Saw this doing the rounds on the internet very funny.
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 Bridge over the river Chess Only a couple of days holiday left so helen and I thought we would make the most of it. It seemed to be much brighter today the sun was threatening to come out. I was charged with planning a route while Helen when to church. We had already discussed going to Chesham (Waxwings outside Waterstones) and perhaps along the river Chess, so I streetmaapped that are looking for possibilities. I settled on driving to Chorleywood then underground to Chalfont and Latimer then walk back along the river Chess. There is a much longer walk between Chesham and Rickmansworth, details of which can be found here. Actually getting walking proved to be the hardest part of the day. We set the sat nav to get us to Chorleywood, but I suspect I chose shortest rather fastest because the quality of roads we navigated were narrow and rural. We finally got to Chorleywood and parked up on the common next to the Amersham road, then headed across the common towards the underground station. As we approached the underground station a BMW estate drove pas and my hand clouted it’s wing mirror, he/she did not even stop to check I was OK, if it had got me higher up my arm if could have done some damage. Once at the station we god our tickets (£8) and headed onto the platform, only to find the gate to the tunnel was locked and we needed to be the other side of the ticket barriers, but the ticket machines would not let us back in. I managed to force open the barrier, which set off the alarm. Helen refused to squeeze through so we waited until someone opened the gates so she could nip through. During which time a train came to the station and departed, meaning a 30 minute wait for the next one.  The weir at Latimer house Whilst waiting for the train I thought I would get some video footage for a small montage of our walk, but even that was not to be as an Aylesbury train came along before I had a chance, we had to hop on. At Chalfont and Latimer we again came up against locked doors trying to leave the station, but once out we headed through an old housing estate, and eventually came to a woods where the Chess valley walk was sign posted. Finally we were out in the country side, much to Helen’s relief. It was all down hill to the bottom of the valley where the river was. We joined it level with Latimer house, where there is a lake a a large weir. As we crossed the bridge there where at least 6 large trout in the river. The footpath follows the side of the hill which can be a bit muddy and annoyingly awkward to walk on, but it soon levels out. We were walking with the river flow so the walk would be all down hill, in fact looking at the map it was all of 15 meters (from 78 at the bridge to 63 where we turned off).  View back up Chess valley We saw quite a few birds on the way highlights were flocks of Redwing/Fieldfare and a single Bullfinch (female). Eventually we came to a very large cress bed farm at Sarratt Bottom which looked that it was a going concern. I wouldn’t mind returning later in the year to buy some. Along the way we also passed the tomb of William Liberty (died 1777) who was the local bridge builder, apparently he wanted to be buried alone so that his bones would not get mixed up when he got to heaven. Seems other people had different ideas as the plaque explains how his wife and possibly another family member were also buried there. Finally it was time to leave the river valley and head up the hill to the car park. The walk had taken about 2 and a half hours and I reckon we walked about 5/6 miles. We will certainly return another day perhaps to make a day of it and do the full length 10 miles. Merry Christmas one & all.  Dinner We have had a surprisingly busy day. The usual sort of thing this morning; presents & mulled wine followed by much peeling, chopping, basting and boiling. Lovely lunch featuring home made chestnut stuffing and of course, bread sauce followed by…Christmas pudding, accompanied by flaming brandy or in Neil’s case, a bucket of custard. Then Neil & I went for a walk down to the river for some much needed exercise. We walked around a mile and saw lots of birds, heron, long tailed tit, cormorant, redwing, fieldfare, blue tit, mallard, barnacle goose, red kite, buzzard, moorhen and a flock of geese that we struggled to id. Neil took a few photos and we pottered back as the sun was going down and it was getting chilly. Back to Neil’s folks where Neil realised he had lost his phone on the walk.  Was the phone lost here Back out, assisted by Jack and down to the river. Some people were walking towards us and by chance Neil asked them if they had seen a mobile on their travels. They had spotted & retrieved it! They had called a number on it, my sis who had then called Neil’s Mum with their details, so Neil’s mum whipped on her wellies (complete with ice grips) to come in pursuit of us. So all was well, the nice folks did their Christmas good deed andwe all got a bit more fresh air & exercise than planned but did us good. Back now looking forward to an evening of Strictly & whist & maybe a tipple. I think there might even be some bread sauce left too! Happy days  Humberette Sunday was the London to Brighton vintage car run. Helen and I with Helens mum joining us for a list to Hassocks, met up with the crew at Crawley after a wrong turning off the M25 meant we missed the exit to the Redhill Little Chef. We stooda around with Martin at CVrwayley town square until the car arrived then we went to the local pub for a traditional pint. Unfortunatly Rory could only be with us until Crawley, so it was then my responability to keep up with the vehicle and allow passengers to swap over a get a chance to ride in the 1903 Humberette. At about 10 miles out of Crawley we swapped over to give Justin a ride, and Gerald joined us in the car. Gerald is a hockey chum of Gilbert, and had also played his part in the team of over 70′s who won the title at the world championships in Cape Town earlier this year. He is also the president of the British Naturalist Association. The weather was perfect for the run the sun was shinning and the leaves were golden as we went over the steep hill where some cars need a tow. At the Pikeham junction we did another swap and Mark joined the car for the final drive into Brighton. We hurried down to the front where I dropped everyone off near the front then dumped the car in the NCP car park round the corner from the Travel Lodge. When I got back to the front somone had kindly managed to bag a cup of muled wine, another traditional drink for the run.  