Hotter than July (30 June & 13 July 2010)

‘All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground’

Well it ain’t that often you’ll see Led Zeppelin lyrics quoted here (Kashmir in case you’re asking) but summer is definitely here and definitely hot. Before I get on talking about the 2 evening strolls this blog is about I s’pose I ought to say sorry that we’re still in London but like people say a lot these days, ‘We are where we are’, and I do live here.
 

The first stroll is more like stroll+ because it’s a 12k Richmond circular – down to the river, up to the park via Ham Common and then back for a few beers at the White Cross. All very standard stuff but no less enjoyable for all that and 28 other people obviously thought so too. Metropolitan Walkers are trying out new ideas to make their already incredibly successful evening strolls programme appeal to yet more London walkers.

The Thames is always a delight to walk beside but as we pass by Twickenham on the far bank I’m reminded that Alexander Pope made his home there from 1719, where he created his famous grotto and gardens. (They must be famous because there’s a pub, Popes Grotto, commemorating them.) Pope’s entire life was affected by the penal law in force at the time upholding the status of the established Church of England, which banned Catholics from teaching, attending a university, voting, holding public office or living closer than 10 miles from the centre of London on pain of perpetual imprisonment. (Those were indeed harsh times.) Pope decorated the grotto with alabaster, marbles, and ores such as mundic and crystals. He also used Cornish diamonds, stalactites, spars, snakestones and spongestone. Here and there in the grotto he placed mirrors that were very expensive embellishments for those times. A camera obscura was installed to delight his visitors, of whom there were many. The serendipitous discovery of a spring during its excavations enabled the subterranean retreat to be filled with the relaxing sound of trickling water, which would quietly echo around the chambers. Although the house and gardens have long since been demolished, much of this grotto still survives and now lies beneath St James Independent School for boys, open to the public once a year.

We return leaving Richmond Park and take time to admire the view from Richmond Hill down to the Thames. In spite of the words introducing this blog the scene is still remarkably verdant. The front markers had set a cracking pace and we polished off the 12k in two and a half hours leaving me plenty of time to enjoy some welcome Staropramen in the pub. 

A coupla weeks later, with the ceaseless sun giving way to some light drizzle, (not enough for my garden I fear) I’m waiting outside Norbiton station just before 7 pm.  Clare’s leading this stroll as well and this time the invitation has been extended to the other London Rambler groups so we’ve got some representatives from South Bank, Hammersmith and Hampstead there as well. As we enter Richmond Park using the Kingston Gate we are welcomed by the gleeful cacophony of a flock of ring necked parakeets. These colourful birds thrive round here lighting up the skies with flashes of luminous green while dominating the dawn and dusk choruses with their airborne shrieks. There are estimated to be at least 6,000 Rose-ringed Parakeets (Psitticula kraneri) – often referred to as the Twickenham or Kingston Parakeets – flying wild in the South London suburbs. Their specific origins are unknown, but most likely they originated from a single pair of breeding parakeets which escaped or were released in the mid-1990s. Other origins, however, have been attributed to them: the most popular theory is that they escaped from Ealing Studios, during the filming of The African Queen (which was actually made in the Isleworth Studios) in 1951; they may have escaped from an aviary during the 1987 hurricane; and it has even been suggested that the pair released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street in the 1960s is to blame. (I really want the Hendrix urban legend to be true and vow to propagate it at every available opportunity!)

We exit the park at Ladderstile gate and cross the road to the Coombe estate. Coombe is one of the more affluent private estates in south west London and is home to television personality Jimmy Tarbuck, tennis player Annabel Croft, while Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood also lives in an estate on Kingston Hill, located opposite to the entrance of Coombe Park. One of Saddam Hussein’s daughters had a house in Golf Club Drive for a number of years, and Elisabeth Murdoch also lived here for several years. Dwight D. Eisenhower, when Supreme Allied Commander during WWII, lived at “Telegraph Cottage” in Coombe, which was adjacent to the golf course which he used at weekends. We finish the walk back at the station and then a good few of us repair to The Albert for some well earned London Gold.

View the routes:
Richmond Circular
http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=266127911585125559
Norbiton Circular
http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=104127911628073221

More information:
A similar version of the Richmond Circular (along with 40 other walks in London and the South East) can be found here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walkers-London-South-East-Cards/dp/1903301564

