We got off our train at the tiny station of Wrabness and began our walk along the Essex Way to Manningtree.  There were nine of us in total.  The terrain was flat and we could see long distances.  I always love the wide open skies and the grand vista of the Stour estuary.  This is a country that the artists Gainsborough and Constable must also have loved back in the 18th Century.   The sky today however is overcast and grey and there is a chilly breeze.   Good weather for a brisk pace!  

After a few minutes walking towards the estuary we came to Grayson Perry’s famous ‘A house for Essex’ which can be rented as a holiday home.   It is adorned with ceramic work and really does look quite unique. Then after admiring it we walked westwards along a narrow path next to the estuary which was at full tide.  There were fields to our left with bright yellow flowers.  In the far distance behind us were the cranes of Felixstowe Port and across the wide bay ahead of we could see the tall tower of the Royal Hospital School.  

After some time we emerged from the fields next to a caravan site and headed inland for a while because this section of the estuary path has become dangerous due to erosion.  We visited the medieval ‘All Saints Wrabness’ church and  I was surprised to see a busy village fete in full swing.   Refreshed by cake we crossed the only stile on this walk and headed back to the river along a wooded trail.   We passed through the Wrabness nature reserve and then headed out along the exposed estuary to an abandoned horse box where we had a water break.   On the skyline looking south, inland, we can see the distant church tower of the village of Bradfield which is our lunch stop.  It was sunny and hot by now and many of us had removed an outer layer.  

We climbed up to the village passing through a field of tall plants with yellow flowers and through a railway tunnel.  We were in a large ploughed field and I held up an example of some large root vegetable we didn’t recognise.  See photo!  Definitely not swede we decided.   Later, opinion settles on ‘Manglewurzle’ although not everyone agrees. We arrived in Bradfield with it’s much repaired church which is left open for visitors and has a toilet!  Very civilised.  The local pub was, sadly, no longer open.  Most of us had our picnic lunch in the sunny grounds of the village hall.    

After enjoying lunch we set off, heading towards Mistley via Mill lane. We passed over what was once a heath but is now farmland.   The earth was very hard, dry and pale.   Over to our right we saw the estuary shining in the distance.

After about a half an hour passing through large fields we reached a new housing development and then we entered a large wood containing some impressive old oaks and banks of bluebells.   Mistley announced itself with its tall chimney and large grain silos as we left the wood.  It is a rather charming old industrial area next to the river.   Here we broke for a drink in the Mistley Thorn – a popular gastro pub. Although most of us went for tea or coffee in the small tea shop across the road. Nearby there was a disturbing sign about the activities of ‘The Witchfinder General’ who was responsible for nearly 90 deaths back in the 17th C in Essex. Leaving Mistley behind we walked along the wide river bank passing an old church and saw distant white swans feeding in the mud flats. Manningtree is not far away and my guide book says the town is rumoured to be the smallest in England!

Whether the smallest or not the centre of the old town is charming. We climbed a dyke and walked along a path on the top of it which snaked along by the river until we left the town. The last (two mile) section of the walk was before us.   We walked in single file along a path with sheep and spring lambs bleating noisily to the left of us in alarm and tall phragmite reeds and the river to our right.  The air is also filled with the sound of oyster catchers and other birds.   It’s a lovely section of the walk and a delight after leaving the busy town behind us.  Eventually we loop back past fields with more sheep and arrive at Manningtree station just in time to catch a fast train back to Liverpool Street.   I think everyone enjoyed the day, at least I hope so!

Chris

Photos by Jackie McCartan, Jackie Copeland, Jane and Chris

We met at London Bridge for a 10 mile walk through the lovely Kent countryside on what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with a cold breeze to begin which dissipated as the day wore on.  Two more polyramblers joined us at East Croydon and we arrived at Hever Station 20 strong.   It was pleasing to have such a good turn out.   A lot of other folk (not polyramblers) disembarked at Hever too, all going to Hever Castle I thought.  

