A longish walking day for late January as we tackled two sections of the loop from Chigwell to Havering atte Bower and then on to Harold Wood, 10.3 miles in total. In spite of engineering work on the Central line and the threat of mud, fourteen members turned out. After a sharp shower at the start it was dry for the rest of the day but the mud persisted all day. This is one of the most rural sections of the loop with the first 6 miles taking us though open country, farmland and woods. We passed Hainault country park with its lake Continue reading LOOP 14 – CHIGWELL to HAROLD WOOD 30 JANUARY →

The valiant walkers who turned up for the Ingatestone walk were rewarded with sunshine, skylarks and snowdrops, after a pleasant early lunch at the Prince of Wales in Mountnessing where we succumbed to the temptation of a delicious apple crumble! We were pleased to see Geoffrey at lunchtime but his ankle didn’t allow him to venture very far into the rolling green fields in the afternoon. It was just as well he turned back because the terrain continued to be very slippery on the muddy paths between the bright new shoots. We were on the domain of Lord Petre (pronounced Peter) and passed Ingatestone Hall, his dark and gloomy baronial seat. We were more interested in two weathervanes we had seen earlier. One, over a kennels, which appeared to be a hunting dog missing a rusted front leg. The other, above the golden ogival cupola of a house also commissioned by a member of the Petre family, appeared to be a lady in a voluminous skirt battling a storm with her umbrella and preceded by a dog. Continue reading INGATESTONE (Essex) (CIRCULAR): 24 JANUARY →

I had been warned of thigh-high lakes of mud, the entire Mole valley being impassably under water & dangerously slippery, steep chalk paths but, despite all these very inauspicious omens, the walk was lovely. We had to bypass the Stepping stones at the bottom of Box Hill as they were under water but there’s a perfectly good bridge not far off so we used that. Continue reading WESTHUMBLE TO LEATHERHEAD – SATURDAY 9 JANUARY →

Eleven polyramblers set off from Buxted, in dry weather though with rain forecast. We made our way out of the village and then through fields and woods towards Poundgate, with the occasional stretch of lane, and pretty views. It was a good time of year to be doing the walk as the trees were turning and the colours were lovely. Towards the end of the morning we had to cross a golf course, which we negotiated successfully, helped by the fact that there were surprisingly few golfers about. Shortly after we arrived at the Crow and Gate pub, our lunchtime stop.
Rain started while we were in the pub and continued for a bit, but then the sun came out. Our route took us through fields and woods again – at times following the Vanguard Way – and there were more good views. We arrived back in Buxted with time to spare, so some of the party went to the pub by the station, and others waited at the station itself.

Caroline

Photo by Pam