A Walk In The Park

19 September - Woke up at a reasonable hour and then made our way to Victoria Station then another train into the British countryside down near the Surrey Hills, a little bit different from the Surrey Hills that I remember. Last time I lived in London I rarely got away and never went into the countryside so it was a little bit of an adventure. The trail was incredibly well made and maintained and even though there were some very severe hills and it was very long (about 5 hours walking) it was never terribly difficult. We passed some pillboxes which were remnants of London's last line of defence during WW2 but now seemed to be serving as public restrooms unfortunattly. The landscape can only be described as picturesque, it is so organised and so ... managed. Despite it being very familiar from TV and British costume dramas it was completely alien tp me - i've never walked in a space like it. The walks in Australia and Asia that i've done have always been in wildish bushland - even the walks in Sydneycity - and everything that we saw in Surrey was perfectly manicured and had human hands all over it. It's certainly not a nature walk - but it was very pretty and completely new to me. There were lots of other walkers we met along the path - many of them very properly attired and all very politely friendly as well. Haven't seen so many pure bred dogs as I have on this walk - very different from the mongrels and mixes of SE Asia. Also, I think the walk did my knees some good so there was a twofold benefit. Will definitely make it out somewhere to another similar place before I leave ENgland.