Essex Man Does Walking

Caterham to Dunton Green

This is a day late as we nearly didn’t make it to the end. The heat was so bad and despite our best planning and lots of water we nearly ended up with heat exhaustion. Thankfully we found somewhere to stay out of the sun and drink fluids.

The day started early in order to escape the worst of the Sun. Rob had come up the night before in order to join me for todays walk and some of tomorrow. We got an Uber to the trail head and then proceeded to take the wrong track within minutes! Like a lot of the North Downs Way, signage is a bit sparse. Using the GPS we made it around to join up with the trail. Here we went over the A22 and then through mainly wooded and up/down sections passing places like Godstone and Oxted. There were some really great views coming down from the tops of hills. The Sun was bright but we were mainly in the shade.

The trail continues but with less shade and more hills. The hum of the M25 gets louder and then goes away. We meet up with Rob’s favourite the Vanguard way and follow it for a bit before coming off it again. At one point we pass the Greenwich Meridian line. We continue on towards our lunch spot but it is closed so we head to the back up a golf club a little further on. It is here I make the mistake of not getting food. Rob wasn’t hungry and we thought we might try a pub further on. In hindsight lack of energy did not help with the heat on the way to that pub.

From this point on shade is sparse and we cross field after field in blazing 34C. I am starting to feel a bit nauseous and weak despite the amount of water and electrolytes I have drunk. Even a Red Bull did not help. We take the wrong turning to get to the pub so end up walking further. Eventually we reach sanctuary and it is all I can do to sit and get through 2 pints of iced lemonade. After 3/4 hour I start to feel better and we eat our way through nachos covered in chilli and cheese. The skies begin to haze an we decide to make a last push to get to the end. The wind picks up as well and I start to feel back to normal. We head mainly downhill and get to the station. At the hotel we count our lucky stars and get some more food and beer.

Distance: 17 miles