Sixteen members of the Polyramblers walked the Saxon Shore way from Dover to Deal. The numbers were impressive as it was also the final of the women’s Wimbledon tennis championships and the football third place playoff for the World Cup.

We started with the Banksy graffiti art depicting Brexit. It was painted on a building due for demolition but luckily Dover Council agreed to keep it, as it provided much needed colour to a rather run-down area. Continue reading DOVER TO DEAL SATURDAY 14 JULY →

It was a hot day to walk 13 miles with no pub until the end but that didn’t deter 11 Poly Ramblers. Led by Jackie, we started at Goring and were soon heading uphill through woods to arrive on a ridge.  Much of the walk was in woodland, which was just as well as the sun was roasting out in the open.  Stuart had intended to do a shorter, lower level walk but we kept bumping into him around every corner so in the end he stuck with us.  After a nervy encounter with a frisky group of young heifers we were back in woodland and stopped in Continue reading GORING TO PANGBOURNE – 30 JUNE →

Twelve Poly Ramblers convened at Liverpool Street last Saturday, a last minute change of terminus after we discovered the day before that the train we had intended to catch from Kings Cross had been deleted from the timetable. All went smoothly en route other than a jobs-worth ticket inspector giving some of our group a ticking off for having tickets that were only valid on the Cambridge route. Continue reading Icknield Way stage 8 – Icklingham to Knettishall Heath →

Twenty-seven  excited,  noisy, uncontrollable  walkers  met (eventually) at the station at Theydon Bois (according to the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names “Probably “valley where thatching materials are got” plus manorial suffix from the “de Bosco” or “Boys” family, here in the 12th century”) for what turned out to be a delightful walk in the warm summery April sunshine. Just a light breeze to keep us cool. Once we had negotiated a narrow path beside a treacherous ditch and our only steep although not very long climb and crossing the M25 (thoughts of Gerald) we were soon in the dappled sunlight filtering through the fresh green of the huge trees of Epping Forest.  Picnic lunch in the shade of the trees, seated on conveniently sited decaying logs. Forget ants in your pants, I was more worried about stag beetles! But no insect invasions were reported. Continue reading EPPING FOREST (CIRCULAR) with the LONDON BLIND RAMBLERS 22 APRIL →

Eleven of the Icknield Way stalwarts gathered at Kings Cross for the journey to Dullingham via Cambridge and Newmarket. We were sorry to be missing Mike who had a knee injury and Mary and Anna who had other commitments.  We managed to alight the train without leaving any personal belongings behind and set off at pace to retrace our steps for over a mile to the point where we left the path last June. The weather forecast was so awful that we were thankful that it was only drizzling, but many of us wore gloves. We arrived in the village of Stetchworth as noon arrived and Stuart decided we should stop for a swift half at the Marquis of Granby. Continue reading ICKNIELD WAY STAGE SEVEN: DULLINGHAM to ICKLINGHAM →