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Inner London Ramblers  http://www.innerlondonramblers.org.uk/index.html
o Metropolitan Walkers   http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers   http://www.capitalwalkers.org/
o White Cross    http://www.youngs.co.uk/pub-detail.asp?PubID=460
o Alexander Pope   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/apope.htm
o The Alexander Pope   http://www.alexanderpope.co.uk/
o St James Independent School  http://www.stjamesschools.co.uk/ 
o Richmond Park    http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond_park/
o Ring-necked parakeets  http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/ring-necked_parakeet.htm
o Ealing Studios    http://www.ealingstudios.co.uk/
o The Afican Queen   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043265/
o Isleworth Studios   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isleworth_Studios
o Jimi Hendrix    http://www.jimihendrix.com/uk/home
o Coombe    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coombe,_Kingston_upon_Thames
o The Albert    http://www.thealbertkingston.co.uk/history.htm
o London Gold    http://www.youngs.co.uk/beer-londongold.asp

Listen to:

Stevie Wonder – Hotter Than July
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
The Faces – Richmond
The Isley Brothers – Summer Breeze
Seals and Crofts – Summer Breeze
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Little Wing
Camera Obscura – Tougher Than The Rest

Sweet Thames flow softly (24 June 2010)

‘A picturesque scene it made, too, with Wandsworth dairy farms visible on the far bank; cows roaming the yellowed fields between the cottages, and a church spire rising in the distance.’

This 1849 description of the Thames comes from Matthew Kneale’s novel Sweet Thames. It’s quite surprising to think of Wandsworth being so pastoral just 160 years ago. Surely Victorian London was all teeming slums, smelly sewers and the poor dying in their hundreds of cholera. I’m in Wandsworth to join some friends who are walking the Thames Path. This is the same lot who knocked off the London Loop last year. They’re either obsessive completists  or David Sharp fans (maybe both). I head down to the river from Wandsworth Town station through the pedestrian underpass where several scenes for Clockwork Orange were filmed. It’s 7.30 in the evening, bright and sticky because the sun has still got plenty of needle in it and the landscape isn’t anywhere near as threatening as that portrayed in the film. The dairy farms, roaming cows and cottages are long gone, replaced by block upon block of luxury riverside apartments.
 

It’s a fairly short stroll tonight – about 6 km down to Vauxhall. And after starting off the path mostly hugs the river. We pass the London Heliport and are soon approaching St Mary’s Battersea. A striking Grade 1 Georgian building in a spectacular location on the banks of the river. William Blake was married here, Joseph Turner painted here and Benedict Arnold is buried here in the crypt. Then it’s through Battersea Park past the Peace Pagoda. The Duke of Wellington fought his famous duel with the Earl of Winchilsea over Catholic Emancipation in the park (or Battersea Fields as it was then) in 1829. It was reported at the time: ‘The Duke of Wellington and Lord Winchilsea met at the appointed place. The parties having taken their ground, Lord Winchilsea received the Duke of Wellington’s fire [apparently not aimed at him] and fired in the air. After some discussion the accompanying memorandum was accepted as a satisfactory reparation to the Duke of Wellington.’

Once we leave the park we reach a stretch of the path I must have travelled down over a thousand times. When I used to work at the Ramblers I used to jog most lunch times down to Battersea Park and back.  That’s almost 10 years of the Battersea Dogs Home, Battersea Power Station, Tideway Walk and crossing Vauxhall and Chelsea bridges. The major change in the last year is work on the new American Embassy. It is to be built on Nine Elms Lane on the site of the old (now demolished) HMSO offices. Returning to the riverside we see a cormorant perched on a buoy spreading its wings to catch the dying rays of the sun. They’ve been back on the Thames for the last 10 years or so – a daily sight swooping low over the water and catching eels. In fact these days the river is a twitcher’s paradise. It reminds me of the RSPB’s excellent Letter to the Future campaign currently running – please give it a look and then sign the letter.

We finish most appropriately at the Riverside pub in Vauxhall. We started going through a St Georges Homes riverside development and we end in a pub in a St Georges Homes riverside development. The 3 pints of Youngs London Gold was very welcome and provided a link to our start point. From 1832 to 2006 Youngs had been brewing their famous London beers at the Ram Brewery just down the river in Wandsworth. All our walking was done on the south bank this evening – I’m sure my friends will only feel they have completed the Thames Path when they walk both sides of the river. Visitors to Tower Bridge will have the chance to travel the full 215 miles of the River Thames in just 200 feet when they visit the new photographic exhibition River Thames: Source to Sea this summer.

