A mid-week day in Surrey today, exploring Nik’s haunts from his childhood. Coincidentally, as Ash and Roman are in the same county, it was the perfect opportunity for a visit to them, too, especially as it dawned on us that we hadn’t seen them since last September. Where do the days, weeks and months go? That was all later, though, for the first stop of the day was Sidcup, to call in on Sal, and, as it turned out, a very excited William. Cupcakes, coffee, bedroom tours and football later (you must be bad at kick-abouts when a three-year-old asks you ‘What was that?’) we said our farewells and were on the road again to darkest deepest Surrey.
Calling in at Leatherhead on the way to Box Hill, I was expecting a grand spa-like town – though for no known reason – and what greeted us was disappointing. Maybe grand in its day, the drive through another Home Countries town, Dorking, painted a far prettier picture. There was no time for stopping, though, as our mid-afernoon rendezvous with Ash at the 564ft summit of Box Hill was but a short time away. Now owned by the National Trust, the North Downs beauty spot is named after the box trees which grow on its southern and western sides and overlooks Dorking to the south-west. And overlook it does, with spectacular views of Devil’s Dyke on the far distance.
A former childhood playground of Nik and Sal’s from over 25 years ago, a labyrinth of pathways and trails weave their way around the 490-hectare site. There’s even an old fort, built in the late 1890s as one of a number of buildings with the aim to protect London from invasion from continental Europe. We weren’t there for that, though; we were treasure-hunting with the GPS, looking for geocaches. We were lucky and found four (including one in the old fort), a record compared to the last time we were rummaging around in the undergrowth not far from home and only found one.
As afternoon turned into early evening, it was back to Ash’s for tea and to wait for Roman to return from work. We also met the very pretty and friendly cat from next door, who wasted no time in introducing herself and her tummy full of babies. A ‘showgirl’ cat if ever there was one, with a big fluffy tail, long fur, and a very affectionate nature, she regularly wanders into flats where she doesn’t live, as her owner seems to have more than her fair share of feline company.
It wasn’t long before three became four, though, and we all headed out to Nando’s in Epsom for spicy chicken and bean burgers and endless drink refills. By the time we’d finished, the morning visit to Sal’s had seemed like a long time ago, so we bid our friends goodbye and headed home, avoiding the 10-mile tailbacks on the M25, due to the earlier minibus accident which had closed the other side of the carriageway since four that afternoon.
