A Capital Idea (Saturday 13 March)

Metropolitan Walkers – a Hike group in London – can lay good claim to be the most successful Ramblers group of the last few years. Formed in 2002 from just a handful of eager walkers that organised 2 walks a month it now has over 1000 members and puts on at least 5 walks each and every week. So popular has it become that it is not unusual for their walks to have over 50 participants and for the leader they have now become more of a question of crowd control than navigation. Started as a group that targeted walkers in their 20’s and 30’s today they find a significant portion of their membership in their 40’s. These realities and more has led them consider the need to set up a new group that caters for those in their late 30’s through to early 50’s. (What we used to call middle aged – are we allowed to say that in these politically correct times?) They’re calling this group Capital Walkers.

It was a (relatively) early start Saturday morning ‘cos we had to get to Goring & Streatley station by 10 am. A morning of showering, listening to the Today programme, feeding the cat, getting the slow cooker packed and switched on, deciding 3 layers was plenty, lacing up the boots  and buying the Guardian on the way to Richmond station. Heading for Reading I had time to read the Sports section and peruse the property porn – we’re moving to Huddersfield this week. Went there once and quite liked it actually.
 

At the station there was 20 of us ready for our 12 mile (18 km) Goring circular walk. (I counted 21 which caused a bit of confusion later on. Note to everybody else, if the walk is nothing to do with me don’t let me head count!) Before you get to Goring you go through Pangbourne. This where Kenneth Grahame retired to and E H Shepherd’s famous illustrations from Wind in the Willows was supposedly inspired by the countryside round here. Goring is prime commuter country of about 4000 residents including at one time in its past, George Michael. The Goring Gap is an interesting geological feature caused by the River Thames breaking through the hills and so making its way to the sea east of London. The river runs from north to south here between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns. It was soon obvious that 3 layers was about 2 too many when the sun was out, it was warm enough to work up a sweat when walking uphill. Spotted some great clumps of snowdrops as we wound our way through the Oxfordshire/Berkshire countryside. There has been some comment lately that your south eastern variety are slow this year – way behind those up t’north in places like Skiddaw. These ones looked quite majestic in the warm spring sun to me though.

After lunch we briefly stopped at St Mary’s church, Aldworth to have a look at the effigies of the De La Beche family – known locally as the Aldworth Giants. They’re quite literal here ‘cos one of the knights would’ve been over 7 feet tall had this been an accurate representation of him. Anyway the family was famous back in the 1270’s when Edward I was on the throne. It was after this brief excursion that my miscounting caused a problem when we thought we’d lost somebody. Good job that ‘cos we’re a new group we take a register beforehand. (So we’ve got everybody’s email addresses to send them future walks programmes.) Checking this we found there were only 20 to start with – d’oh.

We continued to make good time through the gently undulating Chiltern Hills and when we reached the river decided to stop at the Beetle and Wedge. Here I had a nice pint of Henley Amber, most others had tea or hot chocolate – hmmm. We only had a couple miles to do after that – all alongside the Thames. Back in Goring a few of us stopped at the Catherine Wheel for a quick drink before catching our various trains home. This time it was Brakspeare’s Oxford Gold for me.

The walk was led by first-timers, James and Dawn, and a good job they made of it. The next walk is a Godalming circular starting from the station at 11 am on Saturday March 27. The new walks programme running from April to June is out next week. You can join the Capital Walkers group on their Facebook page and check out their web presence through the link below.
 
More information
Ramblers Business Plan 2009/10 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWPm8-aLKw&feature=player_embedded 

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers   http://capitalwalker.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
o Capital Walkers Facebook  http://tinyurl.com/yzum8sw 
o Metropolitan Walkers: http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Kenneth Grahame   http://www.kennethgrahamesociety.net/
o E H Shepherd    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Shepard
o Goring     http://www.goring-gap.co.uk/
o George Michael    http://www.georgemichael.com/
o Aldworth Giants   http://tinyurl.com/yjde3ur
o Beetle and Wedge   http://www.beetleandwedge.co.uk/
o Henley Amber    http://www.lovibonds.co.uk/
o Brakspear’s Oxford Gold  http://www.brakspear.co.uk/

Listen to:

La Habitacion Roja – Capital
Simple Minds – Capital City
George Michael – Faith
Sieben – Spring Snowdrop
Sieben – Winter Snowdrop
Albion Dance Band – Snowdrop Polka

Many years ago, as a novice travel writer, I asked the great walker and author Sir Wilfred Thesiger what he’d meant with the words ‘We all kill the things we love’. “Well,” he replied, “we love a place for its solitude and wild beauty, then we publicize it and by doing so encourage others to visit and kill what it is we most love about it.”

