The Fox Way: Day 2 - 4th March 2007

Rained all day. Not quite all day - for the last ten minutes the skies cleared a little, but for the preceeding six hours and twenty minutes, it rained incessantly. Sometimes heavily and sometimes not quite so heavily, it made the second day of the Fox Way something of a trudge.


We covered the remaining four 'links' from Ripley to Godalming without our international accompaniment, but with our fell-running pacemaker keeping us on our toes when morale dipped. Which was not too often, in fairness - for three soaking wet people, two of them aching considerably from the start, there was very little moaning and we got the job done.


From Ripley through to Shere we covered some familiar ground, passing the Surrey Hills brewery, crossing the North Downs Way and carrying on to Silent Pool. The last time we'd seen it (in the height of summer) there was no water at all, but now (possibly owing to the rain) it was full, in all its "eerie calm" glory (see http://www.mostparanormal.co.uk/html/silent_pool_surrey.html for some nonsense on the origin of the name).





Shere to Bramley was new to us, and would no doubt have been a very pleasant journey in more hospitable weather. Shere looks to be a village with some character, and we will certainly return to spend a little more time nosing around the streets and pubs. The route skirts underneath Blackheath Forest, and from this point you can allegedly see Guildford Cathedral:





- although we could not. Through this section we also got reacquainted with our old friend: ankle-deep oozing mud. This attempt to capture it in motion was not wholly successful, as the camera coped less well with the endless rain than its masters:





The final leg from Bramley to Godalming was a bit of a slog - with tired legs, soaked through and feeling quite cold, every step became an ordeal. Even the cajoles, entreaties and barkings of our Iron Man (who seemed unaffected by the day) couldn't rouse us, and we finished the last couple of miles with dragging feet.


Safely at home in the warm and dry, with a steaming bath and an Indian banquet to look forward to, the cold and the aching and the wet seem very far away.


All in all, an enjoyable and well-thought-out route (http://www.thefoxway.com/). Easily accessible with public transport, and with plenty to keep you interested. Possibly approach it over three days though... And at a drier time of year.
19 miles in 6.5 hours - not bad.