15 Polyramblers assembled at Henley station at 10.27. Unfortunately, the leader and 3 others did not arrive until 10.57 due to delays on the Elizabeth Line.  They say that every cloud has a silver lining and, in this case, at least the rain had stopped by the time we eventually set off.

We started walking by the Thames in Henley then the path took us out into a broad valley, to the church at Rotherfield Greys, followed soon after by the church at Rotherfield Peppard.  The rest of the walk was through fields, beech woods and small villages, with a few stretches of road and lane walking.  We stopped for lunch at the Unicorn Pub in the village of Kingwood and many were able to sit outside in the sunshine.

A few miles further on, 4 Polyramblers decided to take advantage of the opportunity to pick up the bus to Reading from Cane End. Alas, they were not able to avoid the sudden downpour which struck at that precise moment and the whole group were briefly drenched! Fortunately, it did not persist and by the time the remaining hikers reached the Bozedown Alpaca farm most of us had dried off, although there were not very many alpacas to be seen.  

On the final leg the walk then carried on to the Whitchurch parish church beside the Thames, from there to the toll bridge over the Thames, and finally into Pangbourne where most of us took the train and a few decided to stop for a cup of tea at The Swan Pub on the river.

On the train we reflected that it had been a lovely walk but had felt quite long and after comparing various phone step counters we concluded that it was at least 13 miles, rather than the 11.9 miles in the walk description.

Rochelle

Photos by Jo, Gillian and Chris

I was delighted to find there were 19 of us assembling for this adventure in Kent.  We got a fast train from London Bridge to Tonbridge and then had to wait for a local train which took us the one stop onwards to Leigh.   The village name is pronounced ‘Lie’ locally by the way.

Passing through the churchyard we were soon in the midst of fields and saw the first of several oasthouses built for drying hops in times now past. The weather was overcast and it looked like rain but happily the rain held off except for the odd spattering of raindrops every now and then.

This walk does have a fair bit of minor road walking and in spite of doing several walkovers I still took us down the wrong road at one point until Geoffrey realised my mistake (thanks Geoffrey!) and alerted me.  We also had a rather tricky crossing of a busy road approaching our lunch stop near Hildenborough but we all got across safely.  Lunch was in a small paddock before a large field which normally has horses in it.   There were no horses to begin with but by the time we had finished our lunch a posse of them arrived!

We crossed this field and then negotiated several more all with horses in abundance.   There is a large riding school here.   We left the fields passing a barn with one horse looking forelornly out of a stable.  I wondered why it was being kept indoors. Then after a little more minor road walking we were back in the fields and woodland again.    The countryside around here is lovely.   At one point we passed through a field where I had been briefly chased by a black dog on a walkover and I could hear it barking from within the grounds of a large house!

We arrived about 3pm at the White Rock pub in Underriver and had a refreshing drink.  One of our party took a taxi to Sevenoaks after that.  We then embarked on a rather steep path up the wooded hill that takes us near to Knole.  There are beautiful views from the top of this hill across the valley. We passed through a wood and then crossed a minor road to enter Knole Park through a deer-proof gate.   The park is proper deer country, with lots of ferns and dotted with ancient oak trees extending across a wide landscape.  At one point we disturbed a white stag which broke cover and ran away from us into yet more ferns!   A beautiful sight.

In half an hour or so we passed the impressive mid-15^th Century Knole house.  We felt we would like to have visited it but that would have to be a day trip for another time.   It was gone 4pm so we were too late for tea there and we pressed on to the old town of Sevenoaks which is up another steep hill!

A few went for tea in the town and the rest of us headed for the station passing a large Ferrari dealership on the way.

It was about 5pm when we arrived at the station just in time for a train heading back to London.  Everyone seemed happy and said it had been a great day out which made me happy too.

Chris

Photos by Ida and Joyanna

We got started on our 11-mile jaunt about 10.45am, going through lots of lovely woods, some of which were quite wild.  Unfortunately, we had to walk alongside the busy A1 for a bit, before being able to cross via a subway.  We quickly headed away from the road then along some quieter, residential, roads.

