On a bright sunny morning, fourteen Polyramblers met up at Rickmansworth railway station. Following the mandatory safety briefing, the group walked round Batchworth and Bury lakes to cross the Grand Union Canal at Stockers Lock for Stockers Farm. This is where not only Black Beauty the ITV series of the early seventies was filmed but bits of Midsomer Murders, Withnail and I, Bridget Jones The Edge Of Reason, etc, as the leader then did not know.
Up and down the first of the promised gentle ascents and descents, the group made its way to the outskirts of Harefield, where an enterprising resident had just opened her garden as a teashop also selling icecreams, which a handful of members could not resist. Others were concerned it might spoil their lunch, unsuspecting that that would be another two hours off!
Over several stiles, past a desolate U.S. army truck and an apparently abandoned Chinese (?) taxi (?) or police car (?), we crossed Woodcock Hill and ambled on through Bishop’s Wood Country Park. From there we headed down to French Grove, where the more intrepid traversed a field with horses while the rest were led around it.
We crossed Ducks Hill Road into Copse Wood and reached eventually, at last, the covid-secure lunch spot of spaced-apart logs, which allowed social distancing.
Afterwards we skirted Ruislip Lido and Northwood golf course to reach Northwood itself and after some pavement plodding a footpath to Batchworth Heath. Here we entered Moor Park golf course and proceeded to cross it, witnessing some truly abysmal golf shots on the way.
Now in Batchworth proper, we made our way mostly in the shade of trees through Ricky back to the start, having covered the 11.5 miles (other estimates are available) at 2mph, somewhat short of the British Standard’s and the club’s standard 2.5mph [not sure the Club’s standard is that fast!-Ed]. The unseasonably warm weather didn’t help. On the other hand, the going was very firm and fast.

Andrew King (Photos by Ida)

This was the first walk since lock down in December & it was a gorgeous reminder of why we would get up early on a Saturday. As we left Guildford we gazed at the curious sight of a huge hedge, sprayed with pink paint & chained to the ground. Hedging being much in demand & supply being short, hedge theft is big business now in Surrey & householders with large front gardens take what steps they can to deter persons who come in the night with forks & spades. An old sunken path took us out into fields where, being fairly flat, we saw more sky than most of us have seen for months. Then a meadow with three llamas dozing in a nice warm scrape they must have made & being gazed at with total concentration by a Westie, temporarily deaf to his owners’ irate calls. Just outside Chillworth we admired two fine pigs who, when younger, were covered with curly sheep-like wool but now just looked like abandoned rugs as someone said. After Chilworth’s ponds & water channels we took a small path that wended its way up the hill under dappled sunlight. through carpets of bluebells, celandines, wood anemones & violets. So beautiful was it, particularly after having been confined to a built-up environment for months, that we kept stopping to listen to the birdsong & enjoy the peace. We had a picnic in the sun at St Martha’s, high up on the North Downs Way & then walked down through the very different, more coniferous woods to the cafes & delights of Guildford.      

Ten Poly Ramblers met at Turnham Green station to begin our walk with a tour of the Bedford Park estate. (Norman Shaw architecture) A number of artists and poets lived here including WB Yeats. We then went onto Stamford Brook and into Ravenscourt Park a very traditional London Park with a lake and gardens and a tennis court. Both Danny and Sandy attended schools in the locality and shared memories of their escapades in the park. We continued to a café and toilets where at this point three of our walkers diverted into a local garden centre café whilst the rest of us continued on our route. We left Ravenscourt Park to cut across Hammersmith to reach the subway under the A4 to join the Thames path at Furnival Gardens. High tide resulted in a group split headed by Danny going a longer way round leaving Marga and myself to wade through a few yards to re-join the ramblers at Hogarth’s grave by the side of St Nicholas Church where some group members went inside to admire the interior. The current church dates from 1882-84 when most of the building except the tower was demolished and rebuilt at the expense of the brewer Henry Smith of the nearby Fuller, Smith and Turner brewery. We walked through Chiswick old cemetery to cross Burlington lane and into Chiswick House grounds. We had lunch (including mulled wine for a few of us) at the main café by Chiswick House followed by a wander around the grounds kindly led by Stephen who with Rochelle and Cathy had finally caught up with us! We completed our walk by leaving the grounds and under the subway back towards Chiswick Park Station. A very enjoyable pre-Xmas ramble.

Hilary

Jennifer, a volunteer guide at Kew Gardens, gave 4 Poly Ramblers a tour of this arboretum with its royal history.  Two stunning examples of Eucalyptus met us in the Australian section.  From Argentine, we were equally impressed by a handsome Monkey Puzzle tree. These are either male or female, known as dioecious, and this species have existing since the age of the dinosaurs.  The rugged bark of a Spanish Cork Oak was admired and the method of harvesting the cork regrowth every 10 years.  In the Californian section, there were some young Redwoods, not a patch on the natives in USA where their trunks have been known to exceed 27’ or 8.2 m in diameter.  Other trees that also stood out were: an orange Mexican Swamp Cypress by the lakeside, the avenue of Holm oaks, the Ginkgoes and a Hornbeam.

In between these beautiful trees, we also visited the Bamboo garden, the Rhododendron Dell, the Woodland boardwalk, the Japanese garden and the Great Pagoda with its brightly coloured dragons on every roof level!

It was a mainly bright sunny day with just one short & heavy downpour.  A very pleasant and informative walk from 10.30- 3pm.

Sarah  Photos Ida and Sunita

This turned out to be our last walk before lockdown.  It was a shame that the group due to visit on Sunday missed out but we hope there will be opportunities for many more walks in 2021.

Wishing all our members a safe and happy festive season

Gillian