Via Cassiobury, Sarratt Church End and Croxley Green. We made use of Watford station before its threatened closure by 2020. Undulating West Herts with some flat stretches.  Lunch at Cock Inn, Sarratt Church End. Distance: 10 miles.

photo of Almshouses, Church End Sarratt by Nigel Cox

A longish walking day for late January as we tackled two sections of the loop from Chigwell to Havering atte Bower and then on to Harold Wood, 10.3 miles in total. In spite of engineering work on the Central line and the threat of mud, fourteen members turned out. After a sharp shower at the start it was dry for the rest of the day but the mud persisted all day. This is one of the most rural sections of the loop with the first 6 miles taking us though open country, farmland and woods. We passed Hainault country park with its lake Continue reading LOOP 14 – CHIGWELL to HAROLD WOOD 30 JANUARY →

The valiant walkers who turned up for the Ingatestone walk were rewarded with sunshine, skylarks and snowdrops, after a pleasant early lunch at the Prince of Wales in Mountnessing where we succumbed to the temptation of a delicious apple crumble! We were pleased to see Geoffrey at lunchtime but his ankle didn’t allow him to venture very far into the rolling green fields in the afternoon. It was just as well he turned back because the terrain continued to be very slippery on the muddy paths between the bright new shoots. We were on the domain of Lord Petre (pronounced Peter) and passed Ingatestone Hall, his dark and gloomy baronial seat. We were more interested in two weathervanes we had seen earlier. One, over a kennels, which appeared to be a hunting dog missing a rusted front leg. The other, above the golden ogival cupola of a house also commissioned by a member of the Petre family, appeared to be a lady in a voluminous skirt battling a storm with her umbrella and preceded by a dog. Continue reading INGATESTONE (Essex) (CIRCULAR): 24 JANUARY →

The weather forecast was for heavy rain, Holland Park Station was closed for several months and the District and Circle Lines weren’t going North of High Street Kensington.  All credit therefore to the 19 of us who were motivated to get to the start. It was dry as we made our way south into a rather sodden Holland Park. We passed round the house, dating from the 17th century, of which only the east wing wing remains, following bomb damage in 1940. Heading east, we crossed Kensington Church Street, making a detour down an attractive alley and past St Mary Abots Church. Here there is blue plaque to Ezra Pound the American poet. A contoversial figure, he was a contemporary of TS Eliot but became converted to the fascist cause. He moved to Italy, later making anti American broadcasts on behalf of the Mussolini government during the second world war.  He was incarcerated by the US army and charged with treason  but found unfit to stand trial. Continue reading SATURDAY 2nd January. HOLLAND PARK to HORSEGUARDS. →

I had been warned of thigh-high lakes of mud, the entire Mole valley being impassably under water & dangerously slippery, steep chalk paths but, despite all these very inauspicious omens, the walk was lovely. We had to bypass the Stepping stones at the bottom of Box Hill as they were under water but there’s a perfectly good bridge not far off so we used that. Continue reading WESTHUMBLE TO LEATHERHEAD – SATURDAY 9 JANUARY →