[2] The official emblem of the Downs Link, which appears on direction signs and publicity material, is a stylised version of the Rudgwick double bridge, completed in 1865.

[13] The northern trailhead, St Martha's Hill, is on the Greensand Ridge, a prominent sandstone escarpment that runs parallel to and south of the North Downs.

[15][17] The acidic, sandy soils in the Blackheath and Chinthurst Hill areas support birch, broom and pine, as well as gorse and heather.

[43] A Mark 1 railway carriage acts as an information point for walkers,[45][48][49] and the old stationmaster's house is now a base for the WSCC Low Weald Countryside Rangers.

[50] At the south end of West Grinstead station, the path runs beneath the A272 in an underpass tunnel, built in 1987 as part of a road improvement scheme.

[51][52] There are no traces of the stations at Partridge Green and Henfield, and the Downs Link briefly leaves the railway alignment at both locations to avoid subsequent development.

[54][55] Between Stretham Bridge and Bramber Castle, it diverges from the route of the Steyning line to avoid sections of the former track bed in private ownership.

[59] The path then follows the river for the remaining 2.7 mi (4.3 km) to Shoreham-on-Sea, passing to the east of Shoreham Cement Works, before rejoining the former track bed.

[77][78] In December 1966, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) agreed to buy the trackbeds of the lines south of the border with Surrey, for £165,000 (equivalent to £3.88 million in 2023), with the intention of converting parts of the routes into roads.

[82] In 1973, it signed a seven-year lease on the part of the railway that had been purchased by SCC with the intention of creating a "greenway" between Gosden, north of Bramley, and the border with West Sussex.

[83][d] The works included sealing the entrances to Baynards Tunnel with concrete blocks and filling the cutting on the northern approach with inert waste to create a ramped access to Cox Green Road.

[54][96][97][e] At Cranleigh, a diversion from the railway route was required to bypass the Stocklund Square development, but the Bonham Trust initially refused permission to create a new bridleway through Snoxhall Fields, which it owned.

[9][10] The Downs Link received a commendation in the 1985 National Conservation Award Scheme jointly organised by The Times newspaper and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

[99] That December, Waverley Borough Council and the Bonham Trust concluded a Path Creation Order Agreement, allowing the route through Cranleigh to be finalised.

[81] The underpass tunnel beneath the A272, at the south end of the former West Grinstead station, was built in 1987, when the original humpback road bridge was replaced by the current structure.

Firstly, the demolished railway bridge over the River Wey was rebuilt in July 2006, allowing easier access to the Downs Link from Guildford town centre.