Walk 28th January 2016 Silent Pool - NDW - Shere - Albury

Start :- TQ060485
Time 2 hours 42 minutes.
Distance :- 12.2 km, 7.58 miles
Route:- 

Silent Pool CP - Fox Way - Hollister Farm - Netley Heath - Gravelhill Gate - Drove Road - Blathford Downs Hackhurst Farm - Piney Copse - Southbrook Farm - Towerhill Farm - Gomshall - Cycle Route 22 - Shere Church - Silver Wood - Albury Church - CP

Following on from Monday's walk the intention was to find a less muddy / slippery path down Beggars Lane, so walked further along the NDW and to walk down to Hackhurst farm. A route was found after coming across a fallen tree blocking the main path, and ended up on Blatchford Down which gave me a wonderful view looking towards the Guildford direction.
Blatchford Down -  these are old fields that have been leased to the National Trust by the Wotton Estate in an effort to arrest further invasion of scrub on the chalk grassland. The fields are being enclosed by sheep fencing and grazing reintroduced. The chalk grass sward is a wonderfully rich biological community with 30-40 species of plants to the square metre in some areas. Many rare orchids and butterflies make this area of particular interest. There are thriving hills of the yellow meadow ant.
Dropping down to the farm and walking through Piney Copse.E M Forster once owned this little wood and on his death passed it to the National trust. Forster used to live nearby and bought the wood to save it from development. He used funds from various book sales, in particular, ‘A Passage to India’. Forster (1879 – 1970) wrote many novels, short stories and essays. 
In his book, Abinger Harvest 1926, he wrote an enlightening piece about owning Piney Copse and his feelings, entitled ‘My Wood’. 
It is not a large wood – it contains scarcely any trees, and it is intersected, blast it, by a public foot-path. Still, it is the first property that I have owned, so it is right that other people should participate in my shame, and should ask themselves, in accents that will vary in horror, this very important question: What is the effect of property upon the character? ... What’s the effect on me of my wood? In the first place, it makes me feel heavy. Property does have this effect. Property produces men of weight, and it was a man of weight who failed to get into the Kingdom of Heaven..... In the second place, it makes me feel it ought to be larger.... In the third place, property makes its owner feel that he ought to do something to it. Yet he isn’t sure what. A restlessness comes over him, a vague sense that he has a personality to express – the same sense which, without any vagueness, leads the artist to an act of creation. Sometimes I think I will cut down such trees as remain in the wood, at other times I want to fill up the gaps between them with new trees. Both impulses are pretentious and empty. They are not honest movements towards moneymaking or beauty. They spring from a foolish desire to express myself and from an inability to enjoy what I have got. (E M Forster, ‘My Wood’, 1926)

Walk 27th January 2016 Young St - Norbury Park

Start position:- TQ151538
Time taken :- 3 hours 12 minutes
Distance 14.3 km, 8.89 miles
Route:-

Young St CP (top) - Bocketts Farm - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - Icehouse Combe - The Priory - Sawmill - Chapel Hill - Beech - Chapel Wood - Crabtree Cottages - Bookham Wood - Admiral's track - The Hazels - CP

This walk is variation on one done earlier in Norbury Park, with a view to avoiding known paths which are likely to be muddy, and at times it substituted unknown muddy paths for known ones so did not really achieve the objective. Again there are good views at various points over London, Leatherhead/Fetcham, Mickleham and Westhumble.

The chapel at Westhumble is passed again as per a previous walk (21st January 2016)

Weather conditions - light rain with remnants of USA snow storm Nora, renamed Gertrude for the UK weather

Walk 25th January 2016 Silent Pool - NDW - Shere - Albury

Start point:- TQ060485
Distance 10.9 km, 6.77miles. Time taken 2 hours 24 minutes
Route :-

Silent Pool CP - Fox Way - Hollister Farm - Netley Heath - Gravelhill Gate - Hawkhurst Downs - Beggars Lane - Southbrook Farm - Towerhill Farm - Gomshall - Cycle Route 22 - Shere Church - Silver Wood - Albury Church - CP

