Читать книгу The North Downs Way. National Trail from Farnham to Dover онлайн

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Bluebells carpet king's Wood in springtime (Stage 10a)

For some distance east of Newlands Corner the trail pushes through woodland, breaking out here and there to cropped grass, cowslips and orchids, and surprise views south to Leith Hill and an extensive ridge of greensand beyond which lies the Weald. Then, having crossed Ranmore Common, the route skirts England's largest vineyard as it descends into the Mole Valley. Here the river is crossed on romantic stepping stones, followed by a sharp ascent of much-loved Box Hill which signals the start of a roller-coaster section, dodging in and out of woodland interspersed with open panoramic highpoints, one of the best being between Colley Hill and Reigate Hill.

Between Reigate Hill and Ockley Hill a plague of motorways and railway lines threatens to disrupt the onward route, but the North Downs Way planners have successfully negotiated a way across with very little tarmac underfoot, and soon after leaving Merstham the crest of the Downs is regained once more, where the Pilgrims’ Way carries the journey over agricultural land for a while. Above Oxted the line of the Greenwich Meridian is crossed, and between here and Westerham Hill the trail exchanges Surrey for Kent. Where the county boundary is met, a special marker stone announces that you've walked 48 miles since Farnham, but have another 65 miles to go to Canterbury, and 77 to Dover.