For many years I've lived within about a dozen miles of Caesar's Camp near Aldershot, but I'd never visited it, assuming really that it was just another bare-heathland military training ground. But having read the comments about it earlier in this thread (and seen the one photo with them), I thought I ought to investigate it sometime.
Well, "sometime" came up today, with a (fairly) clear blue sky and clear air. Unfortunately when I went to pick up my usual DSLR its battery was down to one bar, so instead I dug out its predecessor, put in some AA batteries and fitted a 200mm lens, and took that. My unfamiliarity with it, and its relatively small 6Mp sensor, probably meant that my photos weren't as good as I'd hoped.
However the place itself amazed me, far more interesting landscape than I'd expected, and the panorama to north and east is wonderful. The woodland and the rings of defensive banks add interest, and there's the oddity of a pool, indeed almost a lake, at nearly the highest point, with the ground dropping away on all sides (apart from the immediate surrounding bank, that is). Apparently it's an old gravel pit, but it's quite surprising that it holds water, since most of the area is sandy ground. I also saw a (very) short length of 2' gauge railway track that might need further investigation, there was no sign of what age it might be or what purpose it might have had.
I shall go back and explore further on another "sometime", possibly with a superzoom compact next time, which might be better suited to the view (and lighter to carry).
For what they're worth, these are two of today's pictures.
- the first looks roughly ENE and shows the tower blocks by the station at Woking to the right, the Shard middle left with (I think) Canary Wharf to its right and the City to its left
- the second is aimed to the right of the first, more nearly east, Woking is just out of shot to the left, and I assume that the tower blocks must be Croydon
If and when I manage some better shots, I'll put them on here as well.
PS: from Google Maps, the Shard is 35.65 miles away, and Canary Wharf just over 38 miles.