We soon shared part of our route with the Dollis Valley Greenwalk, following Dollis brook, going into Totteridge Fields, a nature reserve managed by the London Wildlife Trust.  We came out of the woods into fields now and then, had a group picture taken at Scratchwood and later, having walked more than 6 miles, enjoyed a picnic stretched out on the grass. 

After cutting through Barnet Playing fields, a few people went to High Barnet station and the remainder of us carried on walking. There followed a few fairly steep ascents, which the group took in their stride.   We walked alongside Hadley Green and later into Monken Hadley common, along what is know locally as Hadley Woods which stretches all the way to Cockfosters.   

At the end a group photo was taken outside Cockfosters Station to mark the final leg of the Loop, having started walking it at Cockfosters, back in November 2021. A few of us visited a trendy bar nearby for coffee to celebrate!

Jackie

Photos by Lan and Chris

After the hottest day of the year (so far), I was glad it was a lot cooler for my walk. Nine of us met at Hampton Court station after receiving a packet of wildflower seeds from South Western Railway as we exited the platform. It was the week of the Hampton Court RHS Flower Show and the Palace gardens were open free of charge. We enjoyed the rose garden and the vegetable garden and had a quick look at the royal tennis court before going into the beautiful formal gardens. We passed the privy garden, the knot garden, the pond gardens and admired the great vine which holds the Guinness World Record for being the largest vine. Grapes can be purchased in September. 

We stopped at the plant shop so that two members of our party could buy chard and beetroot which they had to carry for the rest of the walk. Half the party ate their picnic in the vegetable garden while the rest ate in the nice Lion Gate Cafe. Then we entered Bushy Park and admired the Diana Fountain which had been cleaned recently. After passing a couple of ponds and seeing a family of deer, we followed the Langford River into the lovely Pheasantry Woodland Garden. The sun had come out and it was nice to be in the shade. We then went into the Waterhouse Woodland Garden, another pleasant garden with interesting plants. We came out of the woodland, crossed Cobblers Walk and entered the Park. We saw a buck with magnificent antlers eating along the path and not bothered by our presence. After a while, we reached the Water Gardens and its seven steps cascade and exited Bushy Park. We only waited a couple of minutes for the bus taking us back to Hampton Court and the train was at the station when we arrived. Altogether a very nice day, if I can say so myself!

The Hampton Court Palace Gardens are open free of charge on the following dates:

13 September to 14 September
18 October to 19 October
22 November to 23 November
26 December (wilderness garden only)

Dom

Despite an unpromising weather forecast, 14 of us made our various ways to Plumpton to start the walk. The South Downs were completely hidden in a thick mist but I knew that there was a fence at the top so I was prepared to cling to it if we could see absolutely nothing and were in some danger of either falling off or getting lost in the greyness. 

After a mile or so of  flat walking through meadows and light woodland we arrived at the start of our ascent but made a democratic decision to stop at the pub before we went up. The pub advertised ice cream for dogs which always makes me wonder what the ingredients are but no one seems to know. Well, it seems to contain a lot of unpronounceable chemicals plus milk, turmeric, sweet potato, collagen, various vitamins, oat bran and oddly, vanilla flavouring. Probably quite nice!

We made our way up the lovely chalk path to join the South Downs Way for a few miles and despite a very brisk cold wind the mist started to clear. We had to go down a potentially unpleasantly steep and slippery chalk path but, impressively, no one fell over and we arrived in Ditchling where we had sandwiches in the churchyard and hit the cafes. 

After lunch up we went again, back onto the Downs. The sun almost came out and the weather improved so we enjoyed  beautiful views over  Sussex. Then a slightly gentler and more sheltered descent to Hassocks where some went for the train and some had a second pint or half pint, or cider or lime juice or whatever at the Jack & Jill pub before the final 20 minute walk to the station. 

Harriet

Photos from Jane, Stephen, Jo, Ida and Chris