please empty your brain below
Great stuff! This is an area I've only ever travelled through, but will now take time to explore on foot.

Yet another reason to say 'Thank you'

Frank F | 13.06.17 - 7:16 a.m. | #

Firstly, Gatton Park is one of those amazing places in your backyard that you have never come across simply because it doesn't advertise itself well enough (at all?!), and I only found it by chance a couple of years ago when driving home from a teaching assignment in the vicinity (via a one-way road short cut home, although the car park has two-way access).

Secondly, a week Saturday is the fourth and final 'running' of the Surrey Three Peaks challenge (advertised as a half marathon walk) from Holmbury Hill to Box Hill, via Leith Hill. I only just discovered this, and have never visited.

Ken | 13.06.17 - 7:35 a.m. | #

Definitely 200 years of Christianity not 2000? Just 200 seems a funny number to pick for a MILLENIUM thing. Still what do I know I'm an atheist.

Thanks always for this blog

OverTheHills | 13.06.17 - 8:03 a.m. | #

"Artist Richard Kindersley carved 10 standing stones to mark the double Millennium from the birth of Christ to 2000AD. Each stone represents a 200 year segment and is inscribed with a quotation from a writer prominent in that period."

...and 10 × 200 = 2000

diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.06.17 - 8:14 a.m. | #

Once a few trees are added, the industrial landscape around the quarry becomes 'countryside', with the disused lime kiln becoming a point of interest and a home for bats (all this only 50 years since the quarry closed).

Perhaps in the future there'll be the M25 ring walk, with broad leafy valleys and great views of London from the embankments, perhaps the lighting will be left in place to create a magical woodland night walk, and English Heritage would be running the former South Mimms services.

Still anon | 13.06.17 - 8:19 a.m. | #

And your next bit will also be do-able by London bus! I'm assuming the next bit is as far as Westerham Hill?

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 13.06.17 - 9:32 a.m. | #

Correction: the English Thoroughbred is a greyhound called Quick, dates 1936 - 1944.

dg writes: Fixed, thanks.

This stretch sounds excellent but did you find a lunch stop?

dg writes: I don't stop for lunch, but you could pause at the Junction 8 refreshment kiosk, or there's always The Sportsman in Mogador.

Christopher Bellew | Homepage | 13.06.17 - 9:33 a.m. | #

One of the really great walks. Thanks for the post and telling me some new snippets about an area I know well!

Ian Brooker | 13.06.17 - 12:13 p.m. | #

although the grumpy dog owner obviously needs educating (by a kick up the backside maybe), I also think picnickers need educating too ... they lay out a tempting array of goodies and then get irate when a passing hound comes to investigate

Caz | 13.06.17 - 1:54 p.m. | #

The picknickers were having a picnic on National Trust land signed "please keep your dog under control". They didn't get irate because a passing hound came to investigate, they got irate because it ran off merrily with a bag full of food and because the owner couldn't control it.

Total blame on the dog owner here. I've rarely seen worse.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.06.17 - 1:58 p.m. | #

Shocking behaviour on the part of the dog owner.
What's the betting that if she bothers to scoop its poop (which I seriously doubt) she is one of those who then throws the baggie into the shrubs!
It makes me so cross. I'd rather see the poo which would eventually compost, than the plastic bags, which don't.

Sounds like a good trek. How long did it take you, - so I can double it and add some more for when I attempt it?!

dg writes: I completed it in 5 hours.

Cornish Cockney | 13.06.17 - 2:40 p.m. | #

This is one of your more interesting walks. I might consider doing it myself.

neyagness | 13.06.17 - 6:54 p.m. | #

Ideally I would like to repeat /all/ the walks ever described by DG. Including those where he has been less than impressed by some aspect, and reported it (though this is rare).

Sadly though, lack of time, energy and stamina makes this a completely unachievable goal, for me at least.

Malcolm | 13.06.17 - 10:38 p.m. | #

Me too, Malcolm. Age, infirmity and distance mean I will never make this walk, but following in DG’s footsteps is the next best thing and I always enjoy studying his photos and reading the text more than once.
I have happy childhood memories of a family trip to Box Hill, toiling up the hill but rewarded with those wonderful views – and sheltering under a tree during a magnificent thunderstorm that came up out of nowhere. We talked about that thunderstorm for weeks.
That was in the days before so many delightful walks were mapped out for the public. Come to think of it, that was years before dg was even born!

Great Aunt Annie | 14.06.17 - 12:09 a.m. | #











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