All Saints, Ockham

Today's outing was to Ockham, which is in Surrey, on the east side of the Wey Valley, 7 miles north-east of Guildford, and 20 miles from London.

I was there to visit one of the churches in my quest to reach famous churches that are within cycling distance of home. I reckon this one is just under 20 miles away as the crow flies. Various route finders estimate more realistic journeys at about 27 miles. I actually covered a total of almost 65 miles on the way there and back. My own route planning wasn't helped by the need to cross three or four different OS maps that intersect just this side of Ockham, but I also wandered off the shortest route so that I could stick on familiar roads nearer home, and explore more interesting paths further away.

Unfortunately the church was locked, so I didn't see inside. It is famous for the seven lancet window in the east wall (seen here). But it is also associated with William of Ockham, a fourteenth century Franciscan Friar and philosopher. He worked in a number of areas but is best known for the principle of "Occam's razor", which basically says that the simplest explanation tends to be best. What we would call "Keep it simple, stupid". See Wikipedia for more on this.

The weather today was sunny but cold, particularly in the last hour after the sun went down. But there was little ice on the roads, and it was a pleasant day for an outing (for anyone wrapped up well enough). There were quite a few cyclists out and about, and quite a lot of traffic generally on the roads.

It wasn't a particularly exceptional day, but all very pleasant, and I may have to revise my innate prejudice against Surrey (more of this anon). Highlights included a pleasant chat with an elderly gentleman in the churchyard, and I sampled my first Dragon Pasty for lunch on the way there.

The expanding map of my quest is here