The Devil's Punchbowl

It was a dark, cold night as the three of us descended into the Devil's Punchbowl. Our arms aching from the heavy burdens we carried, our feet feeling for a safe landing with each step we took on the wet, uneven path, we wondered yet again why we hadn't brought torches. It was then that we noticed four silver pinpoints of light approaching from below, bobbing steadily closer as the crackling and hissing of the trees around us intensified...

BOO!!!!! Did I scare you? :D

Well, that was the start of our Easter weekend as Dotti, Ben and I made our way to the bottom of the Devil's Punchbowl, where a welcoming fire awaited us in the old youth hostel that Matt and Kat had booked out for a bunch of us to stay in overnight. The Devil's Punchbowl is basically a large hole in the ground (probably a couple of kilometres across) near Hindhead, Surrey, and there are walking trails as well as a youth hostel and a couple of houses at the bottom.

On Thursday night, twelve of us stayed overnight in the youth hostel: Matt, Kat, Trev, Sharon, Nick and Jo and their kids Georgina and Patrick, Ruth, Dotti, Ben and I. It was a fabulous night of friendship and laughter, reading the hostel's random collection of other guests' left-behind books, eating zucchini soup, bread, trifle and other goodies, sitting around the fire, and staying up until after 2am playing "Who Am I"? It was absolutely awesome fun, and thanks to Matt and Kat for the amazing job they did to to organise it all and feed everyone!



The next morning, after not too many hours sleep, we all awoke in our bunk beds and tucked into a hearty cooked breakfast. Then, after packing up and checking out of the hostel, we set off on one of the walking trails. It was quite wet and muddy. The ground was covered in leaves and there were lots of trees and a few kissing gates.



After enjoying a nice steady walk up to the rim of the Punchbowl, we gathered our strength for the return trip at a cafe there, and then walked back to the hostel and up to the carpark where we had walked down from with all our gear the night before.

We ended up having a yummy lunch at Matt and Kat's and then introduced a few new people to Chain Reaction. :) Late in the afternoon, it started to snow - big fluffy flakes covering the ground and car roofs. It was the first time we've actually seen it snow in England, and it was so beautiful! For your sakes, dear readers, I actually stood out in it on Matt and Kat's balcony to take a video, and of course I was then locked out, so I hope you think it was worth it!!

That night we stayed back at our place before setting off on Saturday morning for the rest of our Easter adventures... but I'll tell you about those next week! Goodnight! :)