A goodly number of Polyramblers met at Kew Gardens station, including new member Maria and her labrador guide dog Bella who was wagging her tail and cosying up to the walkers. We were ready for a soothing stroll along the Thames Path but fearing forecast strong winds and rain. There was too much traffic to let Bella off the lead, even while some of the group peeped into St. Anne’s Church at Kew Green, but when we got to the towpath Bella was keen to explore. I described to Maria that on our left there was a narrow road leading to Kew Gardens car park and on the right was the river. Maria said later she imagined the river bank would be the same as at Putney, gently leading down to the water. Before I could explain that there was a 10ft vertical wall covered in bright green moss, Bella was off the lead and skiing down the wall to the narrow strip of shingle beach, splashing delightedly in the shallows until she realised that there was no obvious way back up.  Continue reading Saturday 5th December Kew. A Cautionary Tail! →

A slightly disappointing turnout on Saturday, not helped by the overly pessimistic weather forecast and perhaps the lure of Christmas shopping – most of the massive ticket queue at Marylebone were heading off to Bicester Village designer outlet.    Nonetheless we made it to double figures, thanks to new member Maggie (welcome Maggie!) and Stuart’s friend Eddie who lives locally.  A bus took us south from High Wycombe town centre, across the M40 and dropped us outside a recently closed pub. We walked north west, through Marlow Bottom and eventually to Moor End and the village of Frieth.  Much of the walk was on bridleways through woodland so inevitably there was  a fair amount of mud and leaf mulch which made the going quite hard work at times.  This is a popular game shooting area and we were not surprised to come across a pheasant shoot shortly before lunch.  Luckily they were taking a break and we just had enough time to clear the area before the shooting restarted.  Continue reading Saturday 28th. Chiltern Hills →

Having made my own way to this station I sat in the waiting room of platform 2. The 10:49 from London arrived. I looked out for a group of polyramblers amongst large swathes of people alighting with their bulky luggage. After a minute or so it became clear there were none!  Strange, I thought.  I took out my club programme from my rucksack only to find they would be due on the 10:54!!!  And indeed they were!  All 9 of us proceeded out of the station past the shuttle buses and  huddles of people with more bulky luggage, down the station approach to the Wheathampstead B road, and we turned left up steps and climbed more steps onto a field path at airport perimeter. Continue reading Sunday 22nd November, 2016. Luton Airport Parkway circular. →

Despite ever worsening weather forecasts, 9 Polys and a guest from the blind ramblers set off optimistically from Paddock Wood. As we walked through the busy town and up onto the weald, we congratulated ourselves on being out; the rain was light, there as no wind and it was not cold. We wended our way through Kent orchards and the pretty village of Matfield, arriving at the Halfway House at Brenchley for lunch where we enjoyed a variety of food and real ales, all served from barrels behind the bar.

It’s a very old pub with lots of character, including a library of books above our heads. Over lunch we viewed pictures of grandchildren
and videos of cats – mobile phones with cameras are a great invention! On the way back to the station, the rain got heavier and the wind got up, so it was a wet but cheerful party which caught the 4pm train to London.

Thanks you to those that braved the elements.

Sandra

Report by Geoffrey. On approaching the concourse of London Bridge station, we were greeted by the 2nd dilemma of the day – our 0945 train to Coulsdon South showed as CANCELLED. The 1st dilemma was that the BBC weather forecast was right, ie dull with blustery showers and we assumed this kept many polyramblers tucked up at home in their warm beds! Our leader Ken decided we should board the 0950 train to Coulsdon Town to minimise delays. Five of us intrepidly set off on this train alighting at Coulsdon Town station (pka Smitham) to be confronted by a confusing system of paths footbridges and a new A23 Bypass which we didn’t expect. After another half mile we reached Coulsdon South station where we meant to start from, and used its facilities! From here we soon reached  Farthing(or Fairdene) Downs but took shelter along the wooded path at the side of the valley.

We continued southwards past Coulsdon Common and the Fox Inn. It stayed wet and windy until we reached our pub: The Harrow, on the outskirts of Caterham. It was about 1.30  and the pub rather full, but we all managed to get a seat inside in the end. We didn’t leave till about 2:30 so Ken at this point decided to shorten the walk and divert it to Caterham station, otherwise we would have to be walking in the dark approaching Coulsdon. So fortunately we finished the walk in the daylight by descending just 2 miles along the leafy wet residential roads from the pub, downhill all the way to Caterham station at the bottom of the valley. And we got a train back before 4pm. I was extra lucky as a quick 2 min connection at E Croydon got me home well before 6pm. Thanks Ken

Farthing Downs view by Dudley Miles, though sadly it wasn’t like this when our plucky group were there.