Expedition North Downs Way - 'Men for all Seasons': North Downs Way - Leg One

Mumford and English at Farnham castle

NORTH DOWNS WAY

– EXPEDITION ‘MEN FOR ALL SEASONS’

LEG ONE OF SIX; 24^th – 25^th MARCH 2012

FARNHAM TO REIGATE

Summary

Leg One – 2 days, 30 miles, Farnham to Reigate. Mission success. Vital lessons learned. Confidence up, now must prepare for Leg 2 in April.

Background

Having risen at 0400 hrs our mothers took us and met at Clacket Lane Service Station on the M25 at 0530 hrs. From

Clacket Lane

we were driven as one to Farnham Castle for photographs then taken into Farnham Railway Station where the

North Downs Way

begins. The weather was mild with light mist, and cold enough to start our walk wearing coats; our departure time was 0700 hrs. We made excellent progress up to midday as the ground in the initial stage of the Way is low lying, agricultural, wooded and unremarkable in terms of view even though the Hog’s Back was less than a mile to our North.

English and Mumford at Farnham
Castle

The Official start of the
North Downs Way

Our walk had taken us through Moor Park, a significant house where Charles Darwin in 1859 (the same year that ‘Origin of Species’ was published) had recuperated from an ‘uncommon combination of symptoms’ and was quoted as saying ‘the country is very pleasant for walking’. During WWII the ‘stop line’ ran through Moor Park which became evident later when we came across

North Down Way

‘pill box’ defences, designed to stop the German invasion reaching London. Later in the war Canadians were billeted at Moor Park.

Snack stop outside Moor Park

By 0945 hrs, East of Seale and Sands Civil Parish; we were already hungry, and had realised that we were not carrying enough snacking food so we stopped for lunch, eating our Army rations cold, making a note to bring snack food next time. Deceptively, we had, in less than 3 hours, made over one fifth of our intended total distance of 30 miles.

Mumford's early lunch on the first day

Mumford with his lunch

Before midday we entered the village of Puttenham; we were already short of water, a second lesson again linked to logistics. Puttenham features in Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’. Having drawn water from the Puttenham Golf Course we pressed on for Watts’ Art Gallery celebrating the work of English artist George Frederic Watts – portrait painter, 1817-1904. Watts lived near to Puttenham and many of his works are displayed in the Tate Gallery, London. It was at this point that we realised to horror that we had misread our maps and were some 4 miles out, and short of where we thought we should have been – lesson no. 3 (map reading) – we had relied on sign posts and so lost track of where we were on the map.

Passing to the North of Godalming, famous for the River Wey which flows through its centre. During the 13-18^th century, Godalming’s major industry was wool and cloth. Interestingly, Godalming takes its name from the Saxon 'Godhelms Ingus' translated as “the family of Godhelm”, and probably referring to one of the first lords of the Manor. North East of Godalming and East of the River Wey the ground rises leading to the peak of St Martha’s Hill.

On top of St Martha’s Hill at 175m (and predominantly sand under foot) in a break of wood lies St Martha’s Capel rebuild on the ruins of a 12^th century church, which itself was built on the site of an earlier Saxon church were reputedly pagan Saxon burnt Christian martyrs. In addition there lies the grave of the New Zealander Lt Gen Bernard Freyberg VC, DSO and 3 Bars. As a Lt Col in WWI he served in the Royal West Surrey Regiment. The views to the South East from St Martha’s were spectacular with visibility stretching for miles.

Mumford at the top of St Martha's Hill

We left St Martha’s Hill at 1530 hrs and arrived at our pre-arranged campsite located at a farm 15 miles from the start 1645 hrs. Having met with the farmer and his wife we set camp, repaired blisters, cooked our rations, replenished with water, played cards and slept. Throughout the night we were cold and constantly waking up (Lesson No.4) – different sleeping bags for different seasons.

At 0500 hrs ‘Alarm failure’ (Lesson No. 5) – get an alarm that works. At 0705 hrs we set out for Day 2. It took far too long to pack up and get going – Lesson No. 6 – plan and prepare (where possible) for departure the night before – have a standard operating procedure for packing up.

Dawn was cold, but walking up the steep hill towards Guilford to rejoin the

North Downs Way

we warmed up and were able to start taking off layers. Throughout the morning we made excellent headway on high ground where a flat track led through a major wooded section of our journey South of East Horsley. The ridgeline West of Dorking was covered in ‘pill box’ defences; we were walking on the old ‘stop line’ which interestingly runs through English’s village in Kent where English’s Grandfather was a member of the Kent Home Guard as a Reserved Occupation (Farmer).

This is the path where we made good
ground in the morning of day two.

The Pill Boxes making up the defence line
on the ridge.

After the defence line and to the North of Dorking we passed along side Denbies Wine Estate which at the last recorded count had approximately 300,000 vines. Denbies lies to the West of Box Hill where Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ is mentioned when they picnic. Box Hill is famous for its ‘zig-zag’ road. 40% of naturally grown box trees are found on this hill, hence its name. At Denbies Wine Estate at 1115 hrs we set ourselves the task of being at the top of Box Hill 1200 hrs – this we did, a distance of 2 miles but up the steep hill.

Lesson No.7 – bring more batteries for the camera. We have no pictures from Denbies Wine Estate onwards. However, we had now learned that a routine of break taking and snacking helped maintain momentum – a positive Lesson (No.8) – take routine stops for rest and snacking.

English at vineyard.

Mumford at the vinyard with Box Hill in the
background.

On top of Box Hill we took a midday lunch. We were due to meet Mumford’s mother at 1400hrs at Clifton’s Lane south of the M25, West of Reigate. However, we were late owing to poor time and distance calculation. We had become over-confident as our progress in the morning had been fast and we didnt keep up the pace as fatigue had suddenly taken a grip after our lunch. Lesson No.9 – stick to timings by planning for delay and fatigue.

Comments

The first leg went extremely well in developing our operating procedures. We now really know what does and does not work. However, the weather was good and future legs may throw up surprises. Our confidence in our own abilities is up. We are beginning to know our strengths and weaknesses (and how to over come the latter) as an example on Day 2 we had the energy to run but our feet were starting to deteriorate. Sometimes you just have to work through and push on.

Lessons Identified

No.1 – More snacks so that main meals are eaten at appropriate times.

No.2 – Water carriage requires planning.

No.3 - Map reading – don’t rely on road signs, check the map more often.

No.4 – Different sleeping bags for different seasons.

No.5 – Get an alarm that works.

No.6 – Plan and prepare (where possible) for departure the night before – have a standard operating procedure for packing up.

No.7 – Bring more batteries for the camera.
No.8 – Take routine stops for rest and snacking.

No.9 – Stick to timings by planning for delay and fatigue.