Wendover Circular via Great Missenden

Today's walk was led by Gabriel Newfield. Gabriel was accompanied by eleven human ramblers and two dogs, Tess and Pupa (pronounced Poohpah). As always on a ramble with dogs, the advantages of having four legs were obvious, with both canines literally running rings around the rest of us. I always find the bounding (boundless?) enthusiasm of dogs rather inspiring on a walk; they never want to stop.



This is a rare shot of Pupa actually standing still. Her human is on the far Right. If you look carefully you can also see Tess, the tan and white dog in the middle right, next to her owner Harriet. Walk Leader Gabriel is wearing the blue Kepi, right background.

I often describe the Chilterns as Hampstead Ramblers' home turf. This farm certainly does nothing to dispel that idea..



Some of the route certainly encouraged us to use some corny puns...



An a maizeing route!

.

Hampstead Ramblers 25th Anniversary Walk

Friday the 24th of July saw another of the events held to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Hampstead Group. This short walk led by Robin Midwinter, from Woodside Park to Totteridge, both stations on the Northern Line, was a re-creation of the first walk ever taken by the Hampstead Group back in 1984.

Jane Rosoux reports...

"12 of us set out from Woodside Park Station soon after 7.00 pm.



There had been recent showers which no doubt deterred other potential participants but there was no rain during the walk and there were even glimpses of the sun.

Robin had devised a route as close as he could to Gerald Colton's original and by the time we arrived at 'The Orange Tree' pub for a celebratory drink two hours later we had covered around 5 miles and had been intoduced to many of the most attractive areas of Totteridge. We were also fortunate to pass a cricket match in progress and to see a quite impressive sunset."



.

Mortimer Circular via Silchester.

A midweek walk through the far Roman Empire led by Will George. Jane Rosoux writes...

"There were four of us including the leader, Will George. The morning route took us across fields where the crops included dried peas, past Burghfield and through plantations (mainly conifers) When we arrived at the Oval Pond we stopped for lunch and Will George and Olga Way had a swim.








The water was iron-rich...



After lunch the showers became heavier and more frequent but we eventually arrived at the ruins of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum). We were impressed by the state of preservation of the outer wall





and by the variety of mosses growing on it. There was an interesting postbox near the amphitheatre



and an unusually-shaped spire on Stratfield Mortimer church...




The whole walk took around four hours excluding the swim / lunch stop and we walked around 10 miles."

Many Thanks to Jane.

.

Rickmansworth to Amersham, Gerald Colton Way Part 5

Last Saturday's walk was led by June Craig.

I am pleased to include a selection of photographs by a new contributor to this blog, Hampstead Group member Heidi.

June is seen below, fourth from the left. Heidi is on the far right.












Any ideas as to what breed these fine looking pigs are?







We look forward to receiving more photo's from Heidi.

All contributions are welcome, photos or reports, and you don't need to be a Hampstead Member.

.

Gerald Colton Way 4, Radlett to Rickmansworth

Jane Rosoux writes...

"I attach photographs which I took on today's walk along Section 4 of the Gerald Colton Way from Radlett to Rickmansworth. A party of seven set out from Radlett Station at around 10.15 am, including two members of the North West London Group and one from the South Bank Group.

Once we had left the built-up area we were delighted to walk past fields of white-flowered flax plants.





The fields of ripening oats and hay meadows which we subsequently passed through seemed very dull in comparison, probably because the farmers had been all too efficient at eradicating the wild flowers which would have added splashes of colour.




Our route took us past Letchmore Heath, Stanmore Common and across Bentley Priory Open Space and we finally arrived at our lunch stop at 'The Case is Altered' public house, Harrow Weald Common after 2 1/2 hours. There we were blessed with excellent views from the adjoining car park, including Harrow Hill in the near distance.




After lunch we went through Grim's Dyke Open Space



and crossed Grim's Dyke Golf Course before arriving at the bridge over the railway line near Hatch End Station where two more left the party (the first had dropped out near the entrance to Bentley Priory).

Two further members dropped out near Pinner Hill Golf Course leaving two of us to complete the least interesting part of the walk, through Oxhey Woods, past Hampermill Lake, then a long stretch along the Ebury Way, eventually passing lakes formed from gravel-digging and crossing the Grand Union Canal at Batchworth Lock



before entering Rickmansworth and arriving at the station at 5.00 pm just in time to catch a fast train back to London. We covered just over 16 miles in around 5 hours 40 minutes, excluding the lunch stop, at an average speed, including other stops, of 2.82 mph."

.

Higham Circular, 4th July

Jane Rosoux writes..

"I attach the photographs I took on the circular walk from Higham, Kent on Saturday led by Will George. There were eight in the party, including one each from the South Bank, Bromley and North East London Groups. We started off by heading north to the Saxon Shore Way and then following it via Cliffe Fort (on the opposite bank of The Thames to Coalhouse Fort, Tilbury) to Cliffe, a village situated on a low chalk escarpment on the Hoo peninsular overlooking the Thames marshes, where some of the party had a welcome drink at 'The Six Bells'. In the afternoon we returned to Higham Station through woods and across farmland where we had some some nice views. The total distance was around 13 miles. It was a lovely day although a might humid."














.