A failed attempt to go from Box Hill to Leith Hill
Thus far I mostly hiked with meetup.com or with my friend Amy, who is great at planning hikes and outdoor trips in general. But Amy was out due to knee issues and the meetup hikes I liked were at capacity; so I decided to go off on my own. Over the course of one day, the plan to hike from Dorking to Leith Hill changed to hiking from Box Hill to Leith Hill and the result was hiking to Box Hill and then getting lost on the way to Leith Hill.
I hardly ever hike on my own. The main reasons are that I’m a bit lazy when it comes to planning the route and moreover, I’m worried about getting lost. The only occasion I ever recall hiking on my own was on Vancouver Island, but the Juan de Fuca trail is literally just one path. In the UK, planning a hike is a very different scenario. There are many footpaths and bridleways all over the UK, which on some sections aren’t visible as such e.g. when they’re leading through farmland and meadows with cows, sheep or horses.
I’d looked up some hikes online, and found the description of a circular hike to Leith Hill that I really liked, so I aimed for that. Without a car, Leith Hill is either 4 km from the nearest station, Holmwood, or 9 km from Dorking. Since I was hiking on a Sunday, and trains don’t serve Holmwood on a Sunday, I decided to take the train from London to Dorking and start my hike there.
As I was sat on the train, I realised the train was also serving Box Hill & Westhumble, just under an hour from London. I’d heard of Box Hill before and when the train stopped at the station, I could literally see the hill and people going up there from my train window. So I left the train on a whim, to go up to Box Hill, thinking that if I can reach Leith Hill from Dorking, I might as well walk there straight from Box Hill.
Box Hill lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it is a popular destination for visitors to the area. An estimated 850,000 people visit this accessible hill each year to go on one of the many charming hikes such as the Hill Top Stroll or the Stepping Stone Walk, both of which I did while I was up there. The views are truly amazing on a clear day and there is a little café and playground up there, too. Denbies Wine Estate, one of the largest wine producers in the UK, is very close so visitors can stop by to sample some English wine when they’re in the area.
It was already close to 2 pm when I finally made my way to cross Dorking to get to Leith Hill. But I’m not one to give up easily so I made my way to and through Dorking along the main road, because I thought that would be quickest. I didn’t have a proper map or hiking description so I followed Google Maps (please don’t judge me).
Crossing Dorking took me about an hour and it wasn’t overly pleasant to walk along the road for all this time. When I finally got to Milton Heath & The Nower, it finally dawned on me that getting to Leith Hill (and back to Dorking) that same day would be a bit of a push. Milton Heath & The Nower is a very peaceful, semi-natural woodland reserve.
I spent a little more time trying to find my way to Leith Hill with Google Maps and then, by sheer luck, found “The Temple”, a roofed canopy with wonderful views north towards Denbies Hill and Dorking and south towards the Weald. That’s when I finally admitted defeat. I sat down under the canopy, took my aluminium flask, poured some coffee and ate a couple of biscuits. Then I headed past Bury Hill Fisheries and through a very charming area with cottages and neatly trimmed hedges, back to Dorking station. For an actual hike description of a walk from Box Hill to Leith Hill, click here.
