Following in pilgrims footsteps

It’s been a dull, dreary and bitterly cold Sunday but we woke this morning with a plan and so long as it wasn’t raining, we were determined to spend a few hours out in the Surrey countryside.  After all the reading up of walking in Britain that I’ve been doing over the past few weeks in my quest to source exciting trails and routes for Susie-Belle and Renae to enjoy this year, you’d have thought I might have had a better appreciation for what’s on my doorstep here in the south of England. I feel a bit of a dullard right now having just returned from walking a stretch of the North Downs Way. I didn’t realise what a fantastic trail this is with great potential for hours and hours (maybe even days and days) of walking and what a fascinating history it has.

It’s 153 miles long and runs from Farnham on the edge of the Surrey Hills all the way across the south of England through Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty through to Dover.  For much of its length the trail parallels the old Pilgrim’s Way route between Winchester and Canterbury, along which pilgrims travelled to the shrine of Thomas Beckett.

None of this was of any interest of course this morning to Susie-Belle and Renae; what piqued their interest was the smorgasbord of smells that the new route presented. Starting at Westhumble (cute name) station, we headed up the lane, across footpaths, through woods and eventually joined the well marked North Downs Way. This took us up a steep hill and along behind Denbies Wine Estate and fortunately there were no cyclists and just the odd Sunday morning jogger. I say fortunately because cyclists manage to trigger Renae’s chase instinct and Susie-Belle’s vocal cords so they’re always lively encounters.