Image above: Finally … we found the horses hard at work pulling freshly cut wood from the forest – just as they used to in medieval times. [Sunday 11 April] | [View all photos]
With all the countryside that encircles London it was time that I explored it so together with See Yun and Wendy we went for a walk on Box Hill in Surrey.
After a bit of a convoluted journey involved a train, a bus, stopping off for a quick breakfast, and getting lost in the car with See Yun (and saved by the iPhone), we finally hooked up with Wendy who had patiently waited for us.
Starting at the foot of Burford Spur we followed the footpath to the top and got our first panoramic view of the North Downs – part of which you can see in the video below.
Video above: A 360 degree view from the top of Burford Spur in the National Trust’s Box Hill Estate. [Sunday 11 April]
And continuing the “jumping on a hill” photo that we started in Krakow, the girls did another one here which was equally hilarious and easier too now with all the practice!
A quick break at the Box Hill Centre for a sugar hit (and to pick up a useful map) before we followed the path into the forest. Being away from the concrete jungle of London was very refreshing and before long we found some horses hard at work at pulling newly felled trees. See Yun and Wendy were quite taken by the horses but I liked the dogs that were resting nearby.
Continuing on, we passed the unusual Broadwood Tower, with a tree literally growing inside of it, and cut through Juniper Bottom valley to reach the summit of Juniper Top for our second panorama of the day. After absorbing the view, we headed back into the forest and made our way back to the start and our final panorama at the Box Hill viewpoint.
After all the walking it was bliss lying on the grass, soaking up the sun, and watching the clouds drift gently across the brilliantly blue sky. We finished the day with a Thai dinner before I jumped on a train back to London tired but already looking forward to our next walk together.
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