Saturday 15th March, 10 mile walk - Are we there yet?

9.00 am on a damp, grey Saturday morning and we gathered at the Devil's Punch Bowl car park for the Squad's first daytime walk. This was my first time on a Squad walk, and the first time I'd worn my boots outside the house; what state would my feet be in at the end?

Those who made it: Michele and I, Adrian and Alison Lamb, Shawn, Dave, Rich, Nick.

There were already quote a few cars in the car park. Whilst getting ready we watched a group of Scouts march off towards the Bowl with rucksacks stuffed to the brim and karimats wrapped in flapping bin bags.

Most of us were expecting to complete this walk in about 4 hours. Imagine our surprise when Adrian arrived saying that he'd recently taken over 2 hours to do a third of this route! Undeterred we set off on the loop around Grayshott at a brisk pace, keen to complete as much as possible of the route in the allotted time.

It soon proved to be an excellent route and took us to areas around Hindhead that very few of us had been to before. Adrian regularly provided updates on our location relative to local villages and the A3 etc, and comment on our surroundings. All positive stuff.

Even more positive were his occasional pronouncements that "we're going much faster than I expected and are making excellent progress". We liked that and stood slightly taller.

The weather began to brighten, get warmer, and occasional breaks in the cloud afforded distant views - much better than we expected. We were also able to test our skills at using the layer principle of clothing. Most of us gradually shed layers, or occasionally added another one in wooded areas. Dave rapidly got down to a t-shirt and stayed in that.

We continued to make good progress, this route was well-suited to our needs with a few fairly steep climbs and descents. Crossing the busy A3 near the intended southern opening of the Hindhead tunnel, we made our way around towards Gibbet Hill, observing some magnificent properties nestled on the sides of a valley beyond Bunch Lane.

After about 3 hours it started to rain and looked likely to settle in. Most of us reached for outer layers and waterproofs etc. Dave reached for his brolly, still sticking with his t-shirt - a valiant attempt at a Mary Poppins impression.

The rain eased off and we made it to the top of Gibbet Hill and took a couple of minutes to take in the surprisingly distant views - some making a mental note to return here with the family. Then down the track and before we knew it we were back at the car park.

We'd done it! 10 miles in less than 4 hours, all feeling this had been a very worthwhile exercise. We took our boots off (good news - no blisters!), broke into some stretching routines, then headed home.

Thanks to Adrian for plotting this route and then taking us around it with no wrong turns despite numerous 5-way junctions and, most impressive of all, without once consulting the map!