More information:
The Thames Path by David Sharp
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thames-Path-National-Trail-Guides/dp/1854107739

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Wandsworth    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandsworth
o Matthew Kneale   http://tinyurl.com/32dubkt
o St Mary’s Battersea   http://home.clara.net/pkennington/
o William Blake    http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRblake.htm
o JMW Turner    http://www.j-m-w-turner.co.uk/
o Benedict Arnold   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold
o Battersea Park    http://www.batterseapark.org/
o Duke of Wellington   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington
o Earl of Winchilsea   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Winchilsea_and_Nottingham
o Catholic Emancipation   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Emancipation
o Battersea Dogs Home   http://www.battersea.org.uk/
o Battersea Power Station  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Power_Station
o US Embassy    http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=2469
o RSPB Letter to the Future  http://www.rspb.org.uk/applications/lettertothefuture/lttf.aspx
o St George Homes   http://www.stgeorgeplc.com/index.cfm?articleID=1
o Riverside    http://www.riversidelondon.com/
o London Gold    http://www.youngs.co.uk/beer-londongold.asp
o Youngs     http://www.youngs.co.uk/index.asp
o Source to sea    http://tinyurl.com/34l8hym

Listen to:

Cherish The Ladies – Sweet Thames Flow Softly
Peter Dawson – Old Father Thames Keeps Rolling Along
Big Audio Dynamite – Stone Thames – 12 inch Remix
Starsailor – The Thames (Acoustic)
Nigel Hess – Thames Journey
Beans On Toast – The Peaches Of Wandsworth

Smoke on the Water (8 June 2010)

On a hot September evening in 1666 Samuel Pepys sat in a riverside pub and watched his beloved London burn. He records the scene in his diary: “All over the Thames, with one’s face in the wind, you were almost burned with a shower of firedrops…and in corners and upon steeples, and between churches and houses, as far as we could see up the hill of the City, we saw the fire …It made me weep to see it.” On an overcast evening in June 2010 I led a Metropolitan Walkers evening stroll beginning and ending at the Monument that traced much of the territory destroyed in the Great Fire of London. You’ll be pleased to know that in Stew Lane, Pepys is honoured with a riverside pub named after him – I think he’d have liked that. (A quick google shows another Samuel Pepys in Mayfair, another in Kettering and one in Huntingdon.)
 

The story of the Great Fire is fairly well known. Not long after midnight on Sunday 2 September a stray spark from the embers of Thomas Farriner’s (or Farynor) bakery fire ignited his house in Pudding Lane. The resulting fire gutted the largely timber built medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, the still newly restored Charles II’s palace at Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated that over 70,000 people were left homeless but the death toll is thought to be small as only 6 deaths were recorded. This reasoning has recently been challenged on the grounds that the deaths of poor and middle-class people were not recorded anywhere, and that the heat of the fire may have cremated many victims, leaving no recognisable remains. In all London was estimated to have a population of 400,000 to 450,000 which was more than England’s next 50 biggest towns and cities combined. It was still haunted by the recent civil war and in the previous year it had been ravaged by the plague which had killed an estimated 70,000 inhabitants. Life in cities in these times was, to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, ‘nasty, brutal and short’.

We began (and ended) our walk at the Monument. We walked up Pudding Lane, which is about 200 metres away from the Thames. The bakery probably baked meat pies and the ‘pudding’ from which the lane gets its name is the resulting detritus from animal slaughter which they just left to flow down towards the river. Then we filed through Leadenhall Market – famous these days as the film locations for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. We briefly headed towards the bottom of Bishopsgate – the eastern boundary of the Fire – and then headed north west journeying up Gresham Street. This street is the home of the Guildhall, the City of London’s present day local government town hall, but back in the 17th century housed many of the headquarters of the city’s Livery Companies. I tend to view these institutions as quaint anachronisms, the first twelve livery companies are known as the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, but of the 108 many are modern. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (I kid you not).

They are nominally trade associations and almost all are known as the “Worshipful Company of” the relevant trade or profession. The medieval livery companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling, for instance, wages and labour conditions. Some livery companies continue to have a regulatory role today – the Scriveners – and some have become inoperative except as charitable foundations – the Longbow Makers. Most livery companies, particularly those formed in recent years, are primarily social and charitable organizations. The active livery companies play an important part in social life and networking in the City of London, and have a long history of cultural patronage, and control of the City Corporation which still functions as a Local Authority with extensive local government powers. The Merchant Taylors and the Skinners have always disputed their precedence, so once a year, at Easter, they exchange sixth and seventh place. This is one of the theories for the origin of the phrase “at sixes and sevens”.

Perhaps not as well known is the story of the rebuilding of London following the four days of the Fire. Almost immediately people started congregating in the various open spaces like Moorfields and the piazza of Covent Garden. Tents – reminiscent of today’s refugee camps – began springing up everywhere. They would have looked across a devastated city that would need clearing before building work could start. Almost immediately the great and the good like Sir Christopher Wren submitted their visionary plans. However, over the next 25 years London was rebuilt replicating existing property rights. Legal frameworks – the Fire courts – were established in a matter of days to decide who owned what. The Corporation of London appointed Robert Hooke as a surveyor and he was out on the ground immediately – day 6 – it was cool enough to stand on. Ironically a tax on coal proved to be the main source of income to enable this rebuild.

