North Downs Night Walk

How did I celebrate the winter solstice this year?

With a night hike, of course!

After spending a weekend in Cornwall and Dartmoor (which I still can't be arsed to write about) I took advantage of clear skies and a full moon for to get my night-legs on- the mood reflecting off the water meant sleep was not an option, along with roommates that sounded like they were sawing a fence in two.  I do love the idea of night hiking- the quiet, the endless privacy, all the creatures that come out once the sun is down.  My love of walking doesn't really gel with the tiny amount of daylight this time of year.

A plan was made.  After being up way too late and eating way too much the night before (thanks, Christmas!) I got a relaxed late start to walking a lonely 16 mile stretch of the North Downs through Kent from Otford to Cuxton.  Normally, I would be horrified at the idea of finishing a hike in darkness, but with a new braveness, I packed a torch and powered up and down the steep, rolling downland and quiet forested paths.

For a trail so well-traveled for centuries and so very close to London, I rarely see anyone on it.  A dog walker here and there. Newland's Corner and Box Hill are both kind of packed, but once you get out of the car parks, you are by yourself on the outskirts of 8.3 million people.

I didn't even break for lunch- it wasn't terribly cold, but cold enough that the chill set in if I lingered.  As the woods darkened under clouds and the sun disappeared to usher in the longest night of the year, a beautiful stillness took over.

The sounds of owls calling greeted the dark, along with the loud squawks of pheasants roosting in the trees and their panicked flights to a safer patch of trees than one invaded by me.  But the owls!  I love them only because they are so elusive- I see them rarely, so hearing them is always thrilling for me, and hearing them in the quiet woods outside of London was even more fun.

Oh, and it never really got truly dark in the open...I could see the eerie pink glow of London illuminating the clouds in front of me, and the city of Rochester lit up the other direction.  The woods were proper dark though.  One foot in front of the other, I slowly made my way through mud and over tree roots.

I used my torch rarely- to check to make sure the way-marks were being read correctly, and to check my compass.  Going through fields proved challenging as it was easy to lose the trail, so I would find a spot on the horizon that lined up with the compass and follow it until a fence was hit.  It's hiking in England!  I was more concerned about having a torch so that cars could see me if I did a stretch along the roadside, which I did.  The one time I did lose the trail in woods, the crunch of deep leaves underfoot alerted me to the fact that I was on A trail, but not THE trail, and I was quickly able to correct (rather than take a more direct route to the train station, it turned out).

In the end:  success.  I found a pub (!) and while waiting for the train back to London, I had myself a glass of wine and some chicken liver pate to celebrate my newly found night vision.  I was exhausted.  16 miles with a couple steep climbs and I was knackered, and the last four miles were in the dark and by far the slowest I've walked in a while, but I found the concentration needed on a moonless night taxing as well as I had to really look for every step.  In total, it took me 6 hours and 20 minutes from station to station, which isn't bad time at all on a muddy winter trail, and a happy peaceful walk is the anecdote to a plethora of seasonal maladies.

Hope you had a fantastic solstice, and enjoy the return of the sun.  Oh, unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case: enjoy the waning daylight, suckers!

 

NDW Day 4: Merstham to Oxted

Now for the boring bit of the trail.

I was kind of dreading this part of the hike that closely follows the M25, the enormous ribbon of motorway that encircles the city of London.  I guess having a trail with such easy access to the city means these small inconveniences are bound to happen.  

I couldn't have picked a better day for it- late October and I'm still putting on SPF.

However, the one wrench in my plan was that I didn't get an earlier start.  I was planning on knocking 20 lonely miles out, but I reached the halfway point a little after 1pm....meaning I would have walked the last miles in the dark.  I quit after a mere 9 miles of walking rather then deal with that.  The clocks were set back last weekend and I just haven't adjusted yet, but the sun is dead and gone by 5pm now.

The trail was a little boggy in places but it climbed and stayed on the ridge for most of the walk, and I did enjoy myself.  You couldn't as much see the motorway as much as you could hear the constant drone of it at the foot of the hill.  Visions I had of walking right next to the road ended up being false, and it was a pretty countryside walk, if not a little noisy.

And looky there!  You can see London, sprawled out in front of you from the top of your first hill.

 Rather foolishly, I did not bring my camera, so these are all from the phone as I thought I would just end up with a lot of pictures of semi trucks.   So, pictures aren't the best today.

I had the trail to myself, too.  I saw a handful of people on horseback at one point, and bumped into one other through hiker doing day trips from London.

