9 brave Polyramblers turned up at Manor Park station on an inauspicious day for a 6.5 miles walk through parklands. We started with flat Wanstead Flats, passing Alexandra Lake dug at the beginning of the 20th century to give work to unemployed men. The lake was named after Alexandra of Denmark, the Queen Consort of King Edward VII. Next was Wanstead Park where we walked along lakes, then crossed over the river Roding as the rain started.
We passed St Andrew’s Church – Grade II listed – which is of a similar design to Pretoria Church in South Africa (that’s what my guide says). After some road walking, we reached Valentines Park as the rain eased off. We had the Garden Courtyard Cafe to ourselves for our lunch break. Afterwards, we visited Valentines Mansion (free to visit and open Sundays and Mondays) – built in 1696 for Elizabeth, Lady Tillotson, the widow of John Tillotson who had been the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Mansion was later the family home of Sir Charles Raymond who made money from interests in the East India Company. The house and grounds were then acquired by the Council who created a lovely public park with nice gardens and flower beds.
Two Polyramblers left after lunch and, as it was no longer raining, the rest of us walked around the park and the lakes. We were approached by many squirrels wanting food to store for the winter. It’s worth coming back to Valentines Park in spring or summer to enjoy the flowers but we enjoyed the autumn colours. We then made our way to Gant’s Hill station (which has a design similar to Moscow metro).
Despite severe warnings about getting lost in the dark if we didn’t keep up a good pace & a very uncertain weather forecast, 15 of us appeared at Dorman’s station for the walk.
Luckily this walk got us out and into proper countryside very quickly, with little walking in built up areas and we were soon in the lovely Surrey Weald. Weald is an old English word for ‘wood’ or ‘forest’, related to the German ‘Wald’.
We skirted Greathed Manor which must have been a very grand house but is now a, probably also very grand, Care Home. The walk was undulating with lovely views over the North Downs when we emerged from woodland and could see to the North. Someone had created a Bug Hotel in the woods which seemed, in appropriate imitation, fairly grand itself. We went through woodland and some open grassland and found our way to the little village of Cowden for a lunch stop.
The second half of the walk was a bit more open again with lovely views and, towards the end, a lot of paddocks and horses having their evening hay. The rain kept off except for a little towards the end and we made it to the station before dark so – well done and thank you to all the walkers who came for keeping up the pace.
I was really pleased to see a good turnout of 15 Poly Ramblers at Liverpool Street station where we assembled to catch our train to Manningtree and then Wrabness to start our walk along the Essex Way to Harwich. Amongst them was my young nephew, Matthew, who joined us for the walk and in so doing massively reduced the average age of our group.
On arrival at Wrabness, we spent a bit of time posing and taking photographs in front of its most famous landmark, Grayson Perry’s quirky and exotic House for Essex. The day promised to be dry but cloudy and grey and that’s how it stayed with the occasional glimpse of the sun trying to break through. Fortunately the rain apart from a few spots held off.
As I explained in my opening briefing, the walk was very flat with no stiles. We firstly walked through woods along the banks of the beautiful river Stour estuary which was silent and lacking the bird life that is normally present at the water’s edge probably because it was high tide and the winter migrant birds have yet to arrive. We then struck out inland across farmland passing an old windmill until we came to the village of Ramsey. Here there were two small shops selling fresh fish and the other a master butcher. One Poly Rambler bought a bag of freshly caught whelks which she said tasted superb and would be for her supper.
After navigating our way across a busy roundabout, we walked across more fields until we reached the village of Little Oakley where at the Ye Olde Cherry Tree pub we had our lunch stop. Those with a packed lunch sat in the pub garden and the rest of us ate at the pub. It was a quick and friendly service and the food was excellent. Two ramblers opted for an enormous Kahuna burger which even for my young nephew and his big appetite proved impossible to finish.
After lunch we renewed our walk along the Essex Way and this time the path took us down towards extensive salt marshes from where we could see in the distance the North Sea coast and the busy container port of Felixstowe. We started walking along a levee that took us into the outskirts of Harwich. Our path eventually turned into a tarmac path at a junction with a row of brightly coloured beach huts from where it followed the coast to the end of the peninsula at the old port of Harwich Town. Further on we came to two old Lighthouses built to stop ships going aground as they came into harbour. These were among the earliest lighthouses ever built and superseded an even older one built further inland.
