North Downs Way: Day 3

Jude and Hayley assured me this trail was quiet.

“We barely saw anyone.”

They clearly did not catch the train to Westhumble on a sunny summer Saturday, where over 40 hikers swarm onto the platform before joining the cyclists, joggers and dog walkers ascending Box Hill, the highest point on the North Downs in Surrey and famous for the gruelling zig-zag centrepiece of the 2012 London Olympics road race. Others would rather swim.

Everyone is sensibly walking up before the temperature rises, stepping over tree roots polished by a thousand feet.

The woodland path is deserted once I leave the Box Hill honeypot. A brick tower rises from the trees below a sign for Betchworth chalk quarry and lime works. I push through the undergrowth for a closer look at the kiln, birds flying in and out of the holes near the top. There are bat roosts here, now a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The abandoned workyard is surrounded by secure fencing, so I can only peer through the railings.

Back on the path, there’s a rustling in the undergrowth. Kneeling, scanning the bushes for a long time with my phone zoom lens, a pair of button eyes peep out as the cutest wood mouse stands, sniffs the air and clasps his hands anxiously. I want to take him home, but our predatory Norwegian Forest cats would not make the best foster parents.

https://youtu.be/EKApWrXqKBw?si=8s4rVN445O0E8p-X

A holloway curves up the hillside, flanked by fences with menacing signs warning of patrolling dogs, jarring in this pleasant woodland. Further up, a sign on a wooden gate tells me this is Mole Place, rather at odds with the barbed wire coiled along the top and the large red Keep Out sign. Peeking through a gap in the gate, a small wooden dwelling suggests a hermit or a survivalist.

A bright white post with an eye-catching shield, the second I’ve seen today, is one of 210 remaining coal-tax posts. Coal taxes were originally levied in the 17th century to fund the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. As coal began to be transported over land, a ring of posts was established to ensure merchants were aware of the duty.

There are sweeping views from Colley Hill.

A stone pavilion, originally a drinking fountain for horses, sits at one end of the open ridge. A modern pram does little for the neoclassical style, so I ask the nearby picknicking family if I can move it temporarily. Why have they left it out here in the sun when it could be parked beneath the shady trees where they are eating?

Further along the ridge, two wooden wingtips carved from Surrey oaks rest in a clearing, placed the same distance apart as on a Flying Fortress, a memorial to nine US airmen who lost their lives in 1945, returning from a mission, damaged and crashing in a cloud bank. Metal from the plane is buried nearby.

After the obligatory Classic Magnum and Coke sugar rush at the busy Junction 8 Cafe, the path descends through Gatton Park, where Millennium Stones rise. Created by Richard Kindersley to mark the double millennium, there’s one stone for every 200 years, each bearing an inscription from that period. Stone 9 seems most appropriate for my walking philosophy now.

The deed is all, the glory nothing.

Johann von Goethe 1749-1832 AD

I’ve arrived at pretty St Katharine’s Church in Merstham just after a wedding service, trying to avoid photo-bombing the young newlyweds as they pose for a photographer under a gate at the entrance.

This is reassuring, but could he clear a few brambles on the way?

Quiet roads lead past farms, including one with an unusual collection of rusting vehicles.

After a climb up Ockley Hill, exposed to the blistering sun, there’s a welcome return to a shady lane running past a Victorian folly at Tower Farm.

It’s a very long walk into Caterham, through pretty woodland and suburban streets.

There’s only time for a swift half before my train home, caught up in the heaving pub celebrations as Arsenal score an early goal in their Champions League Final. I’ve clearly brought them luck. Perhaps I should have stayed?

Date of walk: Saturday 30 May 2026.

Walk distance: 17 miles.