It was just so pleasant out,  I thought I was being rather pokey, but I ended up doing a respectable 2.6 mph.  If I kept that up without stopping to rest the dogs, I would have made it to Otford just after sunset.  Instead, I turned off to Oxted and took the train back to London.   Despite the beautiful late-October weather, the trail had turned off Oxted downs and was in site of the M25 for a long stretch, and I just wasn't inspired to keep going.

Not the most amazing day of walking, but any day walking in the countryside beats anything else I could think of doing, so it was all around a winning sort of day.  Plus, those half-hour train rides are adding up to be a rather spectacular lace shawl.

NDW Day 3: Box Hill to Mersham

Another beautiful autumn day for a walk...back up my old friend/nemesis, Box Hill.  

I left the Westhumble Station and picked the trail back up at the Box Hill car park, which had about 200 school kids getting ready to trek it up the hill, teachers in tow.  I practically ran up the Hill just to get ahead of the squacking mass of giggles and screeches, my feet barely touching the stepping stones.  

Box Hill was just as steep as the last time I climbed it, but starting at the Stepping Stones side proved a little easier since they just had a giant staircase the entire way up.

And the views, ah the views!  What a perfectly brilliant day to be out!

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Once I got past Box Hill, the crowds thinned and I once again had the trail to myself for most of the day, aside from an occasional dog walker.

The walk was rather nice- it went past a ghost of a Lime Works and quarry, then up a steep beswitchbacked trailed up Colley Hill, then it stayed up high and went through a few National Trust meadows the rest of the day.

The only downside being that the M25, the main ring road that circles London, was roaring down at the bottom of the hill.

I stopped for lunch under a tree with amazing views stretching all the way to the South Downs, and put a few rows in on a pair of socks I've been chipping away at on my train rides out to the trail:

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And hey, I'm only 66 miles away from Dover!  That's probably how the crow flies, but it's not too far off the walking distance.  The North Downs is unique in the fact that it has a loop at the end- you can go North to Canterbury (as any good pilgrim should) or South and walk along the chalk cliffs to Dover, or just do the whole loop if it pleases you.  It's like a choose your own adventure book.

I did stumble upon the Millennium Stones, a set of standing "stones" in a field for the ages to wonder about.  Although...the fact that the artists' mission statement is on the internet means that it probably won't be a future place of pagan worship.

I stopped to pick berries and to give an old longears a good scratch:

....then ended my hike in the town of Merstham, a busy town of intersecting roads right on the M25.  It suddenly became a point of stress that I had to cross several busy roads to get to the train station, and I seemed to be the only stinking hippie coming off the trail this town had seen in a while.  It was warm enough on this day to really get my fragrance up after two hill climbs, and the tube ride back into London was lovely as everyone gave me plenty of elbow room/armpit wafting room.

So, the next stretch of trail I've been dreading: it near 20 miles (but not terribly hilly) from Mertsham to Otford.  It's not the distance, it is the fact that the M25 does not leave your site the entire time.  I want to have the personal satisfaction of having walked the entire trail, but I don't want to really spend 20 miles shadowing one of the busiest roads in England.

What to do?

Procrastinate.

After that?

Charge up the Ipod.  Put on the game face, get it over with.

I'll get to it one of these days.    

NDW Day 2: Guildford to Westhumble

My quest to walk across England continues....

I returned to Guildford early one morning and took off down the River Wye and rejoined the North Downs, dodging Orb weaver spiders the whole way.

The trail was a bit wilder once out of Guildford, and I soon climbed up to St Martha's church.  I had been here before- we had taken a jaunt up here on one of countryside walks last spring.

The trail was devoid of people- aside from the bit by Newland's Corner, where there is a huge car park.  This ended up being a really nice bit of trail that I would be happy to go back and re-hike, with views across the hazy valley to the South Downs.

Oh!  And has anyone ever seen this before?

It is two trees, CONNECTED!  That bottom branch is growing from both trees!  They were both quite large trees.  I've just never seen anything like this.

There were lots of beautiful old woodlands to walk through: West Hanger, Shere Woodlands, Netly Park.  I saw a golden Hazel Dormouse scurry by, and some science types were out studying the flora.  What a lovely bit of lonely trail!

The National Trust keeps up a good bit of what I walked through, and they maintained the chalk grassland, and I was soon blissfully hoofing it forward across the tops of the Downs.

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There were also quite a lot of pillboxes tucked into the hillsides...a defense against the perceived threat of the French.

