Fifteen walkers and Teddy (the dog) gathered in the Chiltern market town of Princes Risborough on a grey but warm and humid Saturday.  Princes Risborough has medieval origins and my guidebook told me that the under the car park we were standing in was the foundations of the 14th century manor house of Edward the Black Prince.  Disappointingly the group didn’t seem that impressed by this fact.  The first park of the walk took us south through meadows to the hamlets of Horsenden and Saunderton. We diverted to look at the 15th century churchyard in Horsenden. Continue reading PRINCES RISBOROUGH CIRCULAR – 25 SEPTEMBER →

Eighteen Poly Ramblers met at Maidenhead station and made their way to the River Thames by Brunel’s famous rail bridge. It is the widest brick arch ever built and features in Turner’s 1844 painting ‘Rail, Steam and Speed’ viewed by Mick and Dolly just a few days earlier in the National Gallery.

We then followed the Thames Path to Cookham passing Boulter’s Lock described in Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat and the Cliveden Estate centre of the notorious Profumo scandal of 1963.

Six members ended their walk in Cookham whilst the rest of us, after a picnic lunch and a swift drink in the Crown pub’, rejoined the riverbank before heading inland and up a short but steep and narrow path onto an escarpment. We were rewarded with fine views of the Thames Valley as we followed the contour of the hill to its peak at Winter Hill before descending into the pretty eighteenth century town of Marlow.

Missing the hourly train, known as the Marlow Donkey, back to Maidenhead, necessitated us enjoying a drink in the sunny garden of the Marlow Donkey pub’ before heading home.

Jennifer and Sunita with photos by Stuart

Danny having been incapacitated by a leg injury, I volunteered to stand in for him to lead this walk. I went on a walkover the Sunday before. Just as well. There were places on the walk description (printed in 1994) that were rather elliptical not to say misleading, starting with inclusion of the word “stroll”! It all went fairly smoothly at the beginning. I stopped in the village of Abridge for a lime and soda and chat to a customer about local history, discovering that the spirit of Dick Turpin is alive and kicking! The description matched the reality, despite the occasional lack of waymarkers or other signposts, or overgrown brambles, until I was misdirected through a very overgrown series of field margins in search of a footbridge over the so-called River Roding (which at that point was more like a wide watery ditch). The worst was a field of waist-high thistles, nettles and brambles which I got out of with difficulty. It was all so undesirable that I couldn’t put my prospective group through the same sequence of obstacles, so I did a second walkover with Harriet. We found the intended footbridge over the River Roding and pruned brambles with our secateurs where necessary. We were impressed by the distant spotlit view of the City of London from the brow of Theydon Bois Wood (Theydon Wood Wood?). Continue reading Debden Lambourne Theydon Bois – 19 September →

Thirteen Poly Ramblers took an early train from Paddington to reach Henley on Thames. The earlier time meant that we avoided a thronging high street whilst crossing busy roads to reach the start of our walk on the Oxfordshire way. We enjoyed stunning views in sunshine as we walked through Henley Park part of the Culdon Faw Estate. After walking up a narrow lane we entered a large field with a narrow path leading eventually to an access road. Sadly, we did not spy the very tame White Peacock that I came across during  my walk over. On reaching Dobson’s Lane we wended our way around several bends before stopping for our elevenses at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Fawley. We continued our meander along the small country lane passing the village green where there was a well which Andrew initially thought was the Maharajas well, alas this was not to be! We continued our walk along a narrow bridle path before we entered the Great Wood following a bridleway track gently downhill as it meandered through the woods through bends and some sharp turns. We descended Reservoir Hill and went through further woodland with new plantations before finally reaching the picturesque village of Hambleden. We had a picnic lunch in the churchyard and some of us also had very tasty home-made cake at the local post office before making our way to the Stag and Huntsman joining a number of people having a barbeque. We were about to set off on the afternoon walk when Chris announced that he had lost his Freedom Pass, after re- tracing his steps it was handed to him at the pub where he had dropped it, a big thank you to the pub staff for their vigilance. We continued our walk across the meadows heading towards Hambleden locks where we saw the electrically operated locks opened to allow some very expensive boats through. We enjoyed a very pleasant further meander in lovely sunshine back to Henley passing the Henley festival with some very expensive Champagne on route. We were disappointed not to have time for the Chocolate Cafe to complete our walk however several of us did manage an ice cream on the walk back to the station.

Hilary

Eleven polys arrived at Fambridge North on the Dengie Peninsula on a rather grey but mild morning. We soon arrived at the sea wall on the River Crouch. We walked along the meandering river with its several creeks, remarking on the tranquillity of our surroundings and the beautiful views on both sides. Being tidal, the river attracts various wading birds. We were a little too early in the year for those which winter in the area but we did see some geese in flight. It was quite windy at times, so we were pleased to find a sheltered spot just before Creeksea for our picnic. The clouds finally cleared and the sun came out as we continued into Burnham on Sea, walking through the large marina and onto the quay. We spotted some birds on the mud flat but could not identify them. Later Pam informed me that she could ‘confirm that we saw a pied wagtail (grey and white) hopping around and wagging his tail on the seaweed on the rocks and my contacts have confirmed that the flock of birds we saw sitting on the mud as we approached Burnham on Crouch definitely look like black-tailed godwits – see photo. The white bird with the black dot on his ear in the middle of the flock is a black-headed gull in winter plumage.’ At least the wagtail wags his tail! We enjoyed tea, cake and ice cream sitting overlooking the estuary. As we returned to London we agreed that it had been a very pleasant relaxing walk, perfect after the exertions undertaken by those who had attended the Chester weekend.

Susan.  Photos by Ida, Susan and Pam