Photography – Page 6 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

St Agnes – Holywell and back via Pentile Point

Walk from Holywell via Crantock and Poly Joke beach

Last day of the holiday in Cornwall and although it is an even day we went for a walk, as we had been in training all week. The plan was to park up at the Holywell car park then walk in land to West Pentile where this is pub called the Bowgie Inn, then walk back to Holywell beach via the coastal path.

Once parked up at the National Trust car park, free for members and adding to the savings to offset against the membership fee, we walked in land flowing a river and passing through a very extensive camping and caravan park. The we did an acute turning and headed up a hill that once at the top gave a great view of the area with the sea visible of three sides of the square so to speak.

We descended down from the peak and crossed a road and then the path went through a caravan park which was closed for the season, it had many activities including a fishing lake, and the notice boards promised entertainers, singers and comedians, including once called Jim Gutrench. A gold course followed with the path nicely protected by Cornish walls/mounds. Eventually we descended down into a valley where there was a car park for a beach we would pass later. The way out of the valley was confusing but we eventually hit the right path which lead to a road or track again up the hill till we got to West Pentire, the a the Bowgie Inn beckoned, and what a great find it was.

The Bowgie Inn is in a small village but as we approached we noticed it was quite busy and lots of outside seating, it was clear why when we got there. The view of Crantock Bay is fantastic and the light we we arrived was almost perfect. We stopped for a coffee and a bag of crisps and I took a time lapse sequence. We lingered for a while watching the surfers in the distance the breaks were quite a way out so a couple of them were getting really long run ins.

The path crosses the bottom of the pub garden, which was handy. The next few miles were spectacular, and the photo opportunities many. Eventually we came across Pentire beach which we had passed earlier, and found a spot to have our sandwiches, it was idyllic and the perfect spot to share lunch on our last full day in Cornwall. The sea was a deep blue and breaking in parallel waves onto the beach, and the sky was blue with the occasional passing fluffy cloud.

The walk back to Holywell bay was quite eventful, first Helen spotted some seals on a rock just off the coast. We watched them for a while and the total count at one point was 12, far out stripping our best tally of the week of two. A little further on I went to look at whatever the couple were looking at over the cliff it turned out to be a sheep part way down the cliff. It was standing still looking like it could not decide which way to get out, I was not about to try and rescue it because the way out was fairly obvious.

The last mile and a half were down hill and then on the beach. It was tedious walking across the dry sand at the top until we found that the damp sand by the stream that runs down the beach was much easier walking. We were back at the hut at the same time as the owners who had been to The Eden Project as a treat for their wedding anniversary. We had a chat then retired to the hut to tidy up and pack so we could get an early start. We had fish and chips for tea from the chippy opposite the pub, my hake was very nice and the chips were double cooked so very crispy.

St Agnes – Porthtowan back to to the pub

We had a plan to walk from Porthtowan back to the pub for a half, but the buses were not convenient either a early start or a late start. Then I remember that there is a museum in St Agnes and the bus stop was near by. So the plan emerged, we would walk up to the museum for the 10:30 opening time then we would have an hour before the 11:30 bus. That mean a leisurely start, we left the house at 10:00.

We walked up through the village which thus far we had only seen from the car. There is the St Agnes Hotel signs that the place was once and important town. Then we cam across the Railway Inn yet more evidence that the place was important. The museum would reveal all.

We got to the museum just as it opened and a friendly man welcomed us in. The museum is very interesting and very well done. It gives you a great insight into the history of the area right up to current days with a cabinet showing a multi-generation of doctors who have served in the village. We were early for the bus so I bought a paper and we sat at the bust stop and caught up with the news.

Walk through village hill There were quite a few people at the bus stop but when the 315 arrived we were the only ones to get on. I guess the rest were waiting for the 87 to Newquay or Truro. The bus takes a rurtal route and takes a least one detour to visit villages. Eventually we were dropped off near the beach at Porthtowan. We headed straight for the coat path and the hard slog of getting out of the river valley. Just before Porthchapel we came across a bench with a view where we had our sandwiches and did some sea watching. Helen spotted something which we took a while to figure out what it was, but eventually we realised that it was a Sunfish a rare but increasingly more common sighting in Cornwall.

