Soft Southern Climb
GOMSHALL TO DORKING VIA SHERE, ALBURY, BLACKHEATH FOREST, WONERSH, CHILWORTH AND POLESDEN LACEY I'm not daft. I walked the day before Storm Austen and it was really splendid. My walk spanned the geology I'm beginning to understand really well and as the season turns over to the wet and windy, the soft southern sandy heaths and the chalk uplands of the North Downs present the heather and gently burnishing vegetation. The Wealden anticline extends over the Channel so that what is good for the grape in parts of this 'unroofed' structure also provide the acidic, poor sandy soils of heath and common that is now such a precious landscape. Last week I'd been metaphorically, under the weather and had truly missed the opportunity of my weekly adventure. This week, I got a head start on the real thing, so to speak. I doubled down and outdid myself because there are two major climbs on this lengthy route. I got good value. The walk begins on the Surrey heaths and then rises si...