After a briefing, we headed out through the countryside passing the entrance to the castle which was the seat of the Bullen family made famous by Anne Boleyn, the unfortunate second wife of Henry VIII.   We passed through the churchyard of St Peter’s church (Anne’s father is buried within the church) and then on to the village of Chiddingstone which is owned by the National Trust.   On the way, we negotiated the only stile on the walk, the rest all being gates of various kinds.   There were also one or two muddy areas to get through but apart from that the going was very dry.  We had our picnic lunch outside the Castle pub which was unfortunately still closed due to a collapsed medieval well somewhere on the premises!  A sign said it is due to re-open later this month.  A nearby cafe was useful for hot drinks as well as having handy toilet facilities.

After lunch we paid a brief visit to the Chiding stone which is a large sandstone rock where people were supposedly scolded in times past.   Hence our word ‘chided’.   Then off across the top of a hill with beautiful views.  We descended through very dry fields heading for Penshurst village.  Most of the walk was undulating with low hills and gentle gradients with a few steeper climbs occasionally presenting themselves.  We had to negotiate a busy road before entering some parkland and seeing the rather magnificent view of Penshurst Place which suddenly emerged before us.   Nearby we  stopped to visit St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst, on the outside of which there is an old stone Dole table where food was given to the poor on special days.   Stephen produced his delicious and healthy cakes and presented them on the Dole table along with a hummus salad from Lan and sweets provided by Mick and Dolly.

After this we visited the Leicester Arms pub which is only a few minutes away in the village.  We enjoyed a half hour there and then set off for the final section of the walk.   We were about two thirds along our route by this time and had another hour’s walk ahead of us.  We climbed a steep but short hill the other side of the village and then after a while descended through fields crossing the river Medway and its tributaries several times before arriving in Leigh.  Apparently this is pronounced ‘Lie’ locally.   We arrived at the station and had a short wait before catching the 17.05 to Redhill from which there were services to London stations.   

It had been a good day out I thought.

Chris

Photos from Ida, Lan, Patricia, Steven and Joyanna

Thirteen Poly Ramblers met at Edenbridge Town to begin the fourth stage of the Vanguard way.  We reiterated to Poly Ramblers in our briefing that the walk was likely to be muddy, there were no pubs nor cafes en route, and more importantly no toilets, however they would be rewarded by some stunning views!

Our walk to the start of the Vanguard Way proved complicated. This first stretch of our hike crossed the airfield of East Haxted Farm with its network of taxiways and runways. An orange windsock indicated the wind direction to pilots. Luckily the electrified fences to protect the sheep that had been there on our recce had now been removed along with the sheep.

The Vanguard signage was difficult to find at this point but we successfully found our next landmark Gabriels Fisheries but deviated slightly off our route. Now back on track we passed Cernes Farm and headed towards Starborough Manor (also known as Starborough castle). Here we had an early picnic as this was one of the few places on the walk with an expanse of grass we could use for this purpose.

Our afternoon walk was a contrast to the morning’s hike, we enjoyed a long gentle climb through woodland passing some beautifully detailed bug hotels.

 We continued along the broad track passing a trig point at altitude 564 ft one of the highest points along the Vanguard Way. The views were far reaching over the Surrey countryside, we were fortunate to have a clear sky and sunshine. Our next landmark was a chocolate box cottage called Smithers. We walked along a winding road passing Gotwick manor which used to be the home of Elaine Marks of the Marks and Spencers Family.

We reached Forest Row wading through a very muddy stretch following the Forest way, a shallow gully on our left and a much deeper gully to our right. We reached our bus stop with just five minutes to spare, taking us back to East Grinstead station to take a train to London.