I know many places that I’d describe as paradise, partly because they’re beautiful, un-crowded and tranquil and partly because they’re not suffering from the general destruction that large numbers of walkers create. I could tell you more about those places but I won’t, not because you’re not worthy of them but because there’s thousands of walkers reading this, not just you. And if I told you all about a peaceful paradise, exactly how long d’you think it would stay that way?

So my lips are staying shut, except to say the following; if you want unspoilt areas to hike in there’s no need for me or any other travel writer to spill the beans, you just need to start reading between the lines of any guidebook. Focus on the areas it omits and look them up on Google Earth or regular survey maps. It won’t take long to find places that look interesting but which are barely mentioned (if at all) in any mainstream guidebook. Google phrases like ‘light pollution maps’, ‘cleanest UK freshwater rivers and lakes’ or ‘most remote areas UK’ (this phrase leads to an insurance site that reveals the 10 remotest places in Britain – you never know where your info will come from!). Then just pack your rucksack and take a chance.

Many would say that this is all too much trouble. Why not simply read an ‘Away from the crowds’ article instead? My reply would be, if it’s too much trouble to find paradise for yourself then maybe the litter bin will always be too distant, the path too narrow to walk on or silence not as comfortable as iPod sounds and mobile ringtones. And if that’s so, maybe it’s best you stick with Ben Nevis or Scafell Pike.

I hope it’s not too much trouble for you though. There are lonely Peak District fells waiting for you. And deserted mountains a few hours walk from over-hiked Kilimanjaro. And tropical islands devoid of cars and electricity but packed with great walking and snorkelling. You’ll benefit from seeing these places, without a doubt, and somewhere down the line, they’ll benefit from seeing you too.

For more of Dave’s writing, please visit www.davewise.biz

Senior Service (Saturday 20 February)

“All the nice girls love a sailor
All the nice girls love a tar”

From the moment you exit Portsmouth & Southsea station there’s no doubting you’re in a navy town. There’s the ever present Portsmouth coat of arms containing its distinctive 8 pointed star above a crescent against an azure background. Of course this is widely used as a symbol of Islam around the world and appears on the flags of many Islamic nations. By all accounts Portsmouth’s adoption of this emblem dates back to 1194 and in a blatant act of toadying the good burghers of Portsmouth thanked Richard the Lionheart for the granting of town status by incorporating this part of the king’s heraldic symbol as their own. Most of the city lies on Portsea Island located where the Solent joins the English Channel, making it the UK’s only island city.

Home to the world’s first ever dry dock you can also see HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose and visit the D-Day Museum which houses the Overlord Embroidery (a modern day Bayeux Tapestry). A more recent attraction is the 170 metre Spinnaker Tower, focus of the Gunwharf Quays regeneration. This is where we headed first – although we popped into the Tourist Information Centre to buy our tickets ‘cos they’re cheaper there and you avoid the queues at the Tower. It’s well worth a trip because the view shows the island nature of the city and the size of the harbour.

Back on the ground we wended our way through the town, the old side by side with the new, until we reached the sea. We had a very pleasant walk along the Hard to Southsea. You are constantly reminded of the town’s long history, passing Nelson’s statue to later find Henry VIII’s castle. This is the very place he saw his flagship, the Mary Rose, lead an attack on French galleys marauding up the Solent and then founder with the loss of over 500 lives. The wreck was re-discovered in 1971, salvaged in 1982 and now resides in a special museum in the dock yard.

