Walking with friends

Today we met up with some friends for a walk to a pub and beyond. Their day started with dodging the crowds and closed roads due to the London-Surrey Cycle Race. This was a rehearsal for the Olympics next year - twice up and around Box Hill (SSSI) in the middle, a strenuous uphill zig-zag to test the best of them. We started off walking up and over Pewley Down and down to the Wey where we crossed over by Guildford's golden sands.

 There were plenty of people out and about, walking, biking, rowing and kayaking; and even trying their hand navigating the Navigation in a narrow boat. We made good time to the Parrot, arriving around 13.15, but they seemed to have overlooked our booking although there it was in the diary.

Nevertheless, we did get a table, and soon had our drinks and ordered lunch - roast beef and turkey. We chatted away, catching up on the news from both sides, but no food was forthcoming, so at just after two, we inquired as to what was going on. They had lost the order, so we had to start again, although it was tempting to up sticks and go elsewhere. We could have free drinks as compensation, but that's slim consolation. At 14.35 the meals arrived and after we had dessert, too, we were on our way by 15.20.

Our first stop was to visit Shalford Mill, a National Trust property since 1932, but built back in the late eighteenth century, one of twenty five mills along the length of the Tillingbourne river that rises by Leith Hill and joins the Wey, just across the road from this site. We had a comprehensive tour from our guide, David, who is a complete enthusiast. He has done plenty of research into the history and working of the place and has even built a working model on display inside. 

 

 We clambered  up the steps and ladders to the top to where the new grain was hoisted from the farmers' carts, and then began its journey down the various shoots to arrive to be gathered into sacks as flour on the ground floor.

Now we took the footpath in front of the mill, over the mill race, and up to the Chantries. It was pleasant under the trees, then coming out into the sunlight at the top of the slope, only to plunge down the other side. We turned left eventually, to follow the narrow path between the fields  where harvesting was taking place, even on Sunday.

Neat square bales lay where the combine dropped them. Soon we were back up on Pewley Down to complete the circuit, and we got back home by six for a welcome cup of tea, and to see the start of the last day of the USPGA Golf from Atlanta. Mark Cavendish had won the cycle race, in the meantime!


The Wey
Shalford Mill
Tillingbourne River
Box Hill
London-Surrey Cycle Race