It was a pretty short walk down to Porthchapel where we had a coffee at the National Trust coffee shack. We headed the beach to enjoy our beverages and the view. I took a timelapse set. We then headed on again up the steep hill towards St Agnes. On out left was the beacomn the man in the museum had explained about and Helen was interested in because of the arrow heads found there and on display, however after the slog up the coast path Heln declined the offer to walk to the top of the beacon.

Near the coat watch car park there the local radio control club were flying gliders, the steady breeze from the sea made it a great location, however I guess mistakes can be costly with the sea and the cliffs. As we left the coat watch I noticed a man on the floor ahead, in my binoculars they were not moving but then he started to get up slowly. I rushed ahead and check that he was OK, he was I think he was just embarassed at having fallen over.

The final mile or two was on familiar territory with great views as the sun dipped lower. Back in the village we used the excuse to book a table to eat to buy a sneaky half. We had had a lovely day in perfect weather.

St Agnes – Walk Holywell to St Agnes

Day three an odd day so it is a walk day, we had a plan to get a bus to Holywell then walk back to St Agnes, however the best laid plans do not always pan out. We were up early and in time to walk up to the bus stop for the 09:32 bus to Newquay. We set out earlier than necessary according to Google maps, I did that thing I have done many times. When you go for the public transport option in maps it includes the time to walk to the bus stop, I have a habit of taking the time as the bus departure not the start walking time.

We were very early for the bus so had a 25 minute wait, but it did turn up which is a good start. We needed to stay on the bus for 22 stops and get off at Cubert Crossroads which turned out to be in the middle of nowhere. It was not obvious where the bus stop was but we decided that walking towards a lay by in the direction of Holywell was the best bet, and it did turn out to be a bus stop. We were a bit late for the bus so we gave it 25 minutes before I convinced Helen we should give up on the bus and walk cross country Perranporth and miss out Holywell. We walked a few hundred yards down the road and lo and behold the bus drove past. Helen was not amused in fact she was hopping mad and I was somehow partly to blame (as logistics manager for the walk). Helen soo cheered up when we spotted some Goldcrest in a tree by the road.

The walk to Perranporth was mainly on a road but not much traffic and it made a change to be in the Cornish countryside rather than a cliff path. We turned towards the sea at the Perranporth golf club and eventually hit the beach and headed towards the town. Helen decided she had walked far enough so I waited for the next bus back to St Agnes with her then headed off up the hill and back onto the coast path, which was a bit of a slog.

I stopped after half and hour and enjoyed my sandwiches on a sheltered bench with a view. The path then headed even higher and passed some fairly significant mine sites and some very interesting geology, wtih layers of dark rock in a mainly lighter quartz or silica rock. There was also lots of mine spoil so much so in fact they appear to have dug a path through it for the coastal path. The route took me around the back of the Perranporth airport where a plane kept taking off and landing not sure if it was flight lessons or flight tours.

Eventually I came to the path that descends steeply into Trevellas Cove, where a sign suggest no walking around the beach to St Agnes. I threw caution to the wind as the tide was far out. It was a bit tedious stepping from rock to rock but it saved another massive up section then another down to get to St Agnes. Helen was wandering on the beach when I got there looking for the seal she had spotted the evening before, it seemed to like looking at the surfers from a safe distance. We had a regular half, well in my case a pint as I had done 10 miles of coastal path, then we headed back to the hut.

St Agnes – Trelissick and the Roseland Peninsula

Day four even number meant a relaxed non: walking day, our initial aim was Trelissick and National Trust property with extensive gardens, then we would see whare the wins took us. We left the house at 10:00 and arrives at Trelissick at 10:30 perfect timing of the house opening times.

