Despite so-called “planned” engineering works causing travel disruption both on the trains and the underground, 30 of us met up at Liverpool Street station, 10 Polyramblers and 14 London Blind Ramblers. It was just as well the LBRs had brought some sighted friends to help guide them! We paired up and set off. The path was mostly smooth. Robin and Maria set a good pace. Birds tweeted in the brambles. Was that a Cetti’s Warbler we heard? We passed a couple with a child examining a greenish eggshell beside the path. They thought it was a duck egg which a crow had stolen from a mallard nest, broken open and eaten the contents. The A13 hummed in the background until we climbed the slope up to the riverside path, passing Tilda’s rice mills (one of Europe’s largest), which receives grain from Italy, Canada, India, Thailand and Uruguay. Continue reading Sunday 14th April Rainham to Rainham Marshes →

Ten Polyramblers got off the train at Yalding, with unusually, equal numbers of women and men. It was somewhat misty but otherwise dry and mild.The club last visited Yalding a couple of years ago, when widespread flooding of the Medway had caused much damage to property and vehicles. Some expensive looking homes had been built overlooking the marina in the intervening period. We set off along the river, with me bringing up the rear as usual. After a few minutes, I found that I was alone, the rest of the group having turned Continue reading Sunday 7th April. Yalding to Borough Green →

Rosie led twelve of us on this delightful leisurely walk from Carshalton Ponds and then beside the River Wandle in the spring sunshine, with cherry blossom,  blackthorn, daffodils, marsh marigolds in the shallow waters of the river, birds chirping and singing all the way. In places the water of the river was calm, in others there was a strong current and it was easy to imagine the 90 mills that were operating along the whole length of the river in its heyday. Continue reading Carshalton to morden March 30th →