Infrastructure- Devils Punchbowl- Hindhead Common-Surrey.

Down the A3 or up depending on which way you are going is a remnant of part of the old A3. I heard there was tunnel and a gravestone.

‘The Devil's Punch Bowl is a 282.2-hectare (697-acre) visitor attraction and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest situated just to the east of the village of Hindhead in the English county of Surrey. It is part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protection Area.

The Punch Bowl is a large natural amphitheatre and is the source of many stories about the area. The London to Portsmouth road (the A3) skirted the rim of the site before the Hindhead Tunnel was built in 2011. The land is now owned and maintained by the National Trust as part of the "Hindhead Commons and the Devil's Punch Bowl" property. The highest point of the rim of the bowl is Gibbet Hill, which is 272 metres (892 ft) above sea level and commands a panoramic view that includes, on a clear day, the skyline of London some 38 miles (61 km) away.’

SOURCE

Firstly any abandoned road is of use to me and I needed to know everything about it before I arrived.

Motorway Services has a full history and photo gallery HERE. Go HERE to see the area before the tunnel was built. Go HERE to see a majestic timeline of the route. So exciting!

Ignoring all the signs, I didn’t go through the tunnel (I have been since) and turned off into a small village which bordered Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey. Again this was most exciting all on one corner waiting at the traffic lights.

Don’t worry you can go through the tunnel HERE and go HERE for a beautiful driving video of the A3 going round the Devils Punchbowl.

So far so good, easy parking, nice toilets and nice views. However as with most trips I make I will invariably go the wrong way. And this is what I did. With it being Halloween the colours were beautiful, pumpkins sat outside the information office and a weird feeling of discontent started to fall upon me.

This is where the old A3 dual carriageway started and is now a lovely walk. The walk I originally wanted to do was above me and the views and Gibbet Hill and the gravestone.

At this point in time even though it was all wonderful, I started to feel very weird.

Was it the altitude? Had I walked the wrong path into The Langoliers?

The Holly tree made me feel better as it was helping with any weirdness but this was short lived as I found a piece of red brake light glass. Unnerved I was compelled to put it in my pocket and find my way out of the undergrowth.

I loved the sculpture but the road and the trees sounded strange. This area was once gridlocked by the traffic lights. Was there residual energy from past angry motorists stuck in the trees?

Angry apple trees grown from angrily eaten apples thrown out the car window. I had seen too much.

Odd mists that moved when you walked then disappeared.

Out of the weird and back into the car, I will give the Devils Punchbowl 10/10 for residual energy holding. The views and autumnal colours are beautiful, but there is just something about that piece of road by the sculpture.

I will go back in the summer to the old Portsmouth road and avoid this part completely.

Go HERE to read the full history of the area and HERE to see how to get there.