I joined ‪#‎DiscoverGuildford at the Compton Circular walk a few weeks ago as a plan of ‪#‎GetFit2015 and decided to come on The Surrey Hills Society trek along The Devils Punchbowl which Pete also lead.
Pete is a really knowledgeable and fun guide to be with. He does not rush new trekkers like me. Instead he always takes good care of us with well-planned routes and good cultural and historical stories behind every corner we have been to. I thoroughly enjoy his treks.

We meet new people every single time; good fun, good laughs and good people. I strongly recommend these to all my friends and just cannot wait for a weekend to join a new trek as a mini getaway from the busy daily life.

Well done Pete, and good luck for your plan to climb the Kilimanjaro.

Thanh Hà Dương (who regularly participates to the 20-30s walks)

Many are the woes of a keen rambler who doesn’t know how to use a compass. Whether it is the reluctance to explore the path less taken in a no-mobile-network area or being the group simpleton in a team of full of veteran ramblers, it is not fun being ‘that’ person. ‘That’ person could be the one getting ‘simplified’ instructions at de-briefing dinners or he/she could be the one that the Mountain Marshall distrusts! Don’t believe me? Let me narrate an incident.

Around mid-summer I took on the 3-peak challenge – climb 3 of the highest peak in the UK within 24 hours. Two of the ‘must-brings’ in the equipment list was a compass and a map. I argued that those items will only add to the weight in my bag without serving any other purpose. The Mountain Marshall decided that I was an enemy! He did remember, though, at the de-briefing dinner to keep instructions simple. “In case you separate from the group and get lost, keep going northwest and you are bound to hit the right trail”. Then, catching the Garfield-look from me, he goes ‘walk compass needle pointing top left!’ See what I mean?

So no points for guessing my reaction when I saw the Surrey Hills Navigation Walk advertised in the Newsletter. It was a sign – the universe was telling me to overcome my navigation disability.

After waiting for, what to me seemed like forever, D-day, July 2, dawned bright and sunny. A small group of friendly people under Pete’s leadership met at the Chilworth station. Starting from the Station, the group was paired up and it was decided that each of the pair take turns to lead. Each team of two was assigned the co-ordinates and it was their responsibility to figure out the path and get from Point A to Point B. Although this was a follow-up walk to a theoretical meet-up last February, absolute newbies like me (I only became a member at the end of June 2014) were given due guidance in understanding some of the map’s features and legends. Needless to say, it was one of the most interesting of walks I had done recently. The comradeship that comes out of knowledge sharing and information consulting can be quite stimulating. It keeps you encouraged, energised but mostly involved.

To me, as someone, who is keen on improving directional abilities, the best part of the walk was when we stopped on Blackheath to get our bearings. Standing there in a heath, setting the map with the compass so that it matches what you see in the distance and trying to point it in the right direction was quite interesting. We had the St Martha’s Church (yes the one at St Martha’s Hill, what an incredible sight) in the distance which we used to identify our position with, adjust the Magnetic North and Map Grid North and then decided on the direction of the path that would take us to our pre-designated spot.

At the end of the walk, I was, as they say ‘well chuffed’!

As a new member, I am keen to see unique and interesting Walks like these.

Can’t wait for Pete to organise another such walk. Come rain or shine I will sign up!

Editors Note: The author of this article – Supriya – is a young Indian lady who is working in Surrey at the moment. She comes from a family background where walking in the country is not regarded as “safe” so the concept of walks in the Surrey Hills is inspirational for her. She has recently joined the Society, and taken part in a number of our 20’s to 30’s events and others from our mainstream programme. Supriya is an excellent ambassador for the Society and shows the way that we can help people to explore and appreciate our special Surrey Hills.

I first became interested in English wines in the mid-1970’s when a couple of very warm summers helped producers to show what could be achieved. I remember examples from Hampshire, Sussex, Kent and even Essex but have no recollection of Surrey being represented. How things have changed! Surrey now has at least seven vineyards producing wine grapes and several more have been planted but are not yet in production. Denbies was probably the first and is certainly the largest. Others are Godstone, Greyfriars (Hogs Back), High Clandon (just entering production), Iron Railway (Merstham), Painshill (Cobham) and Wisley. Amongst the vineyards which have not yet started producing is Albury Organic Vineyard (by Silent Pool).

Developing a vineyard in Surrey requires a lot of faith and dedication. This is not because of the climate or geology – both of which can be checked out beforehand – but because of the capital investment and long lead time before a product is available to sell.

Having bought, leased or otherwise obtained the land, the soil needs to be prepared and planted with young vines. These days, this can be a high tech project. I recently watched a 4-5 hectare plot at Greyfriars vineyard being planted. A GPS beacon was set upon the corner of the plot – if the rows are too narrow or wiggly, then a tractor cannot get up and down them to work the vineyard and if they are too far apart, valuable land is wasted. A specialist vehicle, hired with it’s crew from Germany, was being driven up and down the slope using the GPS for exact positioning. On the rear of it, two people were feeding the young vines into equipment which dug the hole, planted the vine and backfilled as it went along. The expectation was that all of the 13,000 vines required for the plot would be planted within about a day! This is an enormous step forward from the traditional hand-planting approach which was so time consuming and labour intensive.

Posts and wires need to be erected along all the rows of vines to allow them to be trained and supported. Tying in of shoots, pruning, spraying, weeding and various other tasks keep the vineyard staff busy throughout the year. Then comes the winter. The vines need to be pruned back during their dormant season and are relatively hardy at this point. But once the sap begins to rise and shoots have started to show, frost becomes a major risk. Frost damage in the spring can knock back the new growth and decimate the potential crop. There are many techniques used to minimise frost damage but vineyard owners tend to have disturbed nights whenever there is a frost warning. Many vineyards can also suffer from animal and bird invasions which would destroy shoots, buds and grapes, so deterrents such as fencing, netting and bird scarers may all be needed to protect the crop.

The growing, pruning and vine management cycle continues for three years before the vines are old enough to produce grapes for a little bit of wine. This first crop is likely to be small but very eagerly awaited. The grapes will be picked and vinified and it is only the following spring that the vineyard owner gets a first taste of the still wine that has taken so much commitment to produce. Many of Surrey’s producers are aiming to make sparkling wine and these patient folks have to wait several years more to taste their first product since the process takes so much longer.

Some owners will have taken the major step of building their own vinification and bottling units whilst for others, third party contracts will be more cost effective. Either way, this is another significant overhead. Then there is labelling, storage, marketing and the inevitable vat on the product.

English wines are now winning significant numbers of awards and the best are winning internationally. Surrey is a natural home of sparkling wine due to the local geology and it is definitely true that the quality, complexity and finesse of these wines is comparable with many premium products from elsewhere. So when you buy your next bottle of Surrey wine, don’t consider that it is expensive compared to the mass produced products from some other parts of the world. What you are buying is a high quality local product with a flavour that encapsulates the Surrey land, climate and dedication of its producers. Go out and buy some today if you want to confirm this for yourself!

Ken Bare