Good sunny morning really mild 12C. This walk is sighting walk for one I shall be leading for Mole Valley Rambers on Wednesday 3rd February 2016. The route goes up from the car park follows Fox way to the hill top and follows North Downs Way (NDW) dropping down Beggars Lane and along to Albury church. Beggars Lane is chalky so potentially slippery following rain. After leaving the NDW the path to Beggars Lane was quite muddy, but referring to the OS Maps there may be an alternative route taking a path down to Hackhurst Farm.
The walk goes through parts of Gomshall, Shere and Albury church with it's rose window. The church built by Henry Drummond - The Catholic Apostolic church near to Albury Park about a mile from an old Saxon church in the grounds. Within five years of his buying the mansion in Albury Park in 1819 Drummond had gathered about him a group of associates to examine and discuss the teachings of the charismatic Scottish preacher, Edward Irving. Irving's interpretation of the Book of Revelation, which excited wide interest at the time, was later to evolve into the doctrines which were to distinguish him from his Presbyterian origins and, eventually, to his establishing a distinct church. The interior is rectangular under a single span roof. The Rose Window was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin. The windows in the north and south transepts were designed by Drummond's younger daughter, Lady Rokewode Gage. There is some fine woodcarving by the local craftsman Anthony Browne.

Shere church dates from Norman times, of ironstone rubble with sandstone buttresses, restored in 1895 by S. Weatherley. By the north chancel wall there is a 14th-century quatrefoil window and squint - belonging to Anchorite Cell. There is 14th-century glass in the east window and the chancel fittings were renewed in 1956 by Louis Osman.

Shere has a checkered past, was for a time one of the wildest in Surrey: sheep-stealers, smugglers, and poachers found a refuge in these remote hills. Some of the cottages have, still existing, very large cellars (excavated easily in the sandy hill), stated to have been by H.E. Malden "far too large for any honest purpose, and were no doubt made for storing smuggled goods till they could be conveniently taken on to London"

Shere has been called one of the most beautiful villages in England, with many painters either living there or painting. Including Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1839 - 1918), and Benjamin Williams Leader (1831 - 1923). A spiritual healer Harry Edwards (1893 - 1976) lived in Shere founding his spiritual sanctuary at Burrows Lea in the east of the parish.

There are many old buildings in this area, well worth a look as you walk past

Met an 86 year old man near Albury church who had walked marathon distances but now finding distances harder to accomplish. Best policy is to keep walking no matter what age!

Walk 21st January 2016 Young St - Westhumble via Priory

Another variation within Norbury Park to include the Icehouse Coombe and the Priory, The route passes the ruins of a Chapel in Westhumble.

Start point:- TQ151548 Time taken 2 hours 51 mins Distance 12.3 km; 7.64 m Route:- Young St CP (top) - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - Icehouse Combe - The Priory - Druids Grove - Chapel Hill - Beech - Bookham Wood - Admiral's track - The Hazels - CP Details on the Chapel :- "The ruins comprise of the West wall and gable and part of the East wall of Westhumble Chapel. The small, rectangular chapel was built of flint in the late 12th or 13th century for the use of the villagers of West Humble, but was desecrated some 3 centuries later. A Scheduled Monument, Listed Building Grade 2. Pottery was found outside the south wall during excavation, appearing to date to about 1300. The National Trust Sign at the site says: The chapel was founded at the end of the twelfth century for the use of the villagers of Westhumble. Some three centuries later it was desecrated and in 1937 the remains of this ancient chapel were handed over to the care of the National Trust. The Chapel is found on Chapel Lane, Westhumble. From the A24 go left towards Polesden Lacey, past the railway station (another Grade II structure). The Chapel is on your left hand side."

Walk 20th January 2016 St Mary's church - Sheepleas

Route taken and distances walked are as the sighting walk of 18th January 2016. This walk I led for Mole Valley Ramblers with 20 in total walking. Good sunny day temperatures started at -3C and rose to 5C at end of walk after 3 hours 4 minutes which included two stops of 15 minutes and 5 minutes to see the views and take refreshments and comfort breaks.

