The Worth Way is a 7 mile bridleway which runs from Three Bridges train station to East Grinstead train station, mostly along the route of the old railway line which was opened in 1855 and closed in 1967. The small diversions from the original trackbed are from Worth to Compasses Corner near Rowfant, where a combination of the M23 and utilised farmland necessitate a diversion of approximately a mile and a diversion of approximately two thirds of a mile in Crawley Down where the land has been built on.

With the planned route being quite long (for an unfit 44 year old and a 10 year old anyway) we put the bikes on the back of the car and drove to Russell Way in Three Bridges at 6:30, removing 7 miles from our trip. Setting off at 6:50, we followed Tilgate Drive; originally the estate drive for Tilgate Mansion, but now a cycle path and footpath, to the water meadows in Furnace Green where we headed east under the main London to Brighton railway line and through a small part of the Maidenbower estate to arrive at the start of Worth Way behind Three Bridges station.

Three miles in, having passed through Worth and crossed the M23, we made our first detour to look at a 'sunken' railway bridge near Worth Lodge Farm. Of course, the bridge hasn't actually sunk - the farmer has filled the cutting in order to cultivate the land, leaving just the top few inches of the bridge's archway, and the above farm track level walls, visible.

Back onto Worth Way and our next stop was at Rowfant Station, where both the station building and station masters house remain. At this point we took another detour and visited Rowfant House, a large country mansion dating back to the 15th century which until recently has been a venue hosting weddings and conferences, as well as having an old peoples home within the grounds. The whole site is currently disused and it's future is unclear, though I suspect it will involve a conversion to apartments.

After passing through a modern estate in Crawley Down and rejoining the track, we paused to look at a pond with trees growing in it and a barbed wire fence running through it and then took another detour to view Gulledge Farmhouse, a wonderful country manor house whose statutory listing describes it as early 17th century. However, the owner believes it more likely that the oldest parts of the house date from around 1450 and I'm inclined to agree. On viewing from the northern side, it's clear that the huge triple stack chimney was a later addition to the house as it is on what would have been the outside of the original building and houses from the 16th century onwards generally had their chimneys built at the same time as the house and in the middle!

We then rejoined the track again and headed to the end of Worth Way at East Grinstead station, where we took our final planned detour to look at the Imberhorne Viaduct. Built in 1880, the viaduct served the East Grinstead to Lewes Line which was closed in 1958. In 1992, British Rail donated the viaduct to the Bluebell Railway and in 2013 trains once again passed over it after 55 years of disuse when the Bluebell Railway re-connected with East Grinstead.

Returning back towards Crawley on the part of Worth Way that we detoured from on the outward journey, we discovered some lovely views of Gulledge Farmhouse from the south which showed the true scale of the house. Once back over the M23, we took a slightly different route back to Three Bridges, passing the Saxon Church at Worth.