We first headed to the house and had a look around, the contents were quite bear and I overheard some mentioning that all of all the content was from when the hose contents were auctioned off. Then we headed to the orchard garden area where there are lots of exotic trees. By then it was coffee and cake time a fruit slice went down nicely.Finally we walked out to the end of the Peninsula with fantastic views of the Fal estuary.

Trelissick is near King Harry’s ferry to the Roseland Peninsula we decided to give it a go and take a look at the isolated finger of land. The ferry saves a 27 mile round trip. To get on the ferry we left Trelissick and turned right, on to a road that steeply descends down to the river level. We did not need to wait to take the switch back and drive onto the ferry, infact we were the penultimate car on board. The cross does not take long, less than 5 minutes I would say. We headed first down to St Mawes the biggest population center on the peninsula.

We ignored the signs to parking instead choosing the signs to the castle which is an English Heritage property. We did not stop at the castle but carried on round to the sea front and were happy to find a space in the harbour car park. We had a sandwich in one of the seafront establishments, my crab sandwich was generously filled, bit no cheap at £9.95.

Next we headed to St Antony the end of the less popular peninsula, where there is a gun battery from the war which we found out includes a bird hide. We walked out to the bird hide via a walled path, presumably to protect the soldiers. From the hide we the view was of a cliff opposite, which we thought strange but then we realised that we were probably looking for a Peregrine Falcon, and we did manager to see it dive after prey. After a look around what was left of the gun battery then we drove back up a different road up the peninsula to a village called Portscatho which has a history of artists living there/ It was a quiet place and we had a walk around and a look at the beach.

It was time to head back to the ferry where I took to the opportunity to get a couple of timelapse sequences. The queue for the ferry was pretty short as one was half way across when we arrived. Truro traffic was busy, we went to Waitrose for some salad for tea, and got back to the hut just oafter 18:00 with plenty of time before Back Off started.

St Agnes – Trerice NT and metal detecting

A high was pushing away a bank of rain overnight but it had not done its job by morning. We decided a more less energetic day was in order, so we would start at a National Trust property called Trerice less that 30 minutes drive. It turned out to be an interesting drive as the satnav insisted on a single track lane for a significant part of the journey.

We arrive just before the house opened which was perfect timing. The house has quite old original bit is a very good state of maintenance. Quite a small house but interesting stuff within. I had to sample the famous lemon meringue pie in the café which went down nicely with an americano. We killed time a little writing postcards, to get that holiday task out of the way and to give the weather front a bit more time to move along.

We had a look around Newquay and parked up at Fistal beach to see if there were any surfers out, it was raining and wind swept there were not a lot of surfers out. Then we headed to Crantock beach stopping off at the village shop for some metal detector batteries, then parked up at the beach and headed out with the metal detector.

It took a while to get our hand back in but we did eventually find some stuff including a tent peg, a couple of screws, some tin cans and a few bottle tops, we are not going to get rich. Next we headed to Truro to get some provisions, from the Cornish shop at Waitrose this time beetroot salad and a mushroom salad. Back at the hut we headed down to watch the surfers taking advantage of the last of the summer, then had a half at the pub.

St Agnes – Walk to Chapel Porth and back

Our first day on holiday so we thought we would be better to go easy to test our legs, although I had been walking a lot this year most of the walks had been flat, the Cornish coastal path is far from that. Our plan was to walk to Chapel Porth and back trying to make a circular route.

We started by walking down the road to the beach but took a left at The Driftwood Spar freehouse. The road was very steep and we eventually came to a twee little mobile home park in which the homes were all like large sheds or chalets. We joined a foot path there and then a track. There is quite a lot of activity at the top above the village of St Agnes, there is a rugby and foot pitch probably because it is the nearest flat piece of land. There was also a lot of building work going on with some new houses being built and others being renovated.

We find that the foot paths in Cornwall are not that well sign posted and we eventually could not find the path we wanted so we ended up walking along a road but found a convenient bench with a view for a rest. Whilst sat there we saw lots of modern Jaguars drive past the turned towards the sea and the car park near the coast watch hut.