West Horsley manor has some interesting history associated with it. Here is an extract from a web page "It was the seat of John Lord Berners, who made the first English translation of Froissart's Chronicle in the reign of Henry VIII. It was shortly afterwards the house of the Earl of Lincoln, whose wife, in whose right he held it, was the widow of Sir Anthony Browne, and was by birth Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, celebrated by Surrey the poet as the 'Fair Geraldine.' She resided at West Horsley after her husband's death, and corresponded in very unpoetic style with Sir William More at Loseley, where several of her letters are preserved, including an invitation to Sir William to come to her house during the crisis of the Spanish invasion of 1588, dated 30 July, and expressing the consternation in the court at the news that the Spaniards were over against Dover in Calais Roads. Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter, was a later owner, and he sold it to Sir Edward Nicholas, Secretary of State to Charles I, who died in 1669. Sir Edward's son, Sir John, was Clerk to the Privy Council and died in 1704. His son Edward, who died in 1726, was Treasurer to Queen Mary."

The web page with more detail :- http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp353-357

Bamber Gascoigne accidently inherited the property and intends to restore it and stage opera productions from the grounds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11486628/Bamber-Gascoigne-to-save-500-year-old-manor-after-accidental-inheritance.html

Brief history of St Mary's church - along with Sir Walter Raleigh's head being kept in a bag can be found at this site :- http://stmaryswesthorsley.co.uk/about-us/church-building-history/

Walk 18th January 2016 St Mary's Church - Sheepleas

This is my sighting walk for Wednesday when I lead this walk for Mole Valley Ramblers. At times it follows part of the Horsley trail. On a clear day there are good views of London (several spots) and of Woking. The route crosses part of Sheepleas common. A site of special scientific interest was one of the best woodland areas before storm of 1987. Open meadows are the "Leas" from which it gets its name. Surrey County council bought the area to protect the area. At the start and end of the walk you pass West Horsley Place. The house was of medieval origin rebuilt in 16th and 18th centuries. It was acquired in 1931 by the Marquis and Marchioness of Crewe and passed in 2014 to Bamber Gascoigne. St Mary's church dates from the 11th century.

Conditions under foot best described at "sticky", with lots of good surfaces to walk. Towards the end of this walk after passing Cranmore school, the ground can become waterlogged in parts.

Time taken 2 hours 30 minutes. Distance 11.3 km, 7.02 miles.

Start point :- TQ088526

Route :-

St Mary's church CP - West Horsley Place - Parkrow Copse - Place Farm - Sheepleas - Beech - Hillside Farm - Woodcote Lodge - Fullers Farm - West Horsley - Cranmore School - CP

Walk 14th January 2016 Young Street - Westhumble

Start point :- TQ151548
Time taken 2 hours 54 minutes
Distance:- 12.8km, 7.96 miles
Route:-

Young St CP (top) - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - Lodge farm - Nichols Field - Westhumble NDW - Beech - Bookham Wood - Admiral's track - The Hazels - CP

This walk is a variation on the walk from yesterday. It goes via Nichols Field instead of across some farm land prior to the wooden bridge next to the railway line at Westhumble. After coming out at Lodge farm there is a footpath that follows the River Mole towards Nichols field. Snowdrops were out on this path.

Near the railway bridge at Westhumble there is an example of an oxbow lake. This will fill with water in flood conditions when they affect the river Mole

Walk 13th January 2016 Young St - Westhumble

Start point:- TQ151548
Time:- 2 hours 51 minutes
Distance:- 12.8 km, 7.96 miles
Route:-

Young St CP (top) - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - Lodge farm - Westhumble NDW - Beech - Bookham Wood - Admiral's track - The Hazels - CP

I walked a variation of walk route from Monday 11th, extending the route to Westhumble and the borders of Denbies Vineyard. Paths are drying out so walking was easier to an extent and the sunny weather brought more walkers out.

Near the Boxhill & Westhumble railway station where the footpath meets the road there is a Chapel.


                          

Walk 11th January 2016 Young St - Norbury Park

Walk 4 for my 1,000 mile challenge. Last night again overnight rain made many paths muddy - not unexpected given the weather our winter is providing. Walk into Norbury Park used where possible the made up paths and tracks. There are good views especially in Fetcham Downs and Updown wood, and on the path leading to Bookham wood. The route was walked in a clockwise direction.

