The weather forecast hadn’t been promising but that sort of thing doesn’t put us off, so 13 walkers assembled at Box Hill & West Humble station on what turned out to be a beautiful autumn morning. There was almost no dull road-walking so we were immediately surrounded by beautiful trees, red & gold leaves & the sort of fungi you hope to see at this time of year. That stretch of the North Downs Way is especially lovely &, despite being mostly in woodland, there was a beautiful quality of light with many gaps in the trees giving views of Leith Hill & further. So pleasing was it that we kept stopping, really just to enjoy being there & the lightness of spirit that comes with the falling cortisol levels that trees are said to cause.
We descended into Shere, aiming for leisurely delights in the tea shops but the train service from Gomshall is patchy, to put it politely, so we made a democratic decision to get a bus to Dorking rather than spoil a lovely day with dreadful rushing & train/ticket hassle. This gave us an hour for pub or tea shop or ice cream by the stream, each of us doing what we fancied in an admirably democratic way. Absolutely, the leader is always right, but a spot of democracy is good too!
The bus appeared on time, the trains came & went on time so really it was a pretty perfect day.
Harriet
Photos from Siew Kee, Kim, Melida and Rochelle
