DAY 7 - OXTED TO REIGATE

DAY 7                                  Friday 26th September 2014

ROUTE                                Oxted to Reigate

DISTANCE                          12.2 miles
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE    93.5 miles

START POINT                    Flint House, Oxted - TQ 385 542

FINISH POINT                    Colley Hill, Reigate - TQ 248 522

WEATHER                          Overcast most of the day but sunny at the very end!

WALKERS                          Cally Charman, Rod Boreham and Graham Palmer

SUPPORT DRIVER            Jim Rice

SUFFER SCORE                5 (renewed impetus as we were joined by Jennie and Nick)    
    (On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easy and 10 being unbearable!) 

CTOG AWARD                   Jim Rice (aka 007)
                                           Awarded for his dedication during the week to the cause, his
                                           contribution to the cake tin, his superlative driving and ability to miss
                                           oncoming vehicles by a hair's breadth, his amusing texts (which will
                                           only be made public for the right price!) and his ability to make that 
                                           white van the best vision on the horizon that any weary walker could
                                           wish for!  Jim we love you and are going to miss our daily rendez-vous!                                                                                      

We were delighted to welcome Nick and Jennie McDuff onto our walk today.  Nick and Jennie are the first of many who we hope will join us over the weekend as we get closer and closer to our finish at Guildford Cathedral on Sunday afternoon.  The CTOG team are really looking forward to meeting you all over the weekend.

We welcome Jennie and Nick as honorary members of the team!

Day 7 started a little overcast but we were just grateful that once again, it was dry.  We really have been very fortunate with the weather as none of the team have had to put waterproofs on at any time on the walk so far.  Our start was just north of Oxted, now well into the county of Surrey.  As we once again headed east, the constant drone of the M25 motorway was never far away.

Walking back up along the North Downs Way

Jennie and Rod setting the pace for the day

Nick putting his best foot forward in hot pursuit

After only 40 minutes into our walk, we received a call from Jim to say that he had been approached by the Police and advised that there was a man roaming in the woods close by and on no account should he be approached.  Jim phoned us immediately and relayed the police request for assistance with the manhunt.  After a quick discussion amongst the team and with Nick and Jennie it was decided to continue on our route as planned.  Not long after, we too met up with another police officer who told us that the person they were interested in was camped out in the woods about 100 metres or so from where we had just walked.  The police officer was concerned about the man in the woods and showed us a photo of him but seemed more interested in guarding the cash machine that had been dumped at this location having been extricated from a wall somewhere nearby!  After hearing tales of how thieves remove money from these ATM machines we progressed on our way, crossing a footbridge over the A23 to meet Jim for a brief rendez-vous before finally stopping for a quick coffee and lunch stop at the Harrow Inn at Arthur’s Seat near Caterham.

The ideal watering hole, albeit just coffee.....

Coffee was slow to materialise - however Jennie more than compensated for this by producing a lovely fruit cake which, as we had now been walking for nearly a week, was very much appreciated by the team.  For Jim however this was clearly not enough and he deliberately teased us by ordering himself a sumptuous roast dinner of pork belly and mustard mash!  

Don't worry about us Jim, we'll survive!

Energised by just coffee and cake it was time to leave Jim to his lunch and head off towards Merstham.   

The morning haze had cleared to allow a magnificent view of London, some 22 miles away. As we moved on Canary Wharf also came into view and we enjoyed a panoramic view of all the major skyscrapers in the capital including the Shard.

Magnificent views of London - camera did not do this justice!

We plough the fields and scatter....

Emerging onto open farmland with Merstham ahead of us

Early afternoon sunshine breaking through the clouds

The M23 (southbound) nearing its junction with the M25

The noise of the M25 was relentless and increased in volume as it was joined by the M23.  Having passed beneath the M23 we continued towards Merstham where we said farewell to Nick and Jennie who were going to head back to Guildford on the train.  It had been a pleasure to have them walking with us today and we hope they enjoyed their time with us.

After walking through the churchyard at Merstham we crossed the footbridge over the M25 to reach Merstham village itself. 

Pausing for thought at Merstham Church

Cally is reminded of the chocolate she has forfeited in coming on this walk!

Now that's what I call a coffee, Jim!

Our route along the North Downs Way now took us across the fairways of the Reigate Hill Golf Club as we headed towards the top of Reigate Hill and our finishing point for the day.

The North Downs Way took us through the grounds of the Royal Alexandra and Albert School near Gatton Park where we discovered the Milllennium Stones which were originally commissioned by Wolseley Fine Arts as a touring exhibition to mark the millennium. Artist Richard Kindersley carved 10 standing stones to mark the double Millennium from the birth of Christ to 2000AD. Each stone represents a 200 year segment and is inscribed with a quotation from a writer prominent in that period. The first stone starts with words from St John (In the beginning the Word was) with the final stone displaying an extract from TS Eliot, a poet who clearly understood the need to discover meaning in our spiritual uncertainty.

An impromptu RVP at the entrance to Gatton Park

 

The Millenium Stones

Ascending through Gatton Park

The manicured countryside of Surrey

Next stop was the viewing point at the top of Reigate Hill and the opportunity for an ice cream whilst watching the aircraft flying in and out of Gatwick Airport, 7 miles away in the distance.

Emerging onto Reigate Hill

Reigate Hill viewpoint

Oink!

A special treat - our reward for defeating Reigate Hill!

Onwards to our final stop of the day at Colley Hill.  

Passing Reigate Fort on our left....

And Reigate mast on our right....

The Folly on Colley Hill comes into view

You look wonderful Graham.....

Scary!

The end of the day regrettably heralded the end of Jim's duty as crew van driver and we were sad to say goodbye as he had served us so well.  However, he had rightfully earned a rest and duly handed the keys to Mike, one of the original members of the team, who was due to pick up the baton for our last two days.

Jim hands over the keys and wishes Mike all the best for the weekend ahead!

Last team photo with Jimbo

We retired for the day with the hope of more people joining us on our walk over the weekend as we move ever closer to our final finish in Guildford on Sunday.

www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/CTOG14