An elite team of 4 walkers arrived at Bentley station with no problems on the line, which was an unusual & auspicious start to the day. It was hot, 1 degree under the recommended ‘Cancel-the Walk’ temperature, but as we were going to be mostly in woodland, it was actually very pleasant. 

We went straight off the platform into Alice Holt forest which is a very nice way to begin a walk, no going through towns & skirting back gardens. Alice Holt wasn’t a person, the name derives from ‘Aelfsige’s Holt’; Holt meaning a wood or thicket & Alice probably a corruption of Aelfsige, an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester who had rights over the forest land in the 10th century. It is now owned by Forestry England & has many trails, adventure activities for children & a very nice cafe. After half an hour’s walking, we felt that we should support the place by visiting the cafe which produced, according to our Coffee Standards Monitor, surprisingly good coffee! Also generous scoops of icecream. 

    Thus refreshed, we made our way through the forest & along lovely shady paths to Millbridge where we had a picnic under a large oak tree & watched village cricket. A swift half at the pub & we were off again, observing melting tarmac on the road. We were soon back into cool woods & made our way to Tilford, enjoying along the way some huge pigs making cooling scrapes to lie in. 

At Tilford we eschewed the delights of the Summer Fair on the green & visited the ‘Village Shop’ instead. It  was saved from closure about 10 years ago by an Asian family & now seems thriving. They made very nice tea for us – confirmed by our Tea Standards Monitor – & we continued along a bridleway for several miles, past Mother Ludlam’s Cave. She, apparently, was a white witch who lent pots & tools to the poor ‘provided she was trusted & her rules were followed’. This path took us to the North Downs Way which leads directly to Farnham station.

Harriet Longman