Although the new city sprang from the roots of the old – it took over a year to just clear the site of St Pauls – it was a different place. There was a new attitude to public and private space and although the sweeping boulevards of Wren never materialised, roads were widened and maps and street names began appearing. Both St Paul’s and the Monument are built to full modernity – an homage to science that London would be known for throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Indeed the Monument itself is a functioning zenith telescope. A more topographically coherent city emerges – one that still provides endless walking enjoyment and wonder today.

View this route:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=875127738183642836

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Metropolitan Walkers   http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers   http://www.capitalwalkers.org/
o Samuel Pepys’ diary    http://www.pepysdiary.com/
o Great Fire of London   http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/greatfire.htm
o The Monument    http://www.themonument.info/
o Leadenhall Market   http://www.leadenhallmarket.co.uk/
o Diagon Alley    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_Harry_Potter
o Livery Companies of London  http://tinyurl.com/355uqvg
o Sir Christopher Wren   http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARwren.htm
o Robert Hooke    http://www.roberthooke.org.uk/
o Zenith Telescope   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_telescope

Listen to:

Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
Vice Squad – The Great Fire Of London
Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start The Fire
Kasabian – Fire
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Fire
Sparks – Beat The Clock
Ultravox – Monument

Message in a bottle (27 May 2010)

In Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, Sam Weller is said to have a knowledge of London that was ‘extensive and peculiar’, while Sherlock Holmes had ‘an exact knowledge of London’ according to Dr. Watson. I’ve always been more Weller than Holmes and one of the really great things about being out of work is that I have the time to aimlessly wander around London. And for me one of the things that makes London worth wandering around is the street art.

Unfortunately there ain’t as many Banksy’s around these days, but there’s still a fine example near the Barbican in Chiswell Street. Then there’s your more official stuff like the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Here you’ve got Nelson atop of his column, fountains and four plinths for statues. Bronze statues stand on three of them: General Sir Charles James Napier is on the plinth in the southwest of the square, Major General Sir Henry Havelock on the southeast plinth and King George IV on the northeast plinth. The Fourth Plinth, built in 1841 in the northwest corner, was set aside for another equestrian statue but has largely been empty. (Can’t think why – it’s not as if we’re short of imperialist warmongers to glorify is it?) It is now the location for specially commissioned artworks. The most recent is leading Anglo-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare’s Ship in a Bottle. This artwork is the first commission on the Fourth Plinth to reflect specifically on the historical symbolism of Trafalgar Square, which commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (nothing if not literal them Victorians), and will link directly with Nelson’s column. It is also the first commission by a black British artist.

Bloody good it is too. It’s drawn admiring crowds since it’s unveiling on 24 May, and the day I was there I stood next to actor Bill Nighy discussing its merits. He was a fan too. As Yinka Shonibare himself says, his piece will reflect the story of multiculturalism in London:

“For me it’s a celebration of London’s immense ethnic wealth, giving expression to and honouring the many cultures and ethnicities that are still breathing precious wind into the sails of the United Kingdom. A ship in a bottle is an object of wonder. Adults and children are intrigued by its mystery. How can such towering masts and billowing sails fit inside such a commonplace object? With Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle I want to take this childhood sense of wonder and amplify it to match the monumental scale of Trafalgar Square.”

It has been commissioned by the Mayor of London and supported by Arts Council England and The Henry Moore Foundation, with sponsorship from Guaranty Trust Bank. (Glad to see a bank doing something worthwhile as opposed to just screwing the global economy while paying out obscene bonuses to the culprits.)
 
The art gives us a reason to reappraise London’s architecture and geography and see the unifying spirit behind its sprawling diversity. It’s good to look at as well. Right now London is hosting the biggest outdoor event ever – the Elephant Parade. As the Evening Standard says: “A Jumbo Jamboree”.  Organised by conservationist Mark Shand to raise money for the endangered Asian elephant, 258 individually artist-decorated fibreglass statues are dotted around London in prominent locations.  Throughout May and June, from Heathrow to Greenwich, you can check them out undertaking your very own elephant safari. What better excuse do you need to tramp London’s streets?

Not that I’m any sort of expert but, as all the ones I’ve seen are tuskless, I’m guessing that they’re all girls. Most are already sponsored, though some can still be ‘adopted’ for charity and all of them will be collected and auctioned off on 3 July. If you’ve neither the funds nor the space for a 2-metre high elephant, you can buy miniatures from Selfridges. I’ve seen quite a few so far. Before playing softball the other evening I investigated the six that sit behind the railings at the east end of the Serpentine in Hyde Park. The royal parks are good locations for the statues. In St James Park you can see a line of them – for all the world like Colonel Hathi’s troop in The Jungle Book. I especially like the ones in front of the Royal Exchange. Paul Smith has designed a cool stripey version.

It’d take a few trips to catch ‘em all but I’ve made a mental note to journey south of the river to view the one outside the Elephant & Castle shopping centre before the end of June. Public art in public spaces for the public benefit – it makes you proud to be a Londoner. It helps you reconnect with the city and the various bodies responsible for all this should be congratulated on their vision and willingness to put these displays together.

