Surrey – David Kotz

Chantry Wood hike

An extended walk in Chantry Woods with about twenty other Dartmouth alums.

I had my third opportunity to hike, today, in an outing jointly organized by the Dartmouth Club of the United Kingdom and the Tuck alumni club of the United Kingdom, to the Chantry Wood area around Guildford in Surrey. About 20 Dartmouth alums and three dogs came along. The day started cloudy, shifted to hazy, and ended with blue skies, leaving all in a wonderful mood as we settled in for a late Sunday lunch at the Seahorse Pub. As the photo gallery shows, the trees were beginning to show their autumn colors, and the route exposed us to a wide variety of meadows, forests, fallow farm fields, and country lanes.
A beautiful day! [Slideshow]

A farm with vast fields, with distant view of farmhouse and barn.

Box Hill circuit

A circuitous ramble over and around Box Hill in the Surrey downs.

Four weeks after arriving in London for a year-long sabbatical, I was itching to get outdoors – out in the hills, forests, and meadows, after weeks of city life. Don’t get me wrong – I am truly enjoying the chance to explore London, and to adapt to city living. But I am a country mouse, at heart, and needed to be out where I could climb hills, take in broad vistas, and listen to the wind in the trees. After some online snooping, I settled on this eight-mile circular walk around Box Hill, just an hour’s train journey south of London. Read on!