Three long-established woods and a 19th canal reservoir, now a water-sporting lake.

Lunch at the Waters Edge, Ruislip Lido.  Distance 6.5 miles.   Leader: Danny.

Walk in Windsor and Eton with riverside meadows, the playing files of Eton and views of Windsor Castle followed by Evensong in St George’s Chapel at 5.15.

Leader: Danny.

A goodly number of Polyramblers met at Kew Gardens station, including new member Maria and her labrador guide dog Bella who was wagging her tail and cosying up to the walkers. We were ready for a soothing stroll along the Thames Path but fearing forecast strong winds and rain. There was too much traffic to let Bella off the lead, even while some of the group peeped into St. Anne’s Church at Kew Green, but when we got to the towpath Bella was keen to explore. I described to Maria that on our left there was a narrow road leading to Kew Gardens car park and on the right was the river. Maria said later she imagined the river bank would be the same as at Putney, gently leading down to the water. Before I could explain that there was a 10ft vertical wall covered in bright green moss, Bella was off the lead and skiing down the wall to the narrow strip of shingle beach, splashing delightedly in the shallows until she realised that there was no obvious way back up.  Continue reading Saturday 5th December Kew. A Cautionary Tail! →

A slightly disappointing turnout on Saturday, not helped by the overly pessimistic weather forecast and perhaps the lure of Christmas shopping – most of the massive ticket queue at Marylebone were heading off to Bicester Village designer outlet.    Nonetheless we made it to double figures, thanks to new member Maggie (welcome Maggie!) and Stuart’s friend Eddie who lives locally.  A bus took us south from High Wycombe town centre, across the M40 and dropped us outside a recently closed pub. We walked north west, through Marlow Bottom and eventually to Moor End and the village of Frieth.  Much of the walk was on bridleways through woodland so inevitably there was  a fair amount of mud and leaf mulch which made the going quite hard work at times.  This is a popular game shooting area and we were not surprised to come across a pheasant shoot shortly before lunch.  Luckily they were taking a break and we just had enough time to clear the area before the shooting restarted.  Continue reading Saturday 28th. Chiltern Hills →

Having made my own way to this station I sat in the waiting room of platform 2. The 10:49 from London arrived. I looked out for a group of polyramblers amongst large swathes of people alighting with their bulky luggage. After a minute or so it became clear there were none!  Strange, I thought.  I took out my club programme from my rucksack only to find they would be due on the 10:54!!!  And indeed they were!  All 9 of us proceeded out of the station past the shuttle buses and  huddles of people with more bulky luggage, down the station approach to the Wheathampstead B road, and we turned left up steps and climbed more steps onto a field path at airport perimeter. Continue reading Sunday 22nd November, 2016. Luton Airport Parkway circular. →