surrey County Council are considering prohibiting all motorised and horse drawn vehicles from these byways with a 'prohibition of traffic' order. The public consultation period ends on 27/08/10, so if you want to keep driving this lane, make your point of view heard now! Follow this link to Surrey CC's website for more info. More news to follow.


FURTHER UPDATE: As of 11/04/11 no decision has yet been made. A visit to the lane by the council has been scheduled. in order to assess the need for a TRO. See the link here and search for use the search term 'Fuller'.

Starting at it's northern end (pictured left), Silkmore Lane is a farm track surfaced with crushed chalk for around 30m after which it turns into compacted earth, and remains so until its end. Protruding foliage is never a problem, so there is little danger to paintwork, and at the time of year we drove it (mid August after heavy rains) the going was easy despite some ruts in places (pictured below right). These ruts are mostly innocuous, however in one or two places they do get quite deep. Freelander (or equivalent) drivers would find the ruts at their worst a possible obstacle, especially when filled with water which would hide their depth in the winter months, however anything else would pull through with relative ease.

We drove the land southwards. Around 100m in the lane turns almost a right angle from an easterly to a southerly direction, and then is more or less straight for the rest of it's length. Another 150m in a track to Roundtree Farm branches off to the south-east. Take care not to take it, and instead follow the BOAT southwards. Just after the junction with the track the compacted earth surface begins to get rutted, and continues to be for another 100m or so. The lane then passes through a small, pleasant area of woodland on its western side. On emerging, some slightly more serious ruts must be negotiated north of the private gravelled track which crosses the lane. Silkmore Lane then ends when it meets the railway bridge carrying it over the Guildford (London Road)-Surbiton line. Perfect for spotters!

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