Apparently most of the city is just 10 feet above sea level and I certainly don’t recall much in the way of a hill. A not insignificant fact in these days of climate change concerns not to mention the rain of biblical proportions we’ve been experiencing in the south east recently. All in all Portsmouth was a really pleasant surprise for me. Previously I’d mostly travelled through it on the way to the Isle of Wight. I’ve seen Chelsea win at Fratton Park and been to a couple of gigs in the Wedgewood Rooms but that had been it. True it’s certainly got some rubbish civic brutalist architecture but what UK city that was heavily bombed in WWII hasn’t. We’d travelled down on some free tickets Clare gets from South West Trains ‘cos she’s got a season ticket and we’ll definitely be returning and seeing what longer walks are on offer from the town along the coast.

I opened with the chorus lines from the 1909 song Ship Ahoy, well here’s another one:

“With his pockets full of money and a parrot in a cage”

A parrot in a cage ?!?! – what’s that all about ?!?!

More information
Ramblers Business Plan 2009/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWPm8-aLKw&feature=player_embedded

Useful links:

• The Ramblers                                      http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
• Portsmouth                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth
• Richard the Lionheart                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England
• Overlord Embroidery                          http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/overlord.htm
• Spinnaker Tower                                 http://www.spinnakertower.co.uk/
• Portsmouth Hard                                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hard_Interchange
• Fratton Park                                        http://www.stadiumguide.com/fratton.htm
• Wedgewood Rooms                           http://www.wedgewood-rooms.co.uk/
• South West Trains                              http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/

Listen to:

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Senior Service
Llandudno Show Players – All The Nice Girls Love A Sailor
The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, Flag Officer Plymouth – Heart Of Oak
Rod Stewart – Sailing
The Durutti Column – Overlord Part One
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain

Growing up in a village near the town of Sudbury in Suffolk, and with a strong interest in anything to do with trains, I was aware of a man called Dr Beeching from a young age. Sudbury’s station is at the end of the line. I remember my dad telling me how the track used to run on from Sudbury, connecting local villages, until in the 1960s Dr Beeching had closed it down on the grounds of efficiency. Today, one can only wonder how the railways would be different – and how car-use might be less – if Dr Beeching hadn’t come along.

Are we now about to see the ‘Beeching Axe’ fall on our public footpath network? With local authorities facing huge financial pressures, we’re starting to hear disturbing whispers about rationalisation. Questions are being asked about whether to focus money only on the so-called ‘honeypot’ routes, allowing the less-frequented branch lines to fall into neglect.

After years of sustained improvement in our footpaths across many parts of Britain, and at a time when walking for health is becoming more popular, that would be a tragedy. It is precisely the comprehensiveness of our footpath network which is so unique to Britain. For it to be most effective, the footpath network needs to be close to where people live and always useable.

The Ramblers is not against changes to the footpath network – far from it. Local Ramblers groups in England and Wales have worked closely with local councils in drawing up Rights of Way Improvement Plans, and in Scotland we’re campaigning for new path networks to link villages. There are many ways that the network can be improved: to provide missing links, ensure it is properly co-ordinated with public transport stops, and bring it closer to new housing developments. But we’re entering more dangerous times when there will be pressure for ‘rationalisation’.

So we’re launching an appeal to raise funds that mean we’re ready to fight any such moves (see p18). Just as importantly, we need everyone to be involved in reporting path problems – to their local Ramblers footpath officer and their local council. With your help we can help our footpaths avoid the same fate as the railway line beyond Sudbury.

Tom Franklin is chief executive of The Ramblers

We’re Second Class Citizens (from walk magazine’s Spring 2010 edition)

I’m prepared to bet that anyone who regularly walks around towns or cities will have had times when they felt like a second-class citizen. Because when it comes to walking in today’s UK, you’d be forgiven for thinking that our political masters and mistresses seem to view every other form of transport as superior to the humble pedestrian. Take London, for example, where I live. Every working day people make 7 million journeys on foot here. Many of these walks are made to connect with other forms of transport such as the bus or tube, but nevertheless that’s a lot of walking. Without these journeys London simply wouldn’t work and it hardly seems sensible to treat this many people as second-class citizens, does it?

Well, just try tackling Vauxhall Cross (pictured above), a busy transport hub on a junction of main roads which sits just outside the Ramblers’ central office. You’re not spoiled for choice: you can either cross on the level, use a bridge that spans Kennington Lane, or take the subway. If you use the bridge, you’ll probably still have to cross the busy Albert Embankment afterwards, so many pedestrians then elect to jaywalk.

