Arc 8 resumes back beside the water very soon – this time the Basingstoke Canal. The family friendly section is from West Byfleet to Woking.
The mostly excellent surface might tempt faster speeds, but this is a major urban area (you wouldn’t know it!) and you share sections with many walkers. In central Woking, after a new walking/cycling changeline crossover bridge, you pass the Living Planet Centre, HQ of the Worldwide Fund for Nature - WWF 3.1 (up onto the footbridge L through the town centre for Woking and fast London services)
Exit towpath 3.9 (straight on Spinoff 8 toward Farnborough), and join a cyclepath through suburbs. 4.5 sashay through an industrial estate then Carthouse Lane towards Chobham. But the B383 road through Chobham to Sunningdale is busy and unrestricted, and so Cycle Orbital sets off on a delightful westerly Chobham ‘bikepass’, 6.5 to 10.1, via Penny Pot and Sparrow Row, with a ford 7 and raised path 7.9 across streams.
After crossing the M3 the bikepass detour is onto Chobham Common Nature Reserve to the east of the direct B383. At the roundabout 10.4 enter carpark R and take bridleway E to path junction 10.7 and turn L for a fine off-road mile cross country. After crossing the railway a sneaky byway route 12 - 12.7 avoids the busy A30. Thereafter quiet roads to Blacknest Gate and Windsor Great Park.