More information:
Elephant Parade:
http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Charles Dickens   http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRdickens.htm
o Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/
o Banksy     http://www.banksy.co.uk/
o Yinka Shonibare   http://www.yinka-shonibare.co.uk/
o Bill Nighy    http://www.billnighy.net/
o Mark Shand    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Shand
o Rudyard Kipling   http://www.kipling.org.uk/
o Paul Smith    http://www.paulsmith.co.uk/

Listen to:

The Police – Message In A Bottle
Bright Eyes – Ship In A Bottle
Sara K. – Ship In A Bottle
Toy Dolls – Nellie The Elephant
Fleetwood Mac – Tusk – Remastered LP Version

Everybody Yurts (13-15 May 2010)

Fed up with this new posh boy coalition politics I’m down in Brighton looking for evidence of the Green revolution. Caroline Lucas and her 1252 majority is a refreshing contrast to my new MP, Zac Goldsmith, with his floppy blonde hair, perfect teeth, roll-ups and numerous indentikit staff. I’m just thankful he never scooped a government job as well. I’m also here to visit friends, go and see some of the bands playing The Great Escape and attend a mate’s stag do. (Yet another Paul – I know a lot of Pauls.) Not much time for walking there then but it would be a waste to be here and not do just a little promenading.

Well I got some walking in early just in case. After picking up my wrist band, enjoying a couple beers with an old friend we walked back along the splendid prom towards Hove. She headed home and I turned inland at some brightly coloured beach huts. Apparently Hove resident Nick Cave owns one and you can see him and his family here often – being dark, deep and satanic no doubt. Personally I wasn’t that impressed with the bands I saw Thursday night. I ended up seeing the Cribs who were decidedly average. Was stalked by Mika though – well he seemed to be at every gig I was at. Perhaps I was stalking him.

Started early on the music (and the beer) the next day. Saw Fionn Regan and then The Chakras in a small room upstairs at the Prince Albert. Bit wasted on The Chakras who’ve worked hard on that stadium sound. My ‘girlfriends’ tell me that the lead singer is well fit innit though. Took a short break for a walk round Brighton followed by sit on the sea front with Everything, Everything hauntingly playing in the background – couldn’t get in the venue though ‘cos it was packed. Considering it was mid-afternoon it was crowded – doesn’t anyone work in Brighton? Perhaps this is the reality we’ll all be looking forward to and I’ve just got here a little earlier. The evening was the Goldhawks, Delphic and Reverend and the Sound System – all good stuff – and then a cab home.

The Great Escape continued the next day but I had other plans. I cut my non-transferable wrist band from my wrist and transferred it to another friend. Reuse – isn’t that part of the Green revolution? Took a head clearing stroll on a beautiful early summer morning, headed for a pub just after lunchtime and settled in to watch the mighty Chelsea double-up by soundly beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final. Moved off the lager briefly to drink some of Arundel’s very pleasant Sussex Gold. Great way to start a stag night!

Quite an untraditional stag it was too – well except for the alcohol. We stocked up at the local Co-op, drove in convoy past the in-construction Brighton and Hove Albion stadium, headed for Stanmer Organics in Stanmer Park and a yurt that’s part of Brighton’s alternative culture. No strippers, no fancy dress costumes – just fresh air and bar-b-q’d food. A yurt (in case you didn’t know) is a portable, canvas or felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of central Asia. Bit like a spacious tee-pee or wigwam if you ask me but then again I might be making a fundamental error there. Up the path was The Brighton Earth Ship and all around were dotted organic allotments. Aah here it was – the real Brighton Green revolution. And you know what, I liked it. You can hire a yurt if you like – just check out the link below.

Well sorry there wasn’t much about walking in this blog but it’s not too much of a stretch to say that The Great Escape really works as a festival because you can walk easily between the 20+ venues on offer. Finally thanks to Dan, a fellow yurtee, for suggesting the title – much better than Yurtcha.
 

More information:
Hiring yurts:
http://www.yurtopia.co.uk/
The Great Escape:
http://www.escapegreat.com/

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Caroline Lucas    http://www.carolinelucas.com/cl.html
o Zac Goldsmith    http://www.zacgoldsmith.com/
o Nick Cave    http://www.nick-cave.com/
o The Cribs    http://www.thecribs.com/
o Mika     http://www.myspace.com/mikamyspace
o Fionn Regan    http://www.myspace.com/fionnregan
o The Chakras    http://www.thechakras.co.uk/main.php
o The Goldhawks   http://www.myspace.com/goldhawks
o Delphic     http://www.myspace.com/delphic
o Jon McClure    http://www.myspace.com/reverendmusic
o Sussex Gold    http://www.arundelbrewery.co.uk/homepage/homepage.htm
o FA Cup Final 2010   http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/default.stm
o Stanmer Park    http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1001373
o Brighton Earth Ship   http://www.lowcarbon.co.uk/

