Dorking; Saturday, 06 July, 2024

Over the previous week or so the weather forecast had changed on an almost hourly basis going from a total washout to gloriously sunny. In the end I woke up to heavy rain pounding on the room windows and the wall of rock that Box Hill is almost hidden by mists, despite it being right behind the hotel.

The forecast did show that the rain should give way to showers after about 11am so I decided to have a slow start to the day – a late and leisurely breakfast aiming to head out of the hotel after 11.

In the end the weather did pretty much keep to the forecast, with the sun emerging from the clouds just before 11, so I headed out and started on my slow walk up Box Hill. In theory, according to all the guides and maps, the route I had chosen should take only about 40 minutes – but that’s based on not meandering off on detours to look at the river or the views, and stopping to take photos.

On my way up it was clear there were many people doing it considerably quicker as I was repeatedly passed by the same person running up and down from the river to the peak – just the sight of him was making my knees twinge!

The route I took was the steepest, but also the most interesting as it starts down at the River Mole with the stepping stones crossing over the river (there is a nearby bridge for those who don’t want to risk the slightly slippery stones, or on the days when the river has completely covered them!), before a very steep ascent up, over 300 steps cut into the side of the hill to the top of the hill and the all-important National Trust Café for a scone and water stop. The journey up slowed down as well by quite frequent diverts under the tree cover to hide from some quite impressive showers – very heavy but also thankfully very thick. Towards the top it was even possible to watch the shower approach from the distance across the ridge, giving time to find a dry spot under the thick foliage to watch it go past.

Up at the top of the hill, and after refuelling in the café, I had a bit of a wander around, including visiting the late 19th century fort that was built here – the twin to another one further along the ridge – built as a final line of defence should the empire fall to stop the enemy from advancing on London.

Alongside the walk up the hill, it’s also possible to catch the number 21 bus on weekdays and Saturdays. The bus starts in Crawley and heads through Dorking before climbing up to the National Trust carpark at the top of the hill, and then heading back down and onto Epsom. The bus only runs every 2 hours and I’d just missed the one back to Dorking so, with another Heavy Shower clearly closing in, I headed over to the bus stop to catch the bus 20 minutes later heading in the opposite direction back towards Epsom to make it into a little tour of the Surrey Hills.

Getting off in Epsom I grabbed a very late lunch before picking up the bus through to Guildford that runs up through the Surrey Hills. In Guildford I stopped for an early dinner before hopping on the bus back to Dorking which runs along the bottom edge of the North Down, with at time spectacular views of the North Downs ridge high above us. Arriving back at Dorking station I wandered back to the hotel, detouring via the Stepping Stone and the footbridge just to avoid having to walk the whole way back along the A24 main road.

Sadly, by the time I got back to the hotel the pool had long since shut so instead I just freshened up in my room before heading down a bit later to the bar for a couple of drinks and then an early night.