In search of the Black Poplar...

Michael and Olga Way sent me this report....

"14 people braved horrendous travel arrangements on Bank Holiday Monday for Joe Garver's 10-mile stroll round the Vale of Aylesbury from Wendover.

"It finished with a cream tea at St Mary's Church, Weston Turville, and a walk along the Wendover arm of the Grand Union canal back to the station.



"As a newcomer from Hammersmith and Fulman group commented -- ''At last I've met the legendary Joe Garver.'' [Joe is above in the yellow jacket].



"For travel enthusiasts, it took us 3 trains to get there, via Princes Risborough and Aylesbury. Others caught a selection of buses. Lovely sunny day"

Michael and Olga Way

Wendover Circular

The 30th July walk was a departure for Hampstead, taking place on a Friday. Jane reports as follows...

"Once again we were fortunate with the weather and Joe had devised another very interesting route. There were 15 in the party - excellent for a [weekday] walk. We started off by following the ancient Ridgeway Path southeast to Barn Wood...



"then northeast towards Wendover Woods where we then headed northwest to Dancers End Nature Reserve, where we had a short stop...



[Joe is centre left in the blue shirt]

"....before making our way to the Cafe in the Woods for lunch. Not surpringly, it was a hive of activity. In the afternoon we headed towards Halton and then followed the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal back to Wendover. It was very attractive with lots of reeds and other vegetation and it would be a great pity if the plans to reinstate it as an operational canal ever came to fruition.



.

Wild Orchids in the Chiltern Hills

Jane Rosoux reports:

This Hampstead group walk was led by Joe Garver on Sunday the 20th of June.



[Joe is centre, with stick].

"There were only nine of us on the walk but those who were put off by the engineering works, which affected both the Metropolitan Line and Chiltern Railways, missed a delighful 11 mile walk.

"We had good views, pretty villages and plenty of orchids and other wild flowers, not to mention a Roman snail, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and a Five-Spot Burnet moth.









"The walk included a half hour lunch stop at 'The Red Lion', Whiteleaf village".

.

Wendover Circular Bluebell Walk

Despite Heavy overnight rain which continued into the morning, 13 people joined Joe Garver for a 13.5 mile walk in search of bluebells. Jane Rosoux sent us these photographs.



[Joe Garver is on the extreme right.]

The route was ingeniously planned and took in many bluebell woods...





By the end of the day, even the sun broke through!




.

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!

.

Spring Bluebells around Wendover

A stomach bug flattened me over the weekend, so on Sunday I missed one of the walks I had been looking forward to for months, Joe Garver leading a circular walk around Bluebell woods in the Chilterns.


Luckily Jane Rosoux went on the walk with her trusty camera. She wasn't alone, there were 48 other ramblers, led by the ever-popular Joe Garver. Joe lives in Wendover, and knows the area like the back of his hand.


This photo was taken early on in the walk. Joe is centre right, in the checked shirt.

With this many walkers, it is always sensible to appoint a backmarker. Joe had arranged for Peter, pictured below, to do the job on Sunday.


Have staff, will backmark!

At the beginning of the walk there were some very cute black (well, dark brown) sheep



But the real stars of the show were, of course, the Bluebell Woods, as these photos show...









The weather was perfect, dry warm and sunny



You can see why a backmarker is needed to keep an eye on the stragglers!



.

And the Rain, it Raineth...

A drizzly night gave way to an even more drizzly day for today's circular walk around Wendover. A group of ten (including some Wendoveran "locals") made their increasingly muddy way around the Hampdens, both Little and Great. The Hampden Arms provided some welcome (and welcoming) warmth at the lunch stop. Some days sandwiches in the bus stop just don't seem that attractive!

Our walk was led by Michael Lunn, pictured below.



The Chilterns are usually very walker friendly, but I doubt if this low wall would win any prizes from the local tourist promotion board.



The drizzle hummed as it ionised on the power cables above our heads. Visibility could be best described as "variable"



A personal highlight for me was seeing my first Red Kite hovering over woodland near Great Hampden.

All-in-all though, these Mallard were probably best equipped for the day's weather.



Try as I might though, I couldn't find this fellow in my Shell Guide to British Birds...