please empty your brain below
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Glorious!
And if you get really into this sort of thing, dg, heaven awaits...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_Walk
Dan | 12.05.17 - 7:07 a.m. | #
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Lovely indeed. It is a great time to do it, this year (so far) with the bonus of no mud. Don't forget to count the yaffles and see how many species of butterflies you can see. I'm sure as a completist you'll have realised the problem - the end is at a forked signpost north of Ashford, or in Dover. Twice. Enjoy it.
GJ | 12.05.17 - 7:15 a.m. | #
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DG,how long did this walk take?
dg writes: From the centre of Farnham to the centre of Guildford, just over 5 hours.
Richard | 12.05.17 - 7:22 a.m. | #
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Goodness, it's over 35 years since I walked the NDW (in stages over a year or so) - it doesn't look like much has changed, at least on the Farnham/Guildford stage, although I don't think the beginning was marked by an art installation - or indeed anything else - back then. I just set off from the railway station.
timbo | 12.05.17 - 7:33 a.m. | #
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What a day out in the country, looks wonderful !
PS was just reading this which includes a nicely attributed snap :
http://www.howderfamily.com/blog/
Kevin | 12.05.17 - 7:57 a.m. | #
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Hog's back? Didn't know he'd been away.
Debster | 12.05.17 - 9:44 a.m. | #
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How recently did you walk this stage? It looks like you had good weather for it.
dg writes: Enormous clue in yesterday's post.
Phil | 12.05.17 - 9:49 a.m. | #
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Wow.
Looks great. I'd always assumed the NDW started in Guildford, and indeed have walked what I assumed was the first section to Box Hill. Thanks for putting me right. This section looks great too. I'm very tempted to walk this asap, although it'll probably have to wait till half term and with pesky children could well take more than 5 hours.
Dan - That's a great suggestion. dg?
Walked a coast to coast walk so long ago I'd almost forgotten about it.
Lorenzo | 12.05.17 - 10:43 a.m. | #
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I've walked it (both routes), though I never wrote it up. A lovely walk, though I did have some foul weather on bits of it (once raining so hard that I took a wrong turn and ended up down in the valley -- fortunately there was a railway station nearby.
Peter Cameron | Homepage | 12.05.17 - 10:57 a.m. | #
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Cicerone, not Ciccerone.
But yay you're writing about walking!
dg writes: Fixed, thanks.
Merton walker | 12.05.17 - 11:10 a.m. | #
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Amazing article, full of fun facts, and it makes me wish I could walk distances like that (once upon a time I could).
By the way, the apparently rude bench sculpture is reminiscent of the origin of the word "orchid". Anyone who has suffered from orchitis (or known someone else who has) will be well aware of this.
Malcolm | 12.05.17 - 11:37 a.m. | #
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Splendid article. Hope there are many more oddities to come!
Cornish Cockney | 12.05.17 - 4:31 p.m. | #
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I can't remember if I walked the North or South Downs. I seem to recall a place called Jack and Jill that Google indicates is in the South Downs.
It was 27 years ago and it was a very nice walk through the hills. Just a little bit different than my usual walks around the SF Bay area.
One thing I remember is one of my walking companions pointed out a native orchid. I was surprised that England had native orchids given the climate.
Enjoying the stories.
Miles Archer | 12.05.17 - 4:53 p.m. | #
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The first long distance walk I did. I did it in stages as a day trip, must have been more than 10 years ago now, but it was lovely. I still rewalk parts of it each year because I don't live far away. Guildford to Reigate, the area around When and the coastal stretch between Folkestone and Dover were my favourite but in truth there isn't a bad section. Look forward to reading about your future walks.
Jon Combe | 12.05.17 - 6:20 p.m. | #
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Hope you're going to stay at Tanners Hatch Youth Hostel later in the walk.
Andrew S | 12.05.17 - 7:46 p.m. | #
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Many thanks for all the links! And I hope you enjoy the walk. Whilst it has its flaws, it's well worth doing.
Funnily enough, like you I started walking it after just leaving a job I'd been in for many years, having just been made redundant. Although I ended up getting another job far quicker than I'd anticipated, so didn't actually walk that much of it whilst unemployed.
Happy walking though. And look out for a pilgrim sat on a bench.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 12.05.17 - 7:56 p.m. | #
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Oddity 9: much of this bit of the North Downs Way is shared with National Cycle Route 22, which links London and Portsmouth. I unfortunately tried to cycle it a couple of weekends ago on a road bike and ended up falling off more than once as I sank into the sand. Lovely as a footpath; shockingly inadequate as cycling infrastructure.
Ex-Balfron resident | 12.05.17 - 8:23 p.m. | #
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Pointless literary connection: CJ and FJ 's brother had a pub near the Hog's Back, in the Reggie Perrin Novels.
Burntweenie | 12.05.17 - 9:34 p.m. | #
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Ooh, forgot to mention the Cicerone guide book is sold out, at least on the publisher's website. Clearly this post has generated a lot of interest.
dg writes: It sold out well before Friday.
Lorenzo | 13.05.17 - 2:52 a.m. | #
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OMG!
I just did some trawling via Google StreetView, to see if I could check the 'status' of one of the sections of the NDW just south of Puttenham.
It was a section that used to be "byway" (I think I've ridden it on my trail bike, some time back) and I was interested if it still was.
The most I expected was to find the road leading past the track and check out if there was any coloured signage (blue, yellow, red, etc) to show the current status.
Well, it seems there are becoming less and less places that Google can't get to!
It didn't just show me the road I was looking for (Totford Lane)... it's actually had someone with a camera actually take the NDW track [which is a byway, albeit for the most part far too narrow to get a car along] and follow its winding course all the way along to Lascombe!
It's not the only non-road bit they've covered, either: their guy with a head-mounted camera has also done some of the footpath grade sections, too.
RogerW | 14.05.17 - 1:11 p.m. | #
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Yes, I've walked it (at least, the northern of the two loops in Kent, missed about 12 miles of the southern). Excellent walk, well worth the effort.
Geoff Lumley | Homepage | 15.05.17 - 4:42 p.m. | #
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A little gang of us did this exact stretch a few weeks ago. Very similar weather, less lambs and that field hadn't been fully ploughed.
https://rashbre2.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/fitbit-along-north-downs-way.html
Did you see the llamas? And also spot the two crosses on that A3 slip road, which is where the NDW and the Pilgrim's Way overlap.
rashbre | 17.05.17 - 3:50 p.m. | #
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