18/1/14 - Hopes, Dreams and Goldfish

Distance - 9.8 Miles
Geocaches - 7
Start - Petts Wood
Finish - Hayes


London Loop Time.  How the months are clicking on.  Tickets booked in advance at the end of 2013 to take advantage of ridiculously low prices.  How can a longer journey be 1/10th of the price that I paid on Tuesday's visit to the smoke?  Still, not complaining as I am paying for this one.

5:45am alarm, sneak out of the house and catch the 7am from Birmingham International.  Coffee, Super Furry Animals on the iPod and a near empty carriage.  If only all commuting was like this.

You do have to be careful on Virgin Trains though.  Twice I have gone to use the space age loo and found a girl sat screaming at me to close the door.  The only way to do this is to go in and press the second button, below the one to close the door.  And that would have me in DLT territory.

So I enter, press to close the door and press again to lock it.  A tannoy list of things that should not be flushed down the loo is read out.  It starts simple enough with Nappies, Newspapers, Chewing Gum etc. but then ends with "your hope, your dreams and your goldfish".  Cheeky Richard Branson has a sense of humour to match his book in advance, dead cheap and comfortable travel system.

If only the tube was as well organised.  There is another tannoy announcement saying the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line is closed.  No Problem, I'll get the Bank Branch line to London Bridge and pick up my train there.  It stops at Angel, where there is an announcement that all Bank Branch Trains will terminate at Angel.  So the whole train has to get off, cross the platform and go back North to Euston to venture south on the Victoria Line.

Once at London Bridge, it's 25 Minutes to be dropped off at Pett's Wood and to get the walking started.  Disembark the train and there is man dressed identically to me - softshell, gaiters, rucksack. He strides on before seeing me.

Opposite the Celebration Haunt of Stage 2

Despite the gray skies, the rain holds off but the evidence of our foul January is evident in Jubilee Park.  It's a complete mud pit.  I thank the lord I brought my gaiters with me.  I need to be clean for my investigations in central London later.

Jubilee Park

The Park holds one cache for me to find and then a nice little micro outside a Church.  At first I think its in the bus stop.  This is most embarrassing, as a bus pulls up, the door opens and the driver asks me if I am getting on.

A short walk through an estate to get to Crofton Heath, part of the Bromley Countryside.  This is even muddier than Jubilee Park and the path has turned into a stream.  I can see my doppleganger ahead in the trees and was going to take a photo but he stops for a cup of tea.  We exchange pleasantries about the unpleasantness of the conditions.

Sloshpit

More estate walking and then through sportsfields.  The kids are running around with no tops on.  It is January.  A quick cache before hitting the first village, Farnborough.

Old Coaching Village

There are proud of their heritage here and there are lots of notice boards detailing the history.  It used to be the first stop off point on the road to Hastings.  They have celebrated this by converting the coaching pub into houses.

Not my sort of place at all, but they do have a pretty church at the top of a hill.

Would have been too early for the Coaching Pub anyway.

I then have a marvel at all the different trees in High Elms Country Park.  Lots of families out walking doing the same.  Quick diversion for a cache.

Another quick cache in the green lane called Bogey Lane.

Snot to be sniffed at

From the guide book, I know the highlight of this stretch will be Holwood House and the Wilberforce Oak.  A lovely little bit of history about how Wilberforce and Pitt the Younger sat under an oak, looking at the views of the Vale of Keston and formed the idea on how to do away with slavery.

Can't imagine Cameron and Clegg doing the same when they came up with the Bedroom Tax.

Holwood House - Where Pitt the Younger Lived

The Oak and the Views

Commenerative Bench

There is a cache here, behind the wooden bench.  As I taking photos a young couple sit on it to have their sandwiches.  I have to join them and wait for them to leave before making a fruitless search.  My DNF of the day.

Still, at least I made some new friends.

The walking remains first class and very wild, as I make my way around the ponds of Keston Common.

Keston Ponds

The only thing that I am missing is a pint.  As I get to Keston, there is a choice of two.  I look down at my somme-like gaiters and realise that it's not going to happen.

Temptation.

With a thirst, I plod on through the outskirts of Hayes Common.  Its elevated position would have offered great views but the fences and houses block them off.  I make do with a last couple of caches before dropping down Station Hill into Hayes.

Hayes tells me its Beer O'Clock

Hayes doesn't appear to have much to offer.  The New Inn looks like a huge restaurant.  A quick peep down the main street shows no alternative, with the exception of Costa.

So I de-gaiter, have a snooze on the train back into London and check out the Harp in Chandos place.  Winner of the National Camra pub of the Year, 2010.  I cannot believe I have not been there before.

Have my pint and contemplate on the success of Stage 3.  Each leg seems to get better and better. 

Tickets for stage 4 booked for February.