Day 2 – Alton to Guildford
After a breakfast at the hotel, I first stopped off at Waitrose when it opened at 8am to pick up food for lunch, then set off, soon passing a modern marker of the PW.
I reached Upper Froyle and the church dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, where I obtained my second pilgrims’ stamp.
The assumption is the belief that Mary was taken bodily up to heaven on her death. In 1950, Pope Pius XII apparently declared this an infallible dogma, which means that all Roman Catholics must believe it.
Next, before reaching Bentley, one passes in front of Pax Hill,the home from 1918 of Sir Robert Baden-Powell of Scout Movement fame. During World War II it was used by Canadian troops, then donated to the Girl Guide Movement. Later on it was sold, first becoming a boys boarding school and then, from 1988, a nursing home.
At Bentley I managed another stamp for the passport at St Mary’s and then reached Farnham around midday – in time for beer, my last mid-walk one. After this I decided that beer was best consumed after reaching the day’s destination.
Setting off from Farnham I passed the artwork marking the start of the North Downs Way (NDW) – I assume that most treat it as the start, rather than the finish.
Now the Pilgrims’ Way generally follows the same NDW route to Canterbury, but soon it diverges and pilgrims are left to trudge along the road past Sandy Cross, Seale and onto Puttenham. I can only assume the NDW is more scenic.
More pilgrim stamps at St Lawrence, Seale and St John the Baptist, Puttenham.
Saint Lawrence or Laurence was one of the seven deacons of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that Emperor Valerian ordered in 258.
Approaching Compton the way passes under two road bridges, the second of which was built in 1931 to a design by Edwin Lutyens, who included a pair of crosses to mark the way.
Tea and crumpets at Watts Gallery Tea Room, then continued on the trackway up through pleasant woodland before arriving at the outskirts of Guildford around 5pm.
The route went straight on, but I needed to detour into Guildford where I was staying at the Asperon Hotel. – so another 9 hours of walking, having covered approx 22 miles. I ate at the hotel.