We headed in land too but took a footpath that took us west and closer to the sea. The path became quite steep at loose under foot at one ppoint but we made it to the bottom of the valley where there was a National Trust car park, WC and importantly a small cafe shack where we got a drink and a flapjack to share. We consumed out beverages down on a large rock on the edge of the beach, then we went for a wander to look at the rock pools.

We headed back keeping to the offical coast path all the way, it was steep exiting the valley but we took a rest halfway up at a tin mine building with a bench next to it. The sandwiches we had made earlier went down a treat, and a view over the sea to go with it.

The final stretch down towards St Agnes was tough on the knees which were out of practice for hill, note to self do the Ridgeway path with all it’s ups and downs to get your knees in trim. Just on the edge of St Agnes we came across a group of 4 just about to launch a small drone with a very sophisticated controller, the strap told me it was Parrot gear. I sat and watched it being lauched then I looked over the bay, next thing I know I heard the bloke flying it saying “It has never done that before” as they all looked over the wall then climbed to look down the cliff. They had lost the drone some how, I did a good job not laughing as I left hem to it and headed down into the village.

We stopped at the pub and had a swift half, before heading back to the hut, where I polished off one of the scones that had be on the hut when we arrived, the clotted cream from the fridge went nicely on top followed by some strawberry jam. We lounged about for a bit before heading back to the pub for some more beer and something to eat.

I had a pint and the baked skate wing special which was very nice. We shared are table with another couple who were interested in my map app. After eating we went to look at the sea and there was another man flying a drone, however this one came back to him.

London Loop – Orpington to Croydon

Saint Giles the Abbot Church Farnborough

My first free Saturday for a few weeks due to other commitments, so in order to keep the momentum up I headed to London for another section of the Loop walk. We were moving into newly refurbished offices at work and I felt a little guilty about not heading into work, but there were plenty of volunteers. My plan was to involve a tram, the official section was Orpington to West Wickham but that was 9 miles below my target of more than 10. The path passes Croydon station but would have been too far, but I noticed a yellow spot and rail symbol on the OS map which turned out to be a tram, and the path crossed the road at a stop, and the distance would be over the 10 mile mark, perfect!

The weather was blue skies but chilly, as I left the house to catch the 08:11 train from Berkhamsted, and would cloud over later. So the weather would be good for photo’s. The train was on time it was the fast train that took only 30 minutes.i n the ticket hall were two gentlemen in dark Gray suits with slightly oversized but slightly slimmer than usual brief cases, I was intrigued as to who they are and what was in the cases. They were in front of me in the coffee queue and I noticed that both had the same ties on, which had a symbol which I imagined was a masons symbol. I concluded they were masons and they had some sort of ritual item in the cases.

The Northern line to Embankment got me to within walking distance of Charring Cross where the train to Orpington would be waiting. I did not realise the Northern line went to Charring Cross first so ingot off there, not sure if the walk is shorter from Embankment but that is what Google suggested! The Orpington 09:00 train was waiting on platform 6 I had 3 minutes to spare!

I dropped by the bakers I stopped at the end of the last section and bought an iced bun it went down very well. The path very soon goes rural party due to High Elms country park and partly because of a golf course, three miles in I could have been any where in southern England’s countryside. At four miles I passed the Met Police dog training centre entrance, and a garden centre with some friendly ducks. At the top of Holwood hill is the Wilberforce oak where Wilberforce was inspired to talk to Pitt about ending slavery. Then I passed through Keaton village and Hayes heath where there are some grand houses with a view of the valley. The path stays high in the spirit of the loop which takes in some of the high points in London.

I passed some shops and grabbed a sandwich and fruit for lunch, then continues on to Wickham church where a bench in the grave yard made a great place to stop. Whilst sat there a portly man walked up the hill in a pair of Speedos and a rucksack, and proceeded to go into the church! At mile 9 I was on a country road and heading through Shirley, then I headed up the steepest hill of the day where from a viewing platform I got a great view of London, it was a shame that the weather had turned a bit and the sky was overcast. Just set back from the top of Addington Hills was a house which when I got closer appeared to be a restaurant. It turned out to be a Chinese restaurant and Karaoke bar their website.

