Twelve Poly Ramblers met at Kings Cross Station for a meander through lesser-known places between Kings Cross and Camden Lock. We began with Keystone Crescent, the houses built in 1846 consisting of charming and compact houses. The London Canal Museum was our next stop, a fascinating exhibition of the history
of canal life in London and the Victorian ice trade that once kept London supplied with ice for chilling food which arrived by canal boat. We made our way through Barnsbury, a fashionable district with well-kept Victorian houses and passing a famous pub completely obscured by greenery, the Hemingford Arms. Continuing down Wheelwright Street we were confronted with the massive
bulk of Pentonville Prison.
We eventually arrived at Caledonian Park where there is a plaque announcing ‘Copenhagen House famous tavern and tea garden stood here from early 17c to 1855. The Caledonian market was held here from 1870s to 1939.’ Caledonian market was the result of a long overdue decision to move Smithfield market with its thousands of cattle, sheep, pigs geese etc. driven from all parts of the country. The sounds and smells of this open air abattoir was finally too much for the City corporation and the market closed permanently in 1939 and became a Bric-a -Brac market.
We stopped for lunch at the Tolpuddle Café. The clock tower there marked the place where a massed march and petition was held in 1834 in support of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, imprisoned for belonging to an early trade union.
After lunch we followed a long straight cobbled mews with an eclectic mix of old and new buildings before ending our walk at Camden Road station.
Nine determined Poly Ramblers set off from Pangbourne Station despite warnings of storms and heavy rain. Our route took us through Whitchurch. Passing on a toll bridge over the river, built in
1792 to replace the ferry to bring your sheep or lambs across the Thames! The present iron bridge of 1902 replaces two previous wooden toll bridges. Today, pedestrians cross the bridge toll-free although there is still a charge for cars. We walked past St Mary’s Church, in Whitchurch dating from the twelfth century. St
Birynius is said to have landed at the ferry crossing at Whitchurch and, on seeing how fine the place was, decided to build a church there.
The route continued along part of the Thames Path National Trail (which opened in 1996) past Coombe Park, to a wood with lovely views down to the Thames before climbing through a nature reserve and Great Chalk Wood. The rain held off for most of the morning and as the clouds darkened we took a short cut to Hill Bottom and the Sun Inn where they very kindly allowed us to sit in their conservatory and eat our packed lunch as they had only limited food options for sale. We all bought drinks and some of us did so after lunch so we could sit in the main pub and enjoy the fire whilst the heavens opened. Fortunately the rain had eased a little when we left and proceeded through a small park before re-connecting with the original route to go through woods and fields, then back down through Whitchurch. We retraced our steps over the bridge to Pangbourne Station to catch the train home. By which time we were all a little soggy but agreed it was a beautiful walk and would be a perfect addition to a summer programme another year!.
This was the second stage of the Norfolk coast path. We walked the first stage from Hunstanton to Wells next the Sea in April 2023. This stage took us eastwards from Wells to Sheringham. We based ourselves in the seaside town of Sheringham split between the Youth Hostel and an excellent B&B. Following uneventful train journeys on a Friday afternoon in late June we convened at the friendly Crown pub on East Cliff for our pre-ordered dinner. As it was a balmy mid summer evening we were able to watch the glorious sunset from the cliff top after our meal.
After a truly horrible final walkover two days earlier – torrential rain, gales, thunder and lightning – the day of the walk was beautiful. It was warm with a pleasingly gentle breeze and the world seemed a different place in which it was a pleasure to be out walking. We gathered at Stonegate station and set off along paths that were on the map but clearly not, or very rarely, used. There were some rough fields which must have been left for years and were completely overgrown but which had probably once been ploughed and so were ankle-twistingly but invisibly uneven. We are skillful and experienced walkers of course, and we navigated our way through with no problems. There were many stiles that were in a disgraceful state and in some cases so completely overgrown that they had to be hacked free to have any possibility of getting over them. Others had so many bits missing that they were a challenge to even the most long-legged among us but, again, we all managed and eventually were rewarded by a view of the lovely Bewl Water. Continue reading STONEGATE TO WADHURST – 7 SEPTEMBER→
Thank you to the team of Poly Ramblers who turned out to accompany the London Blind Ramblers on this refreshing and cheerful day. We had to change the date of the walk because of engineering works on the line which affected the numbers of participants from both groups. However, we were lucky in that the weather was extremely favourable and we enjoyed sunshine with a slight breeze as we strolled along the grassy path by the muddy banks of the Benfleet Creek where the occasional gull wandered about wondering where all the water had gone. We tasted aniseeds. I hope they were aniseeds or were they fennel? We mostly avoided the many cow pats. The cows were resting up in a field of dry straw over to our right, which didn’t look too appetising to me, which we debated as we went along! Perhaps I too would find it tasty if I had three stomachs! We passed Two Tree Island (a good place, depending on the time of year, to hear, observe and describe visiting Brent Geese, avocets and other birds as well as the gulls, if you don’t mind the noisy model aircraft or drones!). The tide was coming in, so by the time we arrived in Leigh-on-Sea we could hear the water lapping on the pebbles of the beach which was covered in adults and children making the most of possibly the last day of summer! On arrival in Old Leigh we went our various ways, some to the pub for food and drink where they were joined by Valerie, the LBRs group leader, some queuing for cockles, mussels, shrimps or crab, some to a seaside bench to eat our sandwiches in the sea breeze wafting gently across the River Thames from Kent. We still had time to queue for an Italian ice cream or two before carrying on along the narrow path, between the railway and the beach and sailing boats, to Chalkwell where Valerie and some others peeled off for the train. Continue reading Benfleet to Leigh-on-Sea / Southend, 21 September with the LBRs.→
The Polytechnic Rambling Club – Walking with friends
