In this summer’s reliably hot weather, eighteen members set off from Banstead station for a circular walk of just over five miles in the countryside along the Surrey border. The group first crossed a busy road outside the station and shortly after the A217 dual carriageway, before reaching the calm environment of a golf course. Threading our way through the fairways, we came upon a junction of paths. Having only completed a recce a few days earlier, I was confident about which onward one to take.
14 Polyramblers and a guest set off for our walk, on a sunny Sunday morning. We crossed Hammersmith Bridge to walk along the River Thames via the towpath towards Barnes, we walked through the Leg of Mutton nature reserve and spotted a couple of herons patiently fishing. Just before our lunch stop we saw a family of Egyptian Geese, mum, dad and at least 10 very young goslings who were feeding and paddling on the foreshore under the watchful eyes of their parents.
Ten of us met at Hadley Wood train station and thought of Geoffrey when I pointed out the memorial plaque to Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of the famous ‘Flying Scotsman’ and ‘Mallard’ locomotives who used to live in Hadley Wood.
An elite team of 4 walkers arrived at Bentley station with no problems on the line, which was an unusual & auspicious start to the day. It was hot, 1 degree under the recommended ‘Cancel-the Walk’ temperature, but as we were going to be mostly in woodland, it was actually very pleasant.
On a very hot evening, 16 Polyramblers met outside Sloane Square tube station for an evening walk. It was very crowded – more than in previous years. ‘Chelsea in Bloom’ is the world class alternative floral art show which transforms the streets of Chelsea during the annual Chelsea Flower Show. Shops, restaurants and hotels are adorned with creative designs made of fresh flowers (but we saw some plastic ones too). The theme this year was ‘Out of this World’ with some flower displays inspired by space travel and astrology and others not related to the theme. Dominique.