From the top of the hill I descended through the woods and eventually came to a tram way and the platform. I had to ask someone which side to stand on to get the tram to Croydon. The tram was very swift especially when starting off, I guess due to the electric motors. I alighted at Croydon East station and checked out the train departures board. The quickest route to Euston was via Victoria but the trains heading that way appeared to be delayed so I got the train to London Bridge instead. There was one due in 3 minutes which had no stops in between. Looking out the window you pass close to Millwall football ground where the players were warming up and the fans were passing through the turnstiles.

London Bridge station is under the Shard and it is just a short walk to the underground entrance, where I got the Northern line all the way to Euston then the fast train to Milton Keynes which stopped at Berkhamsted.

Aylesbury Loop – Section 2 – Waddesdon to Little Kimble

We had a barbecue to go to in the afternoon so I needed a local walk, I chose to do a second section of the Aylesbury Loop from Waddesdon to Little Kimble was about 10 mikes and would leave a short stretch left to fill n another day. Google maps suggested I could get a train from Little Kimble a small single track station, which seemed interesting. I checked out street view and there was only 4 parking spaces so I went with and alternative plan I’d necessary. I was aiming for the 08:56, and as luck would have it I had a choice of four spaces. Strangely the train only stopped at Aylesbury but went via High Wycombe according to the information board..

It turns out the train was from somewhere beyond Wycombe and had stopped there. The journey was quite slow and there were lots of unmanned level crossings in the middle of nowhere mainly for farm tracks. I had bought a permit to travel for £2.50 my estimate for the journey and at Aylesbury I had to wait to bu u a proper ticket. With my Railcard the one way ticket was £2.25 so I got some change back.

At Aylesbury bus station I had a short wait for the 17 bus to Waddesdon, the fare was £3.40, I reckon the train although a shorter journey was better value for money. I grabbed a coffee and Eccles cake from the station kiosk. The bus was not very busy only three of us on it, and with one picked up on the way and two of us leaving at Waddesdon only 2 continued towards Bicester.

The path is relatively well sign posted as you leave the village, and you quickly climb as you head towards the Waddesdon stud at the top of the hill. On the way up good views of the Aylesbury vale can be afforded. There were some very young colts with mares in the filed just next door to the stud, they showed little interest in me until I stood still at the fence, a couple of them enjoyed a nose stroke. The weather was hot and I had taken the precaution of an extra bottle of water.

The path stays high and heads almost directly south as it descends into the valley with the River Thame in the bottom. On the way down I spotted no less that 20 Red Kites in the sky, I guess there must have been some harvesting going on out of sight as they usually attracts the graceful birds in numbers at the bottom was the grounds of Eythrope Manor, the driveways are very popular with cyclists. You get distant views of the manor from the path but it looks very similar in design Waddesdon manor. In front of the manor house there is a big lake made by controlling the flow of the river.

Combine harvesters were out doing there stuff, making the mopst of the recent dry spell to get the harvest in before the next days of rain. It looked ok for the driver as he was in an air-conditioned cab but the support workers must have suffered a bit out in the heat, as was I.

La Chouette Belguim Restaurant in Dinton

The path climbs again as you head towards Dinton, and I crossed the Thames road at the folly, which I believe a business bought to convert into a holiday let some years ago, little progress has been made. In Dinton I read the map wrong and ended up having to double back to get to the Seven Stars pub in the middle of the village. I had a half of the bitter to accompany my Cheddar and chutney sandwich with skinny chips, which I also washed down with a pint of orange juice and soda water.

As I left the pub I realised how hot it had become and the next part of the walk stated to become a bit of a chore as the heat made it a bit tedious. As I left the village I came across a Belgium restaurant called La Chouette (The Owl) that makes Dinton quite a culinary village with the pub and the Hermit. The path continues crossing fields as it passes through Ford and Kimble Wick. I was glad when I eventually took a left turn with only a few hundred yards to get back to the car. The Aylesbury loop has been completed.

