Mobile tyres and recovery in GU3 (the Hog's Back and around)
The Hog's Back is a chalk ridge with a dual carriageway running along the top of it, and in a crosswind it is one of the least pleasant places in Surrey to change a wheel. Exposed, fast, and with laybys that are further apart than you would like.
Either side of it the district drops into farmland and small villages, where the roads are quiet but the verges are soft and the flint in the fields finds its way onto the tarmac.
The A31 along the Hog's Back
The A31 is the defining road here. It is fast, it is high, and the sightlines are long, which lulls drivers into stopping in places they should not. If a tyre goes down on it, use a layby if one is within a sensible distance and put everyone out of the car and behind the barrier.
Below the ridge, the A323 and the A3 at Artington carry the rest of the traffic, and the lanes around Puttenham, Wanborough and Compton are single-track with passing places. Those passing places are usually the only firm ground for a jack, so if you can stop at one, do.
The GU3 places on our list
We attend jobs across Artington, Compton, Fairlands (Guildford), Flexford, Hog's Back (A31), Loseley Park, Normandy, Peasmarsh, Puttenham, Wanborough, Wood Street Village and Worplesdon.
Loseley Park and the lanes around it have almost no lighting, so at night a pin from your phone is worth more than any address.
Questions we get asked about GU3
- Is it safe to change a tyre on the Hog's Back myself?
- We would not. The A31 there is fast, exposed and has limited stopping space. Get everyone out on the nearside and behind the barrier, and let someone with warning lights and a proper setup do the work at the roadside instead.
- Can you find a farm or a house on an unnamed lane?
- Send a pin or a what3words. Out here the road names on the map often do not match the signs on the ground, and hedgerows hide the few signs there are. A pin puts our driver within a few yards of you first time.
- Do flints really cause that many punctures?
- In this district, yes. Ploughing and field access bring flint onto the lanes, and a flint chip cuts rather than pierces. Cuts in the tread zone can sometimes be repaired; cuts in the sidewall cannot, whatever their size, because that part of the tyre never stops flexing.
Stopped on the A31?
Get clear of the carriageway first, then call. Tell us which direction you are facing and the last junction you passed — that is enough for us to find you on the ridge.