We had a beautiful walk on Saturday weaving our way between Hampshire & West Sussex. It was mostly through light woodland & on such a lovely sunny day, the sunlight filtering through golden leaves was very uplifting! We had a look at the curious Tuxlith chapel & its more modern neighbour, St Luke’s, both appearing to be in the middle of the wood. The chapel was built in the twelfth century & is now considered ‘redundant’, presumably because it’s so small, but is ‘under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches.’ St Luke’s is Victorian & not so romantic but still a lovely church & clearly well used.
Lunch was at Flying Bull in Rake- not a gourmet pub, thank goodness- but friendly & efficient.
The afternoon took us through more woodland & we had a good refreshment stop at the Deer’s Hut in Griggs Green. After that we found ourselves going past Foley Manor where one of our number remembered having spent holidays as a child & learning to swim. We got to Liphook station in good time & without having lost the small, autumn leaf coloured dog who honoured us with his company.
12 Polyramblers on this walk, or 13 if you count Stuart who missed the beginning of the walk and only found us at the end. But there could have been 15 as Mary and Joyanna did not find the group and went exploring on their own. The Grosvenor family has owned 100 acres of Mayfair since 1677 when Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies, heiress to part of the Manor of Ebury. This area took its name from the May Fair – an annual two week long fair of vice and impurities, held until well into the 19 century. The walk took us away from busy Marble Arch and Oxford Street to quiet streets lined with beautiful 18 and 19 century houses and mews for their stables and servants. We passed Grosvenor Square, the second largest square in London and went to South Audley Street where the Halloween decorations outside the Thomas Goode shop were amazing. Mount Street has lovely houses with terracotta decorations. We also saw, outside Number 2 the ornate lamp post with a trap door which was used by the Soviet Embassy as a dead letter drop during had Cold War. This was revealed when a double agent was extracted from Russia. We followed Bourdon Street, Avery Row and a maze of narrow lanes before reaching Brown Hart Gardens, built on top of an electricity transformer station. In the middle of Mayfair are model dwellings built in the 19th century to house the poor which must be worth a lot of money now. We passed Claridge’s Hotel, went up Davies Street and finished the walk at Bond Street Station.
If anyone would like to redo the walk in daylight the details can be found here
There were 15 on this walk, led by Sandra, in the heart of Constable country on a beautiful, sunny autumn day. We followed the Essex Way through the countryside to the pretty village of Dedham where we had lunch. We had time to visit the church, which has a painting by Constable, and the art and craft centre. We continued along the river Stour and strayed into Suffolk up to East Bergholt, the birth place of Constable, where we stopped for a look at St Mary’s church and bell cage. Then it was off to Flatford Mill, previously owned by Constable’s father, and its National Trust tea shop where we had tea and cakes. Most of us chose pumpkin and walnut scones which were delicious. Another two miles took us back to Manningtree station after a lovely day in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Manningtree Station has a flourishing café and bar offering real ale. Some of us took the opportunity of sampling this, enjoying the late afternoon sun. Coming off the London train, I noted a fair number of souls, wearing their Bollocks to Brexit badges . A number of club members attended the march too so perhaps all is not yet lost. Thanks to Sigrid of Morley Ramblers, whose walk Sandra borrowed and who came with us to make sure we didn’t stray. Thanks to Dominique for the majority of the text and to Pam for the lovely main photograph.
Five intrepid walkers set off from London only to arrive at the start and find no leaders in sight. We had been to the station, but had to park about ten minutes away. The five agreed to meet the leaders halfway. We set out on a sultry day with the crows singing Enrico Morricone spaghetti western tunes, as the sweat poured out of the follicle challenged leader’s head.
The walk took us through sunny autumnal scenes and a vista of surrounding hills, meadows and woodland. We also passed through the historic hamlet of Bassetts with several 16th century timbered buildings. Two walkers got very excited every time fallen sweet chestnuts were found on the walk and the writer took a tumble not looking where he was going! Shaggy Parasol mushrooms were also spotted, but not collected for later consumption. Just as well, as I later found out that edibility is a bit touch and go!
A picnic lunch took place outside the Rock pub I didn’t think would be reached in time with refreshments then taken inside. Early into the last stage of the walk it became apparent that the train travellers could catch an earlier than planned train back to London. An agreed increase in pace through satisfyingly crunchy fallen leaves ensued, despite the squirrelling chestnuters hanging back to collect more rich pickings en-route. The usual brief encounter with Alpacas, a typical traditional British countryside scene, made us all feel at home (well walkers home kind of thing)!
Although it was rather wet, we had a pleasant short walk along the Thames from Hampton Wick, saw all the boats and had a nice lunch at ‘Tide End Cottage’ next to the Anglers Pub. Solvig joined us for lunch, after which we continued on towards Richmond. It was a shame about the rail strike but despite all the difficulties we were able to enjoy each others company and get some much needed weekend exercise.
Rob
Photo by brian gillman, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54092578
The Polytechnic Rambling Club – Walking with friends