Pikeham This year we had taken a chance and booked the Travel Lodge for the night, a bargain at £32.50, the rooms were small but the place was clean, and we had a good nights apart from the noise from the storm that had descending upon the country. After freshening up we met up in the bar and I used Google maps to find and Italian restaurant near by, it is a great service because it summarises the reviews from many review websites and presents the result in a really easily read way. I picked out one that had the best reviews and we used the directions feature to take us to the restaurant. The place looked really nice although it was on the street where there are lots of takeaways and other restaurants, and where in the past we have had a couple of bad meals. From the outside it promised to be good, it looked clean and newly decorated. We all agreed the place looked good so went in. The menu had some great selections. We had between us Misto Mare (deep fried sea food), Olives/Breads and Bruschetta for starters then Spaghetti a la Vongole, pumpkin risotto, pork in a mushroom cream sauce and the sea bass special. Three of us had dessert Tiramisu and fruit salad, followed by coffee and liquers. The bill came to £40 per head and everyone agreed that the meal was really great and that we should check it out next year. On the way back to the hotel we stopped of at a pub that did great real ale, as well as loads of different types of tequila!  Prezzo cheese cake Finally got to go to Prezzo in Tring, for a meal with Helen’s family. We all had £10 offer vouchers!  Table-of-fungi At the Aylesbury museum today there was a Fungi exhibition organised by the Bucks Fungus Group http://www.bucksfungusgroup.org.uk . Helen and I headed down with John and Sallie. We did not know what to expect, and we were pleasantly surprised, they had a long set of trestle tables, covered in samples of mushrooms, there must have been over 100 types there and they had all been found this morning with a 20 mile radius.  Aylesbury-old-town-panorama
The exhibition was worth the effort, it is all about comic art through the ages, from the first hints of caricatures in political engravings and oil paintings by Hogarth, through the 80′s Spitting Image and Scarfe, right up to today. Helen particularly enjoyed a Heath Robinson cartoon from the war about camouflage in the streets of the city. In the main hall there were two shells of fighter jets, one extremely polished, lying on its back and another drab grey hanging by it’s tail from the roof. Everyone wanted their picture of these objects in an unusual setting. We had a quick look at some of the other paintings then decided to get the boat to Tate Modern.
The ppye is an annual event (it’s in the title!) and is well worth a visit, it is always free and the photos are both stunning and thought provoking. The year Haiti featured a lot. I thing I have only missed one year, if that, in the past 10-12 years, and it is often sheer fluke that I manage to be in London when it is on. We had to take a detour to get up onto the bridge to get the bus, and chanced upon a food fayre, shame we had already had lunch, some of the street food looked delicious. The bus from the bridge took us to Tottenham Court Rd, it was like gravity was pulling me there, but today I gave the technology mecca a miss. We headed over to Foyles for a browse through the books, and perhaps a purchase. I bought a PHP book, The Remains of the Day, and the new Collins complete bird guide, as a thank you to Abida and Connie for their help with the wedding. We got a taxi from Foyles, because we could not be bothered to find a bus stop that would take us to Euston, it was not the first time we have done that, £6 well spent. I am now on the 15:04 typing this blog entry. All in all a relaxed day wandering around, London with some culture and some purchases to boot. Loverly! I have been meaning to do a post about this for some time. Helen and I did a Minsmere guided tour and the guide told us a bout a feature of reeds I have never noticed before. If you put your thumb and forefinger either side and the base of a leaf and then let the leaf slide through your finger you will notice about one third of the way up that there is a bump or ridge across the leaf. All leaves have it. The guide told us that it is colloquially known as “the devils pinch”, which I think is a great name, somehow fitting and very colloquial. Ever since then I just can’t help running my fingers only the leaf as described above, to feel for the feature. It is just compulsive and impulsive. I have done some googling on the subject but cannot find any reference to reeds. Some of the things I found are:
So now we have a reference in the reed’s Devils Pinch. I wonder how long it will take to start appearing in Google searches.
 Mark Webber cap I have been accused of letting my blog become boring, i quote “too many film reviews and not enough walks”. To try to put things back on track here is a post that you might find interesting.  Bunch of coconuts We popped into the produce exhibition in the old school building and checked out the the displays of long runner beans and themed flower displays. Some people go to a lot of effort for the show. |
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