Friday 22nd September 2017. An ascent of Dunley Hill 227m/105m in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, North Downs. 9.4km, with 195m of ascent. 2hrs 10mins. Solo.

Immediately I got back from my Olympos trip, a dose of harsh reality hit me. My aged father, who I was visiting, had a serious fall outside his house. I ended up spending the night of my return from Greece in A&E with him, unable to head back home to North Wales. Such is life! He remained in hospital for some weeks, and I was confined to south-east England tending to his needs.

On a day when the weather was fair, I did manage to grab a few hours, between hospital visits, for hiking in the Surrey Hills, starting and ending in Gomshall in the Dorking to Guildford valley.

This was a very pleasant route through mixed forest and open downland, and did me the world of good. Even if the hills there are of very lowly proportions, they have a quiet unassuming beauty. The summit was not up to much, being a flat area off the paths in the thick of the forest, but I got a view on reaching the edge of the escarpment as I began my descent.