Hilary

Photos by Ida

Once all the participants had located the Thames Water/ Mayor of London’s new blue drinking water fountain in Stratford Plaza / Meridian Square, 17 Polyramblers crossed the Meridian Line to the Eastern Hemisphere to start our walk at the obelisk with drinking water fountains, dedicated to Samuel Gurney Sr., banker, councillor and philanthropist, whose sister was Elizabeth Fry, the prison reformer, and whose second son Samuel Gurney (MP) founder and chairman of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association (MDF&CTA), is commemorated by a fine bronze drinking water fountain outside Blackfriars Station. From the obelisk we set off through the Olympic Park, along the Greenway (formerly the Northern Outfall Sewer Cycleway), part of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s solution to the City of London’s water and sewage problems in the 19th century! Once we arrived in Victoria Park the group was impressed by the drinking water fountain installed by Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts, heiress to her grandfather’s fortune and first woman to be admitted to the House of Lords! Understandably none of the historical drinking water fountains mentioned are still in operation and the silver-plated cups are no more (although the cups on the fountain at St. Sepulchre, without Newgate, are still on view, as per the Polyramblers’ website)!

We kept on past the queues at the West Lake café, some of the group filled their water bottles at the modern drinking water fountain and we all admired the rainbow created by the big fountain in the centre of the lake (where poor local people would wash in the 19th century because there was no running water for washing where they lived. What water they had was not safe to drink). From Victoria Park we made our way down to the busy Grand Union canal path to the Angel area. There the canal goes into a tunnel, so we went up to street level to eat our lunch picnic in Duncan Terrace Gardens. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day and there were enough benches for us all! At this point Danny peeled off to a neighbouring watering hole! The rest of us proceeded through the streets to nearby New River Head (where the “New River” arrives from Hertfordshire and goes underground) which became the Metropolitan Water Board HQ and now contains upmarket apartments. Myddelton Square is named after Sir Hugh Myddelton (1560-1631) who was instrumental in the development of the New River, using his own fortune and in securing monetary assistance from King James I to help with funding the project which first brought fresh water into the City of London. The peripheral buildings of the New River Head are currently being turned into the Quentin Blake Illustration Centre which will be ready for us to visit next year! Hopefully there will then be mention of the reservoirs where the pumps were operated by horses walking round them in circles and the massive pipe that takes the water 90 metres down for distribution across London. Myddelton Passage came out beside Sadler’s Wells Theatre which we couldn’t visit because customers were going in to a show but where the well, unearthed in 1683 on this property by the owner Dick Sadler, can be viewed by customers through a round glass panel in the floor. The well was thought to have “miraculous medicinal powers”. The water continues to flow from the aquifer and in 2004 Sadler’s Wells  entered into an agreement with Thames Water for the re-use of excess water flowing from the ground below the theatre, instead of continuing to allow it to drain wastefully away.

From there we made our way to the Clerken Well (see photos), modern drinking water fountain (where water bottles were filled) and cattle trough, originally installed by the MDF&CTA – now containing a flower bed! Here more Polyramblers baled out to local watering holes.

The remainder of the group proceeded up Amwell St, past a reservoir, and down to Regent’s Canal but as we passed routes to King’s Cross station, more Polyramblers baled out and the remaining four carried on along the canal to Coal Drops Yard where we paused for a comfort call and coffee (and a luxury doughnut!). After which two more peeled off and the remaining two of us carried on to the edge of Regent’s Park and the Matilda Fountain, presented to the MDF&CTA about 1878 by Matilda, “wife of Richard Kent Jr. a local churchwarden”. On our way to the tube at sunset through Regent’s Park, we came upon a drinking water fountain, gift of Sir Cowasjee Behangir Readymoney (C.S.I.) installed in 1869, a fantastic discovery to round off the day! Distance 12 miles, finishers 2! Perhaps, if we had kept up a brisk pace, we would have been able to get to Little Venice before dark. Next time!

Thank you to all who came on the walk and to donors to WaterAid, thinking of the women round the world who have to walk a long way every day to collect fresh water while we can enjoy the benefits of water first supplied by philanthropists of yesteryear.

Pam

Notes: All the historical people mentioned can be found in Wikipedia.
            Spellings of names may vary (eg Myddelton and Cowasjee)
            Individual step-counter readings may vary.
https://www.wateraid.org/uk/donate      Every drop counts!