Having just arrived from home my choir rehearsal the Tuesday before, I went to open my tablet to check something online, whereupon an email arrived from Gillian seeking a leader for this walk, as Jackie couldn’t do it due her recent ankle injury. I turned round to look at my bookshelf, and lo there was the “Time Out” book with the walk in it.  And such a lovely walk in a lovely area – it has to go ahead.  Continue reading Sunday 8th May. Berwick to Eastbourne →

It was the perfect month to do this walk from East Grinstead and 14 of us discovered why the Bluebell Line is so named. They were in full bloom, along with primula and wood anemone. There were lots of new born lambs and enough sunshine to make it feel like Spring, contrary to the gloomy forecast of Arctic winds. We encountered several groups of laden youngsters doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. We stopped to chat to one of the steam railway volunteers. He encouraged us to join them in  November for an 11 mile walk of the entire track (one for permanent way enthusiasts!). Only Mike actually saw a steam train, but it was going backwards. Continue reading April 23rd. East Grinstead →

After several days of warm sunshine mid-week, the weekend was heralded by a drop in temperature of at least 10 degrees and the steady rain was turning to sleet as twelve walkers waited for the bus from Luton to Streatley. We  spent a couple of hours trudging through the rain, including an unintentional 3/4 mile detour through Sainsburys carpark (thanks Geoffrey for guiding us out of there). As we crossed the county boundary from Bedfordshire into Continue reading Saturday 16 April: Icknield Way Streatley to Letchworth →

Soon after starting the walk, we saw a giant hedgehog painted on a wall, a man doing acrobatics on top of a post-box and two men doing mock-fighting with sticks under a bandstand. Shoreditch is becoming trendy but is still a rough diamond. A record 21 Polyramblers came on this evening walk to explore Shoreditch, Columbia Road and Brick Lane. Rain threatened but, apart from a few drops, the evening remained dry. We went up Club Row before Continue reading Wednesday 13 April: Evening Walk in Shoreditch (Circular) →

Thirteen walkers turned out on Saturday for the penultimate section of the London Loop, in spite of another unpromising weather forecast. After some drizzle as we left Harold Wood the clouds lifted and the rest of the day was punctuated with bursts of warm sunshine. This area of London was unfamiliar to most of us and as usual with the Loop we were pleasantly surprised as to how much of the walk was though parks, fields and woodlands rather than on roads. The first four miles took us through Harold Wood Park then a community woodland, crossing the Ingrebourne River a couple of times before eventually bringing us out at Upminster Bridge station. Continue reading Saturday 9 April: Loop Stage 15 – Harold Wood to Rainham (Essex) (Linear) →