But what the planners really want to do is drive you underground, out of the way of traffic, into a confusing subway system, effectively burying the problem. The walker certainly knows their place: out of sight, out of mind. I often find myself humming The Jam’s 1980 single “Going Underground” when I take this route. It really is unsatisfactory (the subway not the song), and gives you no sense of the area nor any opportunity to buy from the local shops.

Subways are not the only problem. Head a little further down the road and you come to a set of innocuous-looking traffic lights at the junction of Chelsea Bridge, Pimlico and Hospital roads. This is one of those three-phased crossing points where you’re not entirely sure which line of traffic is going to head off next or which way it’ll go. But there are no green man indicators to guide you, so crossing becomes a complicated and dangerous ballet between pedestrian and car, leaving both angry and confused.

Of course, London is not the only UK city centre blighted by misguided planning that saw the car as king and is now further handicapped by the lack of political will to change things. In fact, councils up and down the country need to move this issue higher up the political agenda. To return to The Jam’s Going Underground, perhaps ‘the public wants what the public gets’ and until we all start letting politicians know it simply isn’t good enough, we’ll continue to get treated as second-class citizens.

The modern rambling movement began with a mass trespass on Kinder Scout in the Peak District, but in my view what’s needed now is a mass exodus. The last time I was on Kinder Scout workmen were hard at it, laying a stone-flagged staircase all the way up from Edale. Even when I gained the ridge, I saw that more stone-flagging lay ahead of me, as if wayward Romans had been building wonky roads. Actually, the Roman analogy isn’t that misplaced, because in the last 20 years legions of walkers have invaded the British hinterland intent on stealing beauty.

I say ‘intent’, but really, where’s the beauty to be found? It’s difficult to commune with nature when there are scores of other communards, just as it’s impossible to venture into the wild if it’s overpopulated by the civilised. Of course, I realise that if you get a little bit further off the beaten – or stone-flagged – track, you’ll soon find all the solitude you desire, but there remains something profoundly disturbing about the way our most celebrated areas of natural beauty are becoming replete with the same urban infrastructure we’re trying to get away from: car parks, gift shops, cafés – and now these metalled paths that mimic the motorways most visitors have driven along in order to get there.

I blame the English Romantics: their obsession with the picturesque spread with lightning speed. When Wordsworth was still living at Dove Cottage in Grasmere, trippers were already pitching up armed with wooden frames through which to descry the surrounding fells. Two hundred years on that frame has become completely internalised, so that we head en masse for such locations, where we goggle at prospects that have already been worn smooth by our regard.

Unfortunately, it’s a lose-lose situation: not only is our hunt for the unspoilt a spoliation, but the correlate of this is that we have little regard for the places where we actually live. Whether it’s fly-tipping or lousy architecture, littering or insensitive planning, the urban environment is endlessly traduced by not just commercial imperatives but our own studied lack of regard. Why bother? – we say to ourselves. After all, we’re effectively powerless when it comes to prettifying our immediate surroundings, so our best possible defence is to get out at the weekend for a good long walk somewhere lovely.

And as we drive along the motorways and arterial roads en route for our aesthetic route march, we give scant thought to the areas of outstanding

man-made ugliness that we’re passing through. But it’s precisely our tunnel vision that’s making the parts of Britain where the majority of people live a miserable concrete bollix, and that’s why we should stop driving to walk at all. The car is the sworn enemy of the walker in every shape and form: they stink, they’re noisy, they’re dangerous, and they – or rather their drivers – are responsible for the most egregious and insensitive modifications to the British landscape since its Iron Age deforestation. Driving to take a walk is a solecism on a par with shooting people in the cause of universal peace and harmony. My view is if you can’t take a train or a bus to do a walk, then don’t do it at all.