Soon, Denby's came into view, with views of Box Hill.  I didn't stop for wine, but headed straight for the train station, where I had some lovely stuff from France sitting at home.

Tucked into the picked-over grapes, a roe deer fawn, patiently waiting for its mother:

Well, that was perfectly pleasant!  I would go back and hike that bit again- it was peaceful and the views were lovely.  Altogether, it was a rather lengthy 15 miles, so it was no small walk, but I was pretty knackered in the end.  

Another jaunt up Box Hill, this time with a bag full of hooch

My walking obsession continues....

Recently, my friend Mary and I found ourselves both with a weekday in which neither one of us had work lined up.  After some consulting with my book of countryside walks, we decided to do a walk in the gentle downland near Box Hill.  A half hour train ride later to Westhumble Station in Surrey, we were rambling around the countryside just south of the city around the North Downs.

It was a lovely day for walking- completely overcast and cool.  It threatened to rain, but never did.  In fact (spoiler alert, I made it home at the end of the hike) arriving back in London that evening, I thought someone did me the kindness of watering my plants for me, as London got a proper soaking.  

With my OS map and compass and guidebook, we found the trail that led past a posh gated community to Norbury Park.

Deep, green quiet forest with lovely views when there was a break in the trees.  Through lovely forest of beech, cherry and ash trees in Durid's grove, past a working sawmill, and chalk grassland.  If we wouldn't have been chatting and laughing the whole time, I'm sure we would have seen wildlife.

bluebells....

I don't think the country house was open as we couldn't figure out how to get in, but Polesden Lacey estate had more lovely wooden trails all around it.  I want to live here.    

It's really lovely walking, and we only saw a handful of dog walkers the entire time.  Considering the park was sandwiched between two busy A-roads and we were barely outside the M25, it was surprisingly peaceful.

Eventually, we joined up the North Downs Way, past St Barnabus church.  I keep thinking that I'm going to walk the NDW in its entirety: it's broken up in easy day-trip stretches with easy trains to and from London every 10-12 miles or so.

We started walking down the North Downs.  I got distracted instantly by two walkers who looked a bit too jolly and done up to be really out waking, and stopped to chat.  "We've just been down to Denbie's", the man said, pointing down the hill.

Denbie's, eh?

Last time I was hiking Box Hill, I did see vines growing down in the valley.  I had no idea there was a big California-style chateau and tasting room attached to it.

We pretty much bolted down that hill.  Even after a 10 mile hike, I felt perfectly fresh despite the fact that I suddenly needed refreshment.  Oooh, my favorite kind of hike is the one down the hill to the vineyard.

  
Denby's ended up being huge, with a big car park and a cycle race finish line out front.  They give tours, there's an enormous cafe, an art gallery, a packed gift shop, and a place to taste.  And loos!  I guess if you've come that far, it's almost a public service to provide toilets.  They seem to have a lot of events and gatherings here, and even on a weekday, it was bustling.  

The wines weren't my favorite, but I bought a couple of bottles anyway, just for fun and good luck.  Although, I probably should have bought them after we hiked up and down Box Hill.  There was also a little marketplace selling beautiful tomatoes and local goodies, so we picked up some good cheese and fruit.

Then we packed up the whole mass and carried it up the overly steep Box Hill.  We had to walk a stretch along the A road for about a half mile, with the trucks roaring by, but there was a side walk and bike path and an underpass to eventually get across.

It's good to end the hike on a high note, and it was still an amazingly tough climb for such a small hill.  But the views, and the elation of doing it, was well worth it.  I could have walked another 10 miles in the woods, but as soon as we reached the top of the hill, I was knackered and ready to be done for the day.

For Sale, you say?   Hmmmm....

This kid had a bottle of coke that took off down the hill.  He started after it, panicked, and went running back to his parents with a loud wail while the bottle bounced further down the hill:

Ha ha, kids shouldn't be drinking that crap anyway.

We made our way down the hill and over the Stepping Stones.  Nope, didn't get wet this time.  They do have an alternate foot bridge nearby, but that's no fun at all.

Overall, it was a nice 12 miles of happy fine hiking, and I love setting off with these OS maps to connect a bunch of footpaths and creating a real hike from it.  I think we both had a fantastic walk, and no real horror stories or mishaps to go with the miles.  Although, the crowded rush hour train going back to the city was probably a bit unpleasant for the other passengers as I bet you could photograph the stink coming off me.