A walk in the woods

I'm trying really hard to get life back on an even keel. It sounds like it would be easy, and under normal circumstances it would be, but a global pandemic has knocked a great many things out of kilter so we shouldn't expect too much all at once. I'm slowly getting back to reading the blogs I follow and I really have missed reading about all your activities. I'm also trying to get up to date with my posts and so today I thought I'd tell you about a walk John and I did in August in the Surrey hills. As the saying goes, 'it's better late than never'. We started at Ranmore Common car park at Denbies hillside. It was a little crowded with dog walkers all waiting to get a coffee and cake from a mobile coffee shop. We joined the queue and the wait was worth it as the coffee was delicious and the cake was really tasty. There is nothing better than starting a walk with coffee and cake....except maybe finishing the walk with another coffee and another slice of cake! We took our coffee out onto the hillside to enjoy whilst looking out on the views over the low weald to the South Downs. There were a lot of wild flowers to enjoy. I had left my camera in the car as the path we wanted started from the car park so I'll show you the views later. The path took us down to the North downs Way which we followed along the ridge. We had good views along the way

We eventually started to descend and we passed a pillbox as we headed down the hill to Wotton. The walk itself was circular but this downhill part was an add on to take is into Wotton and the pub Wotton Hatch for a cold beer. As we walked down hill a bit of me was already questioning the sense in going to the pub as we would have to walk back up the hill, which was rather steep. The walk was worth it as we saw giant sized thistles,

scabius,

and several fields of corn (or maize) that towered over my head .

In Wotton we found the church.

Following the road from the church we came to a very busy main road with the pub on the opposite side. It was a little difficult to get across but we managed it in the end. Wotton Hatch was a pretty pub but the staff were a little snooty. We decided to sit in the garden to enjoy our drinks. We had our lunch with us and having had a good helping of cake we decided we didn't need any more food at this time. John enjoyed a beer and I had lemonade with lime and lots of ice. Refreshed we set off to retrace our steps up hill. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. Back on the hill we managed to lose our way but we were able to navigate ourselves towards our next destination, Polsden Lacy. Here we stopped for a cup of tea before circling round the grounds to take us in front of the house and up the hill opposite.

 

When our children were small we used to visit Polsden Lacy a lot. Kathryn and Lucy both learned to walk in the grounds and a trip to visit Polsden at the weekend was always popular. During the walk there were a lot of old trees with their roots on view along the path. I love the patterns they create.

There were great views across the downs.

We saw a lot of nettle leaved bell flowers.

As we walked across the front of Polsden we came across this poem on a fence post.

Almost back to the car we passed piles of logs

and this cottage with interesting tile work.

As we came back to the car park there was just my little car parked waiting for us.

I took some final photos from the hill,

while John did a little bird watching.

A great day out. We walked 11.5 miles enjoyed coffee and cake plus a beer at the pub. We ate our lunch looking across the valley while we enjoyed the sun. I really need another long walk!

Take care

Lyndsey