They say you should never run a marathon before a marathon. Yesterday was the warm up. Today was the marathon. Seeing that walking has now become somewhat of an addiction, it was good to get a good solid walk in today. It was going to be a nice 10 miler, nothing too crazy, but a nice day’s hill work. We caught the train to nearby Milford to immerse ourselves in the Surrey Hills, Devil’s Punch Bowl and back to Hazelmere. The walk was pretty and very varied from roads to woods to burnt heathland to gullies. There seems to be just one piece of “interesting” history in this area and that is the story of a sailor who bought three strangers a few pints at a pub. Later the rogues murdered the friendly chap and as a result they were hanged in chains near Devil’s Punch Bowl. This happened in 1786. That’s the best they can do in 224 years of happenings. Sleepy little place. Devil’s Punch Bowl gets it’s name from the story of the devil scooping up the earth here to throw at Thor, the god of thunder. Why the devil actually wanted to do this and when he did it is a mystery. Maybe someone could investigate.

The walk home took us past Yoli’s sister’s allotment and an inevitable feast of green and glorious food stuffs was thoroughly enjoyed. Walking in nature and eating food fresh from the organic garden. This is heaven. Genevieve is Mother Nature personified, so not only is her allotment amazing, but so is her garden. If you ever wanted to know what the Garden of Eden was like in berry season, this is where you need to be. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, black currents, red currents, logan berries. Enough said. It doesn’t get any better.

XXX