The tarmac path took us along a windy stretch of the coast and it seemed to go on for ever until we came to the Harwich Museum where we crossed a green and turned down into the old historic part of Harwich, Harwich Town. Harwich Town was once a thriving port and is full of characterful buildings with Harwich Historical Society plaques outlining their illustrious past on many of them. Today it feels somewhat sad and neglected and the streets were empty.
Most Poly Ramblers decided to catch the next train and get back to London. A small number of us decided to wait an hour and while away the time at a café on the pier drinking a very welcome cup of tea and eating scones. It was a fitting finish to what had been a fabulous walk with great company.
Ten of us set off from Goring on what was a cool and misty morning. The walk was mostly through woods, with some long inclines and a few steep grassy inclines. Along the way we came across two baskets of apples with a ‘help yourself’ note. They looked good and were delicious. We split our lunch into two stops, the first in an open grassy space with a lovely view of the Thames valley. By this time the sun had come out and it was much warmer. Our second stop had an even more magnificent view which we enjoyed whilst indulging in birthday cake produced by Lindy, with candles, from her bag, and Mary was tasked with cutting. As well as Chris’ birthday we were also able to celebrate Ian’s recovering a CFC hat he dropped on the walkover, a couple of weeks previously. Some kind person had placed it on a post. After cake we had a couple of group photos before descending the quite steep grassy slope. On the route we came across quite a few pheasants and a few horses. At the end of the lovely walk, near Pangbourne station, many of us continued Chris’ birthday celebrations with a visit to a lovely local pub (low ceilings!) and sat overlooking the river. A good day out indeed!
On the 200th Birthday of the first British railway train service ever, at Bedford station I met 9 polyramblers who arrived on the fast train from St Pancras. I had already met another previously on the slower train from Flitwick into Bedford. We made our way onto platform 1A, where the two coach Bletchley DMU soon pulled in. All 11 of us boarded this little train setting off for the Kempston Hardwick halt, 2 stops away.
Kempston Hardwick has the reputation of being the least used station in Bedfordshire. It is easy to see why as there is very little surrounding it, other than a level crossing, a minor road and open fields. There was a small adjacent car park where I held our safety briefing. Much of the farmland surrounding this halt has been purchased by Universal Studios in order to construct a theme park for pleasure rides (possibly similar to Alton Towers?) and this received Government backing last April.
It was a slightly overcast morning with sunny spells. The initial part of the walk went eastwards away from the halt, along Manor Road where we had to keep in single file, there being no footway. Soon the side verges widened, where we reached a gateway opposite. I explained to the party that behind these gates is the Concrete Slab, being a former brickwork site about an acre in size. It is likely that Universal will use this space as their Park offices.
Continuing further along the road, passing a row of houses some now derelict, we then turned right, into the car park of a conference venue, onto a path, doubling back westwards through some woodland where, fenced to our left, the humungous car park of British Car Auctions(BCA) appeared. Then ahead the path took us between two metal wedges onto an open field. This had been recently ploughed, and indeed a tractor could be seen moving in the distance doing the ploughing! We carried onwards towards, and in between, two more metal wedges at the opposite side of this field, then entered into another ploughed field, and crossed the Marston Vale railway into a third field.
These fields are now part of the Universal site. I explained that this third field would be developed into their transport hub, by bringing in a link spur from the A421 dual carriageway visible beyond the distant end of the field. Parking here will be provided for visitors, a new station to be built on the Marston Vale line, and possibly a hotel.
We then retraced our steps back over the railway to the second field, then proceeded along a southward path towards Broadmead Farm. This path was not easily visible, but thanks to the OS Maps App, navigating us across the two metal wedges at the far field end proved to be no problem. From this farm we continued south along a road to the edge of Stewartby, and going further down the road we passed some ex brickworks sites. Then the road curved round to the right taking us across to Stewartby station and level crossing. At this point we took a left path into the Forest of Marston Vale.
The Forest of Marston Vale is a community forest set in 225 hectares, previously a large clay extraction site for brickmaking, now an area with several lakes yielding a wildlife habitat. After a mile or so of woodland tracks we reached the forest’s Visitor Centre. Some polyramblers ate their sandwiches in the garden, the rest of us ate in the centre’s cafeteria.
By now we were well over halfway through the ramble. After lunch we continued around the edge of the forest along shady tracks with occasional seats carved of of logs with various patterned shapes. A mile and a bit later we reached Millbrook station in good time for the Bedford train. Attached to the platform fences were some information boards about Captain Sir Tom Moore, a local hero during COVID times, including some lovely poetry. We all boarded the train to Bedford. At Bedford station I directed most of the party to the next fast London train and we said our goodbyes as they boarded.