Listen to:

R.E.M. – Everybody Hurts
Movie Sounds Unlimited – Theme From The Great Escape
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The Money Train
The Cribs – Victim Of Mass Production
Fionn Regan – Be Good Or Be Gone
Goldhawks – Running Away
Delphic – Acolyte
Reverend And The Makers – Heavyweight Champion Of The World
Harry J Allstars – Liquidator

Walking to work (Thursday 29 April)

Last week (26-30 April 2010) was Walk to Work Week. This is brought to you by Walking Works and has been running for a few years now. Despite this, and despite walking part of my way to work for years this is the first time I’ve taken part in the week formally. So if I haven’t got any work to walk to does this make this an ironic act? Irony can certainly be defined as an instance used to draw some incongruity or irrationality but I didn’t set out for it to be this. I get a bit confused about irony these days. It seems to me it’s often used to camouflage racism, sexism and all other sort of -isms and Alanis Morissette (probably the most mis-spelt artist in modern music) wrote a song called Ironic that’s just a list of examples of bad luck.

“It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn’t it ironic… don’t you think”

Well no actually, since you asked, Alanis.

Anyway, semantics apart, my mate from Metropolitan Walkers, Paul (a Bristol Rovers fan hence the replica shirt) has been walking once during Walk to Work Week from his home in Croydon to his workplace in Kings Cross for the last 4 years. This year he’s linked the 13 mile journey to a fundraising exercise for CJD research. Julian Bailey, another Bristol Rovers fan, recently died from this horrific disease and Paul thought it would be appropriate to raise some money for the CJD Support Network. (Check out the links and please donate to this worthy cause via Paul’s justgiving page.)

I was aiming to hook up with Paul and his mate Dave (who was joining at Crystal Palace) at Oval station at 7.30 am. On my way to Kingston station to catch the 6.34 I was struck by how well the cherry blossom trees are doing this year. They certainly seem to have benefited from our long dry spell. I think it was that Shropshire lad AE Housman, who, when he was living in London, wrote “Loveliest of trees, the cherry now” – you might almost say it springs to my mind. The Natural History Museum is currently conducting a national survey of cherry trees, which is bloomin’ great idea. I know I don’t commute much these days but ain’t the early morning journeyers different from those later – not many suits evident on this train, mostly overalls and jeans.

Waiting at Oval station just before 7.30 the commuting crowd was smarter dressed and as the hordes bustled by with their coffee and free papers I couldn’t help thinking how good the public transport is in London. Apparently 13 million work here every day and if my observations are anything to go by an increasing number now choose to cycle in. Rather surprisingly I heard the other day that 24% of the population in Manhattan walks to work every day and while in the USA as a whole 90% drive to work, 60% walk, cycle or use public transport in New York city. (I quite like statistics – my favourite is that 6 out of 7 dwarves aren’t happy and there’s always Vic Reeve’s assertion that 88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot.)

I’d missed Love Walk but I completed about a quarter of Paul’s route to his finish at Kings Cross. We were lucky that the weather was so mild – 1 layer and short sleeves for me at that – and all in all it was a very pleasant experience – except maybe for Dave who had developed an impressive blister by this time. Remember walking to work shouldn’t be just for a week but you don’t need to walk all the way. Go on give it a go, it’ll definitely help with your health and you’ll get to see parts of town that you don’t normally notice. I’ve got the walking part nailed down all I need to sort out now is the work thing.

More information:
Paul’s justgiving page:
http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Davis1883
Natural History Museum Cherry Tree survey:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/british-natural-history/tree-survey/index.html

Useful links:
o The Ramblers     http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
o Metropolitan Walkers   http://www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk/
o Capital Walkers   http://www.capitalwalkers.org/
o Walking Works    http://www.walkingworks.org.uk/
o Alanis Morissette   http://www.alanismorissette.com/
o Bristol Rovers FC   http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/page/Welcome
o JustGiving     http://www.justgiving.com/
o CJD Support Network   http://www.cjdsupport.net/
o A E Housman    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Edward_Housman

 Listen to:

Public Enemy – He Got Game
Ricky Nelson – I’m Walking
Jackson Browne – Walking Town
Elmer Bernstein – Walking Through Town
Epic – Walking Around Town

All that is solid melts into air (Tuesday 20 April)

Warning: This blog contains personal views from the outset and these might not necessarily reflect those of The Ramblers

You gotta love a general election that’s called so near to 1 April that it begins with the Guardian’s ‘Step Outside Posh Boy’ April Fool – it certainly sets a promising tone. We’ve also had the first of the televised leadership debates (and about time too). So momentous so far that Nick Clegg’s ‘game changing’ performance has led to the spectacle of a haunted worried looking Peter Mandelson splashed across our TVs. Who’d’ve thought it would be the nice Liberal Democrats who not only would offer the ‘posh boy’ outside but then proceed to give him a sound kicking. Interesting times… Then there’s the manifestos.