Norbury Park has many paths to explore with some steep slopes, and you will find surprising views.

Start point :- TQ151548.
Distance:- 11.7 km, 7.27 miles.
Time taken:- 3 hours 14 minutes
Route :-

Young St CP (top) - Fetcham Downs - Updown Wood - Beechy Wood - Crabtree Cottages - Bookham Wood - Admiral's track - The Hazels - CP

Norbury Park is a mixed agricultural and woodland area, with a Georgian manor house. there is an entry in the Doomsday book 1086. A Bronze age hoard was found in 2003 in woodland on the western side of the park. Druids Grove can be found in the park an area of Yew trees - some of the oldest in Great Britain, where druids conducted ceremonies and rituals

Walk 7th January 2016 Horsley jubliee trail

Start point:- TQ108535
Time:- 2 hours 47 minutes.
Distance:- 11.9 km, 7.4 miles
Route -

Orestan Lane - Dirtham Lane (track) - Oldlands Wood - Kiln Field Coppice - Crocknorth Farm - Coles Copse - Beech - Angel Clump - St Mary's Church - Parkrow Copse - Horsley - Old London Road - Great Ridings Wood - Orestan Lane

The intention was to walk the Horsley Jubilee trail, approximately 9.5 miles. Overnight we had heavy rain which continued beyond 0900 hours, making my prediction for the day wrong. Paths were muddy, with puddles and slippery underfoot. The southern half of the trail reaches into the old Lovelace estate and passes the sites of 6 of these bridges 5 of which are standing. You will pass Stony Dene bridge which was the subject of restoration and an Industrial award prior to the Queen's jubilee. The route enters Sheepleas common which is crisscrossed with paths. In spring some of the old fields will have cowslips growing. The route passes St Mary's Church and West Horsley Place. At Horsley station in view of walking conditions plus the only spot where the route signage was lacking I cut short the walk. Near Crocknorth farm I thought to myself this must be like doing a "tough Mudder".The result being my total mileage for the week being 19.5 miles or half a mile short of my weekly target to achieve my 1,000 mile challenge for 2016

The trail is not ideal to walk following several days of heavy rain.

6th January 2016 Walk Shere Millenium trail (top)

Start point:- TQ073480
Distance:- 8.61 (km); 5.35 (miles).
Time including stop:- 2 hours 40 minutes.
Route:- Shere Recreation Ground CP - Cycle Route 22 - Towerhill Lane - Cotterells farm - Ponds Lane - Albury Heath - Dark Lane - CP

I belong to the Ramblers Association and today I walked with Mole Valley Ramblers, starting from the free car park at Shere recreation ground. Foggy conditions with some  muddy sections, there may be reasonable views on a clear day. 26 walkers in total which created a strain on this small busy car park. Shere is a pretty little village in Surrey, Tillingbourne river runs through - a good spot to take your grandchildren to to feed the ducks in summer and of course good pubs are nearby.

The route is the northern section of the Shere Millennium Trail

http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Shere-Parish-Millennium-Trail

The 2nd walk contributing to my 2016 1000 mile challenge.

Taken near Lawbrook looking south

Great Ridings wood 4th January 2016

http://www.surreycommunity.info/hcps/horsleys-countryside/great-ridings-wood/

Walk 4th January 2016 Orestan Lane - Effingham Common - Bookham Common

Start point:- TQ108535.
Distance:- 6.77 miles
Time taken:- 2 hours 26 minutes
Route:-

Orestan Lane – Great Ridings Wood – Old London Road – Hook Farm – Effingham Common – Effingham Station – Norwood farm – Banks Common – Maddox Lane – Little Bookham – Manor Farm – Church – Church – Home Farm – Orestan Lane

The first walk of the year starting 1000 mile challenge.  Rained overnight so route muddy and waterlogged on Effingham Common. At least after the boots got muddy, the waterlogged grass of Effingham Common cleaned them off. To have the whole process repeated right to the end of the walk. Route Orestan lane to woodland trust to Effingham Junction via Effingham Common across to Bookham common and return. Walk based on one from Fancy Free walks website.