London trip to the Canadian Embassy

A few months back I booked tickets to look around the newly refurbished Canadian Embassy, it was on a Friday so we had booked a day off. We got the first off peak train from Berkhamsted, which was packed, Helen reckons it was the first time she had had to stand on a train to London, thankfully it was a fast one so we only had to stand for 30 minutes. we arrived and there was lots of police with guns at Euston so we figured out which bus we needed then got a 73 to Buckingham palace.

We arrived at the palace a little early our tickets were for 12 o’clock so we headed away from the tourists and found a cafe full of builders where I had a cherry tart and an americano they were both very nice. When we went back to the palace there was band outside the palace playing the Happy chart hit from a couple of years ago. Back at entrance C we were allowed into an ante tent where we could wait for the security search. It was not a long wait and the security was swift unlike Luton Airport.

Suitably checked out we headed into the one way tour of the palace, for which a commentary iPod/MP3 player was provided. There were a lot of people going round so it was difficult to get close to the exhibits but we saw enough, and I felt that there was plenty to see, and would recommend it to anyone. Eventually we came to the back entrance where we walked out to an area with a cafe and the palace gardens. We were again in a one-way path to the exit, but we were now allowed to take photo’s. At the exit we signed up for the year long pass as I think it may be useful to return in the winter when there may not be so many people.

Just up the road from the exit we got a bus to Piccadilly then walked to but stopped off at an Italian restaurant chain called Prada where I had a half decent Pescatori Pizza and we shared a bottle of water. Whilst eating lunch I checked the tickets it was from 15:00 till 16:00 we both had it in mind that it was at 16:00. Our plans changed instead of going to an exhibition we thought we would be able to go straight from the exhibition and make it to Euston to get the last train before a wait till 19:00 would be required due to the off-peak tickets we had. We headed to Trafalgar Sq, but we were a little early (there is a theme emerging here), so we dropped into the special exhibition about how good Canada were at detecting Neutrinos and cosmic rays. We had to have our bags x-rayed again before we were allowed in.

Window at the top of the Canadian Embassy

The exhibition was small and we were finished by 14:40 and headed o the other entrance where we met a woman with a clipboard doing security, she was insistent that our names should be on the list before we could be let in, the trouble was the site where I booked the two tickets did not ask for may name it just used the account details I had previously given them. Helen was not on the list, I tried to explain that there was a column for quantity on the form on her clipboard but she was having none of it. A member of the embassy staff intervened and we were let in and the situation explained to the clipboard monitor. We were then scanned and x-rayed again to get into the building for a second time.

View from the top floor of the Canadian Embassy

We sat around for a while and the same member of staff came over and started the tour by first giving us a bit of history abut the building which used to be a gentleman’s club before Canada even existed. The tour was very informative there was a lot of art to see, carpets made from art designs and furniture made from Canadian wood, there was at least one room for each Canadian province. We were lucky that there were no conferences or talks going on so we got to see all the rooms, including the ones on the top floor where we sampled honey harvested that day from the roof top bee hive and then we were allowed on the roof terrace to have a look at the view and take picture of Trafalgar Sq.

Once the tour was finished we headed straight for the tube which Helen had agreed to brave to save time. It was very hot but we did make the 1630 train got a seat and had time to stop for a bottle of water. We got home tired but felt we had had a great day out, it beats going to work!

London Loop – Section 1 – Erith to Bexley

I wanted to keep up the Saturday walking and decided that the London Loop would give me a chance to see some parts of London I have never seen, as it goes around the capital and within the M25, and I usually go to the centre.