Manifesto is a strange word – I’m no expert but I’m guessing it comes from ‘manifest’ – which means clear and obvious. Hmmm something wrong there then. Here’s a sentence from the Ed Miliband inspired Labour Party effort: “Unemployment has, so far, risen by over 500,000 less than people expected this time last year”. You what? Unemployment has gone up a lot but not nearly as much as we feared. Clear as mud mate. So I wouldn’t recommend you search through this lot to find out what the various parties think about walking. What you can do is follow the only link this week below (other than the tunes obviously) and email your parliamentary candidates and ask them to pledge their support to The Ramblers manifesto.

I live in the Richmond Park & North Kingston constituency – a 2 horse race between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. (I don’t even know the Labour Party candidate’s name and I’ll bet the house on the fact the returning officer won’t be announcing him or her as the winner in the early hours of May 7.) Sitting MP, Lib Dem Susan Kramer, holds a slimmish majority of 3,721. Born in Holborn, she’s Oxford educated, was completely taint free in the recent expenses scandal and has a keen interest in transport – holding that shadow post for the Lib Dems in the past. She’s facing a stiff challenge from the Tory Party’s second most famous non-dom tax exile – Zac Goldsmith. The Guardian describes him as the one Tory you’re allowed to like. His dad was the financier Sir James Goldsmith (famous as serially suing Private Eye) and Zac was infamously expelled from Eton following the discovery of marijuana in his room. Another surprising aspect of Zac is his soundness over the environment. He’s a former editor of The Ecologist and did a great job modernising this previously staid, boring and worthy journal.

So you might think I’m on the horns of a dilemma here. Not a bit of it reader. Robin Hood didn’t write the Magna Carta (might have to check the facts on that), the Peasants didn’t revolt and women weren’t force fed so I could continue to metaphorically tug my forelock to this obscenely rich scion of aristocracy who seems to view sitting in parliament as his birthright. (Two of his grandfathers were Conservative MPs). In fact I’m doing a bit of volunteering in support of the Lib Dems (what would my old Militant chums say?!) and today I’m out leafletting locally.

The first thing to say is this part of London looks really odd these days because that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano has grounded all the planes for the last few days and we’re quite close to a flight path. (Wonder if 50’s Britain was like this?) I find I’m singing XTC’s Respectable Street to myself as I wander round. Then just round a corner I find a sign warning drivers to slow down because toads are crossing. Bet you didn’t get that in 50’s Britain. I’m beginning to notice that if this election were to be decided upon posters in windows the Lib Dems would win hands down. Saw virtually no Conservative supporters but those little orange Lib Dem diamonds are twinkling all over the place. My excitement for the day isn’t over yet as walking back down by the river I hear a tremendous kerfuffle as a dog chases a cat up a tree. The cat scurries about 20 feet up and forgets that coming down ain’t gonna be that easy. The poor old kitty hangs on for dear life as the little dog circles round till its dozy owner arrives and drags it reluctantly away. The cat then inelegantly crashes to the ground and scampers hurriedly off through the undergrowth. All we really needed was the arrival of the fire brigade to rescue the cat.

It’s already too late to remind you to register to vote but please do chase up your parliamentary candidates to support the Ramblers manifesto and remember that local elections are also taking place around the country in some places and the result of these races can have a great impact on walking in your area. Councillors often know nothing about rights of way or access land and can be difficult to rouse to action. Years ago (not where I live now I hasten to add) a protracted dispute about a blocked path once led a councillor to say to me on the phone: “Not that forking path again” – well I think that’s what he said.

Useful links:

Ramblers general election manifesto: http://www.ramblers.org.uk/Campaigns+Policy/Election10

Take action! Ask your PPC to pledge to breaking down the barriers to walking: http://tinyurl.com/yzbkohg

Listen to:

John Martyn – Solid Air
Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Roxy Music – Manifesto
The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again – Original Album Version
Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth
Thunderclap Newman – Something In The Air – Single Version
Alice Cooper – Elected
XTC – Respectable Street

A flaneur in the works (Thursday 8 April)

Charles Baudelaire is generally considered to have developed the meaning of flâneur as “a person who walks the city in order to experience it”. It comes from the French verb flâner, which means ‘to stroll’. But you all knew that didn’t you? The word also comes with additional meanings like: ‘saunterer’, ‘loafer’, ‘lounger’ and ‘slacker’. As well as Baudelaire, famous flâneurs have included, Samuel Pepys, John Evelyn, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, Melvyn Bragg, Iain Sinclair, Lisa Jardine, Phyllis Pearsall and walk magazine’s very own, Will Self. (Does that mean the women on the list are a flâneuse?) From his Marxist standpoint Walter Benjamin adopted the concept of the urban observer both as an analytical tool and as a lifestyle. A sideways look at walking anyone?

