Photographs of this field trip are in the Photo Gallery.  The field notes for this walk are available here.

This will be an unusual description of a geological field trip – there will be very little geological content and what there is will probably be inaccurate. There is a very good reason for this as I am not a geologist, but I am making no apology for that. No, this field trip report will be aimed at persuading a few more non-geologists to come on trips. Who knows, this might also allow a few more members to come on trips.

As you may know, my wife Gill is the Open University graduate and long term OUGS member. My enjoyment of OUGS field trips is based on the beautiful countryside where most trips take place, the sparkling company and the pubs where we (sometimes) stop for lunch.

This field trip was no exception – the wonderful scenery of the Surrey hills above Guildford, a small but entertaining group and the delights of lunch in the garden of the Drumond Arms beside the stream.

The field trip was led by Iain Fletcher along the route of the “Newlands Corner – Albury Geological Trail” that he has been preparing. New signs and information boards are been prepared in cooperation with Surrey County Council. The costs of setting up the trail will be assisted by a grant from a waste management company which is operating the landfill in a sand quarry which is one of the sites on the trail. Iain is also preparing a trail guide. He has kindly agreed to make the first draft of the guide available via the branch web site (www.lougs.freeserve.co.uk/geonotes.htm) - yes, that again – so if you want to know more about the geology, this is the place to get the information.

The trail, and our present trip, starts at the convenient car park at Newlands Corner. This a very popular starting point for walks and rambles. It lies on the North Downs Way and there is a Visitors Centre, a café and toilets. It is also a meeting place for motorcycle enthusiasts, so there is interesting machinery to look at as well.

We started our field trip in the usual fashion with a briefing from Iain on the geology of the area and the plan for the day. Firstly, we visited a site behind the car park which had been used for roadstone.

We then had a look at the wonderful panoramic view to the South from the car park. There is a display board which identifies all the prominent features and this will be complimented with another board describing the geology. Whilst looking at the view Iain discussed the relationship between the geology and land use. It was interesting to see how the wooded areas followed the agriculturally poorer Folkstone Beds. This was to be a theme we would return to throughout the day.

The route from the car park led down hill along a track which exposes the Upper Chalk (the one with flints in it) down to a disused chalk showing good exposures of middle chalk and other interesting features. The sunken lane descends past a very interesting pit in the Folkstone Sands with Carstone formations. Continuing down the slope we noted that several of the fields boundaries coincided with the boundaries of the strata we were traversing. At the bottom of the lane we entered the village of Albury and had our lunch in the delightful streamside gardens of the Drummond Arms.

After lunch we went up the other side of the valley along a shaded lane past exposures of Bargate Beds and entered the woods at the top. Earlier in the year these woods are full of bluebells. After awhile we made our way down hill again and re-entered Albury again. A short walk along the road leads to Albury sand quarry (no access) which is being used for landfill by the company making the donation for the trail. From here we made our way across the A25 to the Silent Pool. This tranquil spot is always worth a visit with its mysterious springs and calm waters.

A stiffish pull up the hill to re-join the Southdowns Way faced us after our rest. There was a welcome rest halfway up where we sat on a war time pill box looking over the view toward Shere and Iain summarised what we had seen. The final part of the walk was a gentle level stroll back to Newland Corner and its welcome refreshments.

All in all a very enjoyable walk with plenty of interest for the geologist and non-geologist alike. Why not try it yourself?