🥾 Walk 237 - Friday Street, Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill

We had ten people for our walk on Sunday 14th August, which included a newcomer to the group. This walk was a little out of our normal area, being well into Surrey, but it gave us a chance to explore somewhere that was new to us although well known to our walk leader.

Setting off from the car park we followed a path by the road that took us to the tiny hamlet of Friday Street, which is literally just one street. Walking past the mill pond and through Friday Street, the road soon became a track. This we followed for a short distance before turning off onto a footpath through the mixed woodland of Severells Copse.

A bit of road walking then took us into Wotton Common, with its sandy soil and pine trees. Following well established tracks through the woodland, we made our way upwards to Leith Hill. On the way we spotted a fallen tree of such a strange, snake-like shape that it had inspired someone to add eyes (two metal washers) and some scales (old copper coins driven into the grain of the wood).

Leith Hill rises to 965 feet above sea level and at its summit is a tower, allowing you to reach an altitude of 1000 feet if you climb the long spiral staircase. Some of us went up for the view - and what a view!

To the north-east you could see the silhouette of the London skyline. You could just make out the distinctive shapes of the 'Shard' and the BT Tower. In all other directions you could see views of the Surrey Hills and North Downs.

Leaving Leith Hill, we joined the Greensand Way, a long-distance path that follows the Greensand ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills to Kent. We followed it, and a footpath that ran parallel to it, for the two miles between Leith Hill in Wotton Common and Holmbury Hill in Hurt Wood. This hill is topped by the remains of an Iron Age hill fort, where we stopped to admire the view and have our picnic lunch.

After lunch we walked through Hurt Wood and down into the pleasant village of Holmbury St Mary where we stopped at the Royal Oak pub for a drink. Suitably rehydrated on this warm day, we continued on the last leg of our journey, through the woodland of Holmbury St Mary and Abinger Common, back to the Friday Street car park. See our route on Bing Maps.

This interesting and lovely walk was well worth travelling the extra distance to get to, with countryside quite different to our usual Berkshire scenery.

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