Waking up Thursday morning it was like winter had finally packed its bags and b*ggered off. We’ve had a couple of false starts this year but today felt like the real thing. A perfect day to do some sauntering around observing the city – flâneur as lifestyle, I should say so. Leaving my cat sunning herself outdoors I headed off to Maida Vale. Not perhaps the most obvious start point but I’m trying to stitch together a rock ‘n’ roll walk around London and Abbey Road studios to Soho is quite a nice 6 to 7k walk. As ever these days the world’s most famous zebra crossing (probably) was packed with Japanese tourists imitating the Beatles walk. As tourist attractions go the studios are pretty good – rather unprepossessing buildings in a non-descript urban street.

Keeping my eyes on the tree tops I carried on towards Regents Park. You’re really close to Lords here and these days your first view is of the floodlights recently erected for the day-night games that are now a regular part of the modern cricket calendar. They’ve being playing cricket round here since 1787 and adopting new initiatives throughout that time. The present site is about 250m northwest of one of Thomas Lord’s original grounds. This was abandoned in 1813 to make way for the construction of the Regent’s Canal which went through its outfield. And it’s a short journey down this very canal that I do next. The canal was built to link the Grand Union with the London Docks and from this route you quickly find yourself in The Regent’s Park. In the Middle Ages the land was part of the manor of Tyburn, the property of Barking Abbey. Henry VIII appropriated it in his blatant land grab otherwise known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries. When the leases expired in 1811 the Prince Regent (later King George IV) commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. Nash originally envisaged a palace for the Prince and a number of grand detached villas for his friends, but when this was put into action from 1818 onwards, the palace and most of the villas were dropped. Nash still transfigured the area though because the south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with his oh so elegant white stucco terraces. And I must say the various royals have kept it very nice for us – it’s even got a heronry as well as a zoo.

Leaving the park I set off for Heddon Street. I parallel Regents Street (well you can have too many regents in one day if you ask me) and end up in Savile Row. I love the way some areas of cities become associated with specific trades – like doctors in Harley Street and tailors in Savile Row. By all accounts the phrase ‘bespoke tailoring’ originated here from saying that cloth ‘be spoken for’. (When I visited Istanbul a few years ago I came across a street completely populated by shops selling bridal wear. Now that was a riot of colour.) I had to take a quick trip up Regents Street to get to Heddon Street. Perhaps not hugely influential in rock ‘n’ roll but the back of the Ziggy Stardust album from the 70’s contains a picture of Bowie in Ziggy persona in a phone box (remember them?) and this phone box is in Heddon Court. Aah the devil really is in the detail folks.

I finished my walk crossing Waterloo Bridge on the way to Waterloo Station. This provides one of my favourite London views – down river towards Tower Bridge. I’ve read that the poet Wordsworth was said to have preferred Westminster Bridge:

“Earth has not any thing to show more fair” (from Upon Westminster Bridge)

And you thought he only wrote about daffodils and the Lake District. Well that’s poets for ya – what do they know.

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 Flâneurs    http://www.theflaneur.co.uk/
o Charles Baudelaire   http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/607
o Samuel Pepys    http://www.pepysdiary.com/
o John Evelyn    http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/evelynnotes.html
o Charles Dickens   http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/
o James Joyce    http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/
o Melvyn Bragg    http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth237
o Iain Sinclair    http://www.iainsinclair.org.uk/
o Lisa Jardine    http://www.livesandletters.ac.uk/people/lisajardine
o Phyllis Pearsall    http://designmuseum.org/design/phyllis-pearsall
o Will Self     http://will-self.com/
o Walter Benjamin   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin
o Abbey Road Studios   http://www.abbeyroad.com/
o Thomas Lord    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lord
o Regent’s Canal    http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-rivers/regents-canal
o Dissolution of the Monasteries  http://tinyurl.com/5evs6
o Prince Regent    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom
o John Nash    http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARnash.htm
o The Regent’s Park   http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/regents_park/
o Ziggy Stardust    http://www.5years.com/
o William Wordsworth   http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/

Listen to:

Nemo – The Sun Has Got His Hat On
Belle & Sebastian – Here Comes The Sun – Live
The Flying Pickets – Summer In The City
Woodpigeon – A Hymn For 2 Walks In Different Cities
Kanye West – Jesus Walks – Live – Abbey Road Studios
The Duckworth Lewis Method – Gentlemen and Players
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust (Demo)
The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset

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

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.