After a 90 min train journey from London, 12 members assembled on the sunny concourse of Eastbourne station. I thus directed them outside across the road to the bus stop where we boarded the 12A bus to East Dean village. We started the walk from here in still sunshine but on proceeding south onto the downs beside Went Hill, the sea came into view and what seemed like a mild gale ensued! This subsided as we descended down to Birling Gap. It was noon so I asked the party whether they wanted lunch or just a coffee stop here. The vote was for coffee/cake, with a lunch at the later stop. Suitably refreshed, we all continued eastward along the South Downs Way clifftop path, passing the monument lighthouse of Belle Tout. We took lunch at the Beachy Head PH. Continue reading July 28th. East Dean to Eastbourne →

As I waited for the train from Waterloo, as leader of my “Annual Hampshire Walk”, I was looking forward to seeing who got off the train.  As the train slowed there were “waves” from some of the windows, and when the train stopped out came Sandra, Mike, Pam, Irene, Val and of course lastly Geoffrey!!

Having greeted each other like long lost friends we made our way down to the “Itchen Navigation Canal” for the first part of the walk. Continue reading SATURDAY 21st JULY: SHAWFORD (HANTS) (CIRCULAR) →

Sixteen members of the Polyramblers walked the Saxon Shore way from Dover to Deal. The numbers were impressive as it was also the final of the women’s Wimbledon tennis championships and the football third place playoff for the World Cup.

We started with the Banksy graffiti art depicting Brexit. It was painted on a building due for demolition but luckily Dover Council agreed to keep it, as it provided much needed colour to a rather run-down area. Continue reading DOVER TO DEAL SATURDAY 14 JULY →

Despite soaring temperatures and the England world cup match, 9 polyramblers turned out for the walk.  The advantage of the conditions was that there were far fewer people on the Ridgeway than would be normal and the heat was made more bearable by a gentle breeze.   Lunch in the Valiant Trouper in the pretty old village of Aldbury was excellent and as it was a football-free zone (i.e. no TV) there weren’t many customers so we were very well taken care of. Continue reading Tring to Berkhamsted: 7 July →

It was a hot day to walk 13 miles with no pub until the end but that didn’t deter 11 Poly Ramblers. Led by Jackie, we started at Goring and were soon heading uphill through woods to arrive on a ridge.  Much of the walk was in woodland, which was just as well as the sun was roasting out in the open.  Stuart had intended to do a shorter, lower level walk but we kept bumping into him around every corner so in the end he stuck with us.  After a nervy encounter with a frisky group of young heifers we were back in woodland and stopped in Continue reading GORING TO PANGBOURNE – 30 JUNE →