14 January 2012
£8.50 gets me and my son by train to Reigate on a beautiful frosty morning. After half an hour pootling along the high street and round the mound of the ruined castle, we walk up the A217 to a nondescript turning into a muddy lane and embark on a 2 hour circular walk, at first along the bottom of the North Downs, through bare wintry woods, and skirting disused quarries, now overgrown and full of rich auburn leaves; then up a steep zigzag track to the top of the Downs, here called Colley Hill, stopping for a sandwich and the view.
The North Downs Way runs along the top here so we abandoned the circular walk and, instead of returning to Reigate, decided to follow the Way, walking 2 miles or so down through Gatton Park, past the lake, the private school, and the golf course, to Merstham, just as the sky turned pink with sunset, to catch the London train home. The whole day cold and crisp and beautiful.
Path at the foot of Colley Hill
Books & Boots 