Quoting Wikipedia : “The London Outer Orbital Path — more usually the “London LOOP” — is a 240-kilometre (150 mi) signed walk along public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, England, described as “the M25 for walkers”. The walk begins at Erith on the south bank of the River Thames and passes clockwise through Crayford, Petts Wood, Coulsdon, Banstead, Ewell, Kingston upon Thames, Uxbridge, Elstree, Cockfosters, Chingford, Chigwell, Grange Hill and Upminster Bridge before ending at Purfleet, almost directly across the Thames from its starting point. Between these settlements the route passes through green buffers and some of the highest points in Greater London.”

I was up early as it would take just short of 2 hours to get to Write the start of the Loop. I comfortably made the 08:11 to Euston, and managed to get a free parking space. One of the good things about the walk is that it is accessible from stations within zones 1-6 which means a London Travelcard will cover it, so the cost would be at most £300 if it takes 15 sections, I would hope to improve on that by covering more than 10 miles on my section breakdown.

I got the Northern line to Bank then got a bit lost finding the right exit for Canon Street station, so had a 20 minute wait for the train to Plumstead. I filled the time playing Pokemon Go and I must say London is a treasure trove of Pokemon. I got on the long and very empty train, and whilst sat in an empty carriage I heard a phone go off. As there was no one on the train I tracked it down answered it, the man on the other end asked where I was, and I agreed to stand outside the carriage so that he could retrieve it for a passenger who had reported it lost. My good deed for the day done and it was only 09:27!

Whilst on the trin I was able to catch Pokemon whan we stoppped at stations, it was a good job I bought my extra capacity battery with me as it is a real drain on batteries. At Plumstead we had to get off the bus and use a replacement bus service which took us to Erith. It was not exactly at the start if the path but it was good enough for me being just a few hundred yards away.

The path keeps to the river Thames for a while and it felt like familiar territory, then followed the river Garent and then the river Cray, it seemed to be a very industrial area with industrial units and a lot of waste recycling. The patch was on a raise embankment and quite isolated I saw two cyclists and one walker in the three miles by rivers.

London Loop – If the bidge is not high enough dig down

The path follows the river Cray for quite some distance most of it through green areas and some it urban. In Crayford I cam across a parade of shops including no less than three barbers. I decided it was a good place to stop and got my self a portion of chips and a litre of water, then sat in a grassy area and listened to a gospel singing in a nearby building.

There was a lot of wildlife on the route I had already seen lots of gulls but failed to see and waders on the Thames mud, the odd Kestrel and the best of all was a Kingfsiher that was heading my direction only to turn around in mid flight really close by.

I had been checking Pokemon every so often and was getting lots of points, as well as lots of water based characters, not something you get around Aylesbury much. I eventually came across Hall Palace where some kids and dogs were making the most of the hot weather and paddling in the river Cray. Hall Palace it self is an independently run historic house which looking at it’s website looks quite interesting it even has Pokemon looking topiary bushes. EventuallI hit a busy dual carriage way where the signing was not great but I eventually found the path around and under to avoid having to cross the road.

The heat was really getting to me by this point so I decided to do the official first section rather than stretching it further as had been my plan. That will be one of the challenges doing the London Loop because public transport is all around it will be tempting to jump on a bus or train when I have had enough. On the Thames walk I was always walking back to my car and had little options for stopping early. I will however also have the option to carry on further if i’m feeling good.

Eventually I got to Bexley which appeared to be an affluent town, with lots of expensive cars in the traffic. I opted for the bus rather than the train as I wanted to see how good it would be for catching Pokemon. It turns out to be very good, if you get the timing right there is a Pokestop every few hundred yards and characters appear just as often. I knew I had to change buses to get to Euston and in front of the bus I was on was a 108 which went to Euston, I took the chance to jump off the one I was on and get on the 108 but it left before I had a chance to get on it. I waited for the next bus and got off at North Greenwich and decided it was getting late so I got on the Jubilee line and then the Northern line to Euston.

The 15:54 from Euston was air conditioned which was a real relief from the heat I had experienced all day. My experience of the first day (excluding the heat) was good and I do plan to complete the whole circuit despite the time it takes to get to the starting points, and then getting back.