The Stonar Way 05.06.26

As regular readers (if there are such things!) of this piece may remember, each year I set aside a few days in May half term to walk with two old school friends. It is a tradition I value enormously: a chance to step away from the pace of school life and into something both simpler and deeper. This year we embarked on the start of the North Downs Way, our sixth National Trail.

There’s something very reassuring about old friends. We’ve known each other long enough that conversation is easy, and silence is too. We can pick up stories half-way through, disagree without fuss, and laugh at things we’ve been laughing at for years. That shared history counts for a great deal.

The walking, it has to be said, felt a bit more demanding than it once might have done. Nearly 20 miles in 31-degree heat is quite a lot for us these days. There were moments when the pace slowed and the hills felt steeper than they had any right to be. But that’s part of it, and there’s still a quiet satisfaction in getting it done.

We stayed in Shere, which some will recognise as the village where parts of The Holiday were filmed. We even had supper in the pub used for Cameron Diaz and Jude Law’s second date, which added a slightly surreal note to the trip. It was certainly better than the Travelodge in Redhill, where we stayed on night two!

The North Downs Way itself offers an intriguing contrast. At times, you are acutely aware of its proximity to the modern world: the M25 never far away, London stretching out on one side and Gatwick on the other. Yet, in truth, the trail feels wonderfully removed - rolling through beautiful, if undeniably hilly, countryside that seems to belong to another age.

Along the ridgeline we also came across a number of old pillboxes, built during the war and once manned by the Home Guard. They’re a quiet reminder of a different kind of endurance, and of people standing watch in uncertain times.

Indeed, parts of the route follow an ancient pilgrimage path to Canterbury. Walking it, I was struck by the idea that for centuries people have travelled these same ridges in search of meaning, connection, or simply companionship. In our own small way, our annual walk feels like a continuation of that tradition - less about destination, perhaps, and more about the enduring value of walking alongside others.