Besides, if you get out of the habit of driving to walk then you’re immediately thrown back into the purlieus of your own home. I almost always walk directly from my home – and this despite the fact I live in central London. True, it may take an entire day to reach open country, but by God I feel I’ve earned it when I see those green fields. Moreover, by consistently walking through the built environment I make my peace with it. In part, I conceded, this is because I’ve developed a kind of anti-Romanticism, whereby the ugly is experienced as beauty. In part it’s because I’ve learnt the byways and riversides, so that I can trek through town in the most bucolic possible way. But mostly it’s because I am entirely liberated from the awful sensation you get – especially when contemplating the ‘CAR PARK FULL’ sign at Grasmere or Edale – that the world is replete, and that, as Thomas De Quincey (another of the awful Romantics) put it: ‘the human being is in these parts a weed’. My message is: learn to appreciate the ruderals growing on the motorway embankment near to your house, and you needn’t feel weed-choked at all.

Will Self’s latest book, Psycho Too, is a collection of his walking pieces for the Independent published by Bloomsbury (£20, ISBN 9781408802281)

Along with its larger relative, the Little Bear (or Ursa Minor) is one of the oldest depicted star patterns and appears in a catalogue of constellations compiled during the second century BC by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. Visible high in the northern sky as seen from mid-northern latitudes, the Little Bear is easily found by using the two end stars in the ‘bowl’ of the Plough as pointers, as shown below. Just follow a line from Merak through Dubhe you will reach the star Polaris – the brightest star in Ursa Minor and the end of the Little Bear’s tail.

Although Ursa Minor isn’t the most prominent of constellations, it can be picked out fairly easily because the area around it is devoid of bright stars. It roughly resembles the Plough in shape and stretches away from Polaris, the main star in the group. Polaris, or the Pole Star, as its name suggests, marks the position of the north celestial pole. This is the imaginary point in the heavens which lies in line with the Earth’s axis, and consequently directly overhead as seen from the North Pole and in the direction of north when viewed from elsewhere on the Earth’s surface. Polaris appears to remain stationary as the Earth turns on its axis, with all the other stars appearing to go round it every 24 hours.

If you look at the celestial bears you will notice that they both have long tails – unlike their earthly counterparts. Of course, there is a legend to explain this. Ursa Major (the Great Bear) represents the legendary maiden Callisto – who was so beautiful that the Roman goddess Juno (wife of Jupiter, the King of the Gods) became jealous, and turned her into a bear. Years later, Callisto’s son Arcas almost killed the bear while out hunting. Jupiter then turned Arcas into a bear and, in order to save them both from Juno’s clutches, grabbed both animals by their tails and swung them high up into the sky where they can be seen to this day. Naturally, the tails of both animals became stretched in the process!

At the other end of the constellation, the stars Kochab and Pherkad are known collectively as the Guardians of the Pole. Pherkad is actually a wide double star and both stars that form this double can be seen with binoculars. The pair are white and orange-yellow, although you may need a telescope to bring the colours out properly. Kochab is also orange-yellow in colour and is one of the closest stars in Ursa Minor, its light taking just over a century to reach us.

Polaris, on the other hand, shines from a distance of 680 light years. In other words, the light we are seeing from Polaris set off towards us around the reign of Edward III. The star appears relatively faint although in reality it is around 6,000 times as luminous as our Sun and only appears faint due to the fact that it lies at such a great distance from us. So though the winter evenings are fairly chilly, keep an eye to the heavens when you’re out walking and think of the Little Bear and the Pole Star as your celestial guides. Happy stargazing!

Roll credits (Tuesday January 26)

In geomorphology an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp elevation differential characterized by a cliff or at the least a steep slope. (Well there’s at least 2 new words for me to sprinkle through future conversations in that sentence.) The Chiltern Hills, known locally, simply, as the Chilterns, are a chalk escarpment in south east England and as such is great walking country nearby to London. (Tricky plurality issue there all you grammar pedants.) And we’ve all probably seen the ‘filmed at Pinewood Studios’ at the bottom of the credits at the cinema. (In all likelihood at the end of some Bond film or another I’m guessing – although a lot of the Carry On catalogue were shot here and the last films in the Harry Potter series are in the final stages production at the moment.) Well Pinewood Studios can be found in Iver Heath, about 20 miles northwest of London just outside of the Chilterns. Although you can’t actually wander around the studio complex itself it’s still a pretty good location for a countryside walk with a difference.

