My Hike (part 1)

Hello! I know it's been a while, so you'd best get ready for quite a few posts today, most of which will be concentrated around this hike that I did last week.

I was getting tired of the constant crowds here in London, so I decided to head out into the country side, and, armed with my book "Walks in London and South East England", a compass, my camera and a bottle of water, I set out into the wild blue yonder.

This is the path I ended up taking:

Originally this was was meant to be a circlular walk, and to be only about 9km long. As you can see above, I didn't complete the circle - I only ended up about halfway around the circle before I doubled back and came home.
Why? Well... partly because I spent a decent amount of time in a church in the village of Shere, and partly because I took a wrong turn heading into a field, and walked around 1.5 miles in the wrong direction before I figured it out and doubled back. There are just so many paths out there it's easy to get lost. Besides, I saw all the important stuff, anyways! Plus I had already walked over 8 miles.... and was pooped!

I'll start with some general pictures that I took in the countryside - you'll have to wait for the pictures of the church and village.
Ah yes... Public Footpath, this way!
Heading down along the path...
Free string anyone? I thought about it... but I have no need for string.
And yet, even out here in the countryside they will collect your post every day and get it anywhere in England by the next day. Go postal service!

Here's some standard country-bumpkin photos - everything looked so good with the rusty chains and wheat.
And sheep!
And some awful friendly horses. Well, when I say friendly, I mean that they wanted the apple that I was holding. After they got it, then they were awful friendly.
Nom nom nom!
And one lonely tree...

And one privately owned church. It was on private land and privately owned, and closed. So I snuck up as close as I could and snapped some photos before sneaking away.
This is one of the "silent pools". Wikipedia says: The Silent Pool, however, is of a much earlier origin and is considered by some to be a sacred site. It is linked to a folklore tale that says King John on his horse abducted a woodcutter’s daughter who was forced into the deep water and drowned. According to the legend, the maiden can be seen at midnight.

I didn't stay until midnight to see the aformentioned maiden, but the water sure was clear. Clear enough to drink... although I didn't.
This is in the village of Shere. You will see lots of pretty houses and a pretty church in another post.

The day, while cloudy in the morning, turned quite warm and lovely, and the views were quite spectacular.

Stay tuned for more photos of my adventure!