Uxbridge tube station isn’t too far away but we arrived at Langley (overground trains from Paddington and Oxford) on a bright winter’s day. (Sometimes you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a blog about the weather – especially lately – but it is hard to ignore for us walkers.) Almost immediately you cross the Grand Union canal heading for Langley Park Country Park up the romantically named Love Hill Lane. Langley Park dates back to the 11th century as a deer park but was subsequently landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in the 18th century.  Often referred to as England’s greatest gardener, he designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure today. The park is dominated by a large country house that’s probably owned by some movie mogul or other. (Peter Jackson’s got a big house somewhere near and Barbara Broccoli has a street named for her or possibly for her father Cubby.)

Not done with Buckinghamshire’s country parks we negotiated the A4007 and entered Black Park Country Park. (Am I the only one who thinks these names are a bit clumsy – too many parks?) While not by any stretch the worst dual carriageway I’ve had to cross on a walk the A4007 does merit caution especially if you’re marshalling a large group. In case you’re keeping count Buckinghamshire County Council administer 5 country parks – Langley, Black, Denham, Thorney, and Stockgrove. Not surprisingly given the proximity of Pinewood Studios the council bill themselves as a film friendly county and proudly list many of the films who have used their country parks as locations. Black Park has a large lake vaguely near the centre and was well used by dog walkers the day we were there.

Just after you get to the fenced area that marks the studios – peer through the fence and you can see the huge underwater stage in the distance – you start seeing banners proclaiming ‘Stop Project Pinewood’. Check out the site listed below for more information but when I got home I gave it a look I nearly fell off my chair at the opening statement: ” …it would be stupid to relax the green-belt rules….because this would ruin the point of Britain”. Not much to argue with there you might think (although it is bit simplistic) but the surprise is who said it – Jeremy Clarkson. Did I mention simplistic. We’re now at the gates of the studios themselves. The studios were created in 1934 by the marvellously named Charles Boot – hope he was a walker.

We started back towards the station, retracing our steps only where necessary. We managed to include a trip down the canal on our way back just before arriving back at Langley. This 8 and a bit mile circular walk will take place Saturday 6 March beginning at 11 am. As usual all are welcome.

More information:
OS Map used – 172 Chiltern Hills East
Pay less when you order this map here: http://www.ramblers.org.uk/fundraising/shop/anquet-map.htm

Check the route out here: http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=323126451928953583

Ramblers Business Plan 2009/10 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWPm8-aLKw&feature=player_embedded 

Useful links:
o The Ramblers    http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o The Chilterns    http://www.chilternsaonb.org/
o Pinewood Studios   http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/gen/Pinewood_Studios_Group.aspx
o Langley Park Country Park  http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/parks/langley.page
o Capability Brown   http://www.capability-brown.org.uk/
o  Barbara Brocolli   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Broccoli
o Cubby Brocolli    http://www.klast.net/bond/cubby.html
o Peter Jackson    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jackson
o Black Park Country Park  http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/parks/black_park.page
o Stop Project Pinewood  http://www.stopprojectpinewood.webeden.co.uk/
o Charles Boot    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boot
o Grand Union Canal   http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-rivers/grand-union-canal

Listen to:

Laurel & Hardy – Trail Of The Lonesome Pine
Three Tall Pines – Pinewood Box
John Barry Orchestra – James Bond Theme (From “Dr. No.”)
Moby – James Bond Theme (Moby’s Re-Version)
John Williams – Hedwig’s Theme
Björn Skifs – Pinewood Rally
Courtney Pine – Keep It Real

True Grit (Saturday/Sunday January 9/10)

With the UK still covered in a blanket of snow the news has been full of items about gritting – well more correctly a lack of gritting and the dwindling supplies of grit. (Who’d have guessed we’d all become such experts on the ratio of grit to salt to make it effective? Apparently 50/50 is best.) There’s even been a spate of stories about organised thefts of the stuff – my word. Anyway despite continued snowfall, walking went on in London. In fact people seemed desperate for something to do – something that didn’t involve being indoors.

On the evening of Wednesday 6 January (the night Arsenal cancelled their Premier game with Bolton) 20 hardy souls had turned up amongst the snow flurries for a short walk from Temple to Holborn. This was the first in a programme of January Wednesday evening walks put on by the Met Walkers (all led by me) and all starting from Temple station at 7 pm to help people stick to their New Year resolutions. (I’m getting into the swing of it by sticking to a 2 pint maximum on Wednesdays!) This was nothing to the turnout on Saturday 9 January at Richmond.
 

For a joint Met Walkers and Hampstead groups walk over 70 punters pitched up at Richmond station at 10.30 in the morning. A heaving mass of 4+ layered, gore-tex wearing, gloved and hatted walkers with breath steaming from their mouths. (Judging by this assembled throng ear muffs were the gift of choice from friends and family. Socks are so last decade!) There were members from other local groups (all their walks had been cancelled) itching to get out. The 10 mile circular stroll was well appreciated by all who turned out and everybody thought a snowy Richmond Park was magical. I know we’re all getting mightily tired of these ‘unprecedented’ sights that now come with each day of snow but Teddington lock was frozen – I didn’t expect that and don’t s’pose that’s been seen since the big freeze of 1963 when all the canals froze over.

Of course this time of year ain’t just about walking it’s also about overindulging – I’m such a traditionalist me. Have you ever wondered why ‘a hair of the dog’ actually works? Well those who know me will be quick to tell you I’m no scientist but here’s what I’ve read. You know that unpleasant effect of vertigo you get when try to stand up and walk around when you’ve got a bad hangover. Well that’s caused by too much alcohol in your bloodstream. (So far so simple and so obvious). Your organs of balance are 3 semicircular canals roughly at right angles to each other filled with fluid located in your inner ear. That’s your inner ear not your inner child – easy mistake to make. One canal detects rotation of the head round a vertical axis, another nodding movements and the final rotation from your nose to the back of your head. Still with me? On a normal alcohol-free day the density of all this fluid is similar to that of your blood. And this is important because the correction data needed to balance changes when the density of this fluid changes. As alcohol levels rise this fluid becomes diluted. Your clever old brain then compensates and makes you dizzy. Taking another drink dilutes the blood and keeps you, quite literally, in balance. Cheers everyone. 

Our final walk of this blog went from Blackheath to Woolwich via Oxleas Woods and Shooters Hill. A much more normal 17 turned up for this one. Regular readers will know that despite living in the heart of suburbia in south west London and being a lifelong Chelsea supporter I’m a sarf east Londoner through and through. (You can take the boy out of Lewisham but… ) The heath was nice and snowy but we’re all pretty tired of these snow covered scenes now I guess. Oxleas Woods is one of the few remaining areas of ancient deciduous forest and it dates back over 8,000 years. Shooters Hill rather unromantically gets its name from the archery that used to go on there. In time honoured tradition we finished up in the Wetherspoons in Woolwich and I trekked back across London using the DLR as the overground was closed due to engineering work.

The next Wednesday January evening strolls both start at Temple at 7 pm and will last a couple miles or so. (About an hour.) Everybody is welcome. Please check out the Facebook page of a new group recently setup – Capital Walkers. If for some strange reason you fancy seeing the dull prosaic work of the Ramblers in a meeting the Inner London Area AGM takes place in the Methodist International Centre, 81-103 Euston Street at 6.30 pm on Thursday 11 February 2010. All members welcome though I’m thinking all you British Sea Power fans will be off to see them play in Kingston.

More information
o Ramblers Business Plan 2009/10 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWPm8-aLKw&feature=player_embedded 

Useful links:
o The Ramblers    http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers     http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=183092363750&ref=ts
o Grit and salt supplies   http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=7192206
o Capital Walkers on Facebook  http://www.facebook
o Metropolitan Walkers   http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Hampstead Ramblers   http://hampsteadramblers.org.uk/
o Inner London area   http://www.innerlondonramblers.org.uk/
o MUJI earmuffs    http://preview.tinyurl.com/ykuzuzy
o Hangovers    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangover
o Oxleas Woods    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ns75
o DLR     http://preview.tinyurl.com/5jhezo 
o The Great Harry   http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-great-harry
o Methodist International Centre http://www.micentre.com/
o British Sea Power   http://www.britishseapower.co.uk/live

Listen to:

Snow Patrol – Up To Now
Belle and Sebastian – The Fox In The Snow
British Sea Power – Victorian Ice
Squeeze – Footprints In The Frost – Saturday Sequence 19/10/1989
Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby