01/04/17 - Waterlinks Way

Start - Beckenham Junction
Finish - Greenwich
Walk Inspiration
Geocaches - 12
Pubs - 2


London has its big name walks - the Capital Ring, the London Loop and the Jubilee Walkway but it has a series of smaller day walks, that often involve following the course of a river.

The latest one to be tackled is the Waterlinks Way, promoted by Lewisham Council.  Its meant to start at Lower Sydenham Station but ease of access means I start it at Beckenham Junction.

It follows the crystal clear rivers Pool and Ravensbourne, through Catsford and Lewisham to where it empties into the Thames at Deptford Creek.

Walking it is easy and surprisingly green, although of course, there is a fair selection of urban art, shopping centres and trampy looking fellows loitering with cans of very strong lager.  As with all these walks in London, the signage is first class.   The GPS is only required for the high quantity (and quality) geocaches that have been placed along the route.

Photos can summarise the walk.

First of the WW Signs - Lower Sydenham Station

River Pool - Where most of the Geocaches are

Err... Welcome to Ladywell

Funky Lewisham

Street Art

Deptford Creek

The Thames - Canary Wharf Opposite

The Cutty Sark at Greenwich

The walk is over when you reach the Thames near Greenwich.   And I am sure its a couple of miles short of the advertised 8 miles.

I was in danger of it being "pre-opening" hour.

The CAMRA Good Beer Guide was consulted and surprisingly, Greenwich - a place that is teeming with pubs, has no entries to be found in the 2017 edition.

All is not lost.  There is one nearby at Deptford.  I also consulted Bob Steel's CAMRA Pub Walks in London and noticed there is one left to knock off from Walk 16.  A pre-blogging pub crawl completed 11 years ago.

The Dog and Bell, 116 Prince Street, London Pride

Having walked the Thames Path from Windsor to Erith, I presumably must have been passed this handsome riverside pub.  Yet, this is my first visit.

Immaculate inside and out.  Looks like the decorators have been in.

Beer Delivery ruining the lines on my photo

I am met with a warning that the I need to be aware the prices have changed.  I ask if this is an April Fool's joke and its going to cost a dead Brazilian for a pint.  I am fluent in Cockney and the natives like it when you attempt to talk their language.

The response is a bemused £3.80.  The same as I was paying in Worcestershire.

With the pub empty, I have a good look around at the pubs nooks and crannies.  Is this the only pub in London with a working skittles table?

Eventually settle down in the shade of the stained glass windows, on church furniture - reading the first half of their complimentary Times.

A near religious experience

The Ashburnham Arms, Ashburnham Grove, Master Brew

Plenty of time for more entertainment, so I walk a bit of the Thames Path to Deptford Creek and then head inland to a fine residential street of beautiful housing.  Half way along Asburnham Grove is the handsome, eponymous pub.

And the only punter?  A Worcestershire Rambler.

Use it or lose it people of South London

Shepherds Neame...  The answer to a quiz question that caused a near riot in my local last year and still a cause of debate.  The question was "What is England's oldest Brewery?".  Despite having just visited the Three Tuns in Bishops Castle, I was deemed to be incorrect.

I only seem to get the chance to try their ales if I am either in London or Lidl.

The Master Brew should win a prize for most beautiful colouring.

Its a looker

To get over the sound of silence, I find their complimentary copy of the Times and finish it off.   That's £1.50 saved today.   But is it cheeky to attempt the fiendish Sudoku on a communal newspaper?

Not if you get it right.

All that remains of the day is how to get back to the City but really, there's no choice.  Flush with an extra £1.50, I can treat myself on the Thames Clipper.

Only way to travel

30/03/17 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Bewdley

Distance - 1 Mile
Geocaches - 2
Pubs - 4

The Camra Good Beer Guide Pubs of Bewdley line up along the Kidderminster Road, like stepping stones reaching to the centre of this fine Georgian Town.  They make a perfect pub crawl.

The Rising Sun, 139 Kidderminster Road, Wye Valley Butty Bach

Four real ales and trust me to pick the one that has just gone.  I curse my luck to the barman, who points out that this is not bad luck, for I will be partaking in the freshest pint available tonight.

Patience, a virtue I never seemed to learn.

Barman departs for the cellar, leaving me to be entertained by two black springers, each with their own ball, who seemingly never tire of tear-arsing around the pub to retrieve them from a strangers boot.

The barman comes back and takes pride in his work.  A complex ritual of decanting between glasses, having a taste and holding to the light is performed before £3.40 is exchanged for the finished article.

Perfection in a Glass

The next punter to come in admires my purchase and says it looks lovely and asks what it is.  No doubt he will be having the 2nd freshest pint tonight.

The Waggon and Horses, 91 Kidderminster Road, Bathams

A short stroll to destination number two, interrupted only by a geocache, magnetically attached to a phone box.

Despite their branded house glasses protesting that they are in Wribbenhall and not Bewdley, this was pub of the night.

Od Waggon and Horses....

... In Wribbenhall

There's a choice of six real ales on.  Like a parent forced to choose his favourite child, the selection ultimately comes down to a Three Tuns or a Bathams.  Sorry Bishops Castle, for once, Brierly Hill wins.

The pub is packed - obviously a testament to quality of the ales.  I sit near a quartet of post work boozers and learn the evil ways of dentists and vets.

The Great Western. 42 Kidderminster Road, Bewdley Brewery Worcestershire Way

A pattern emerging here - a short walk - a geocaching interlude in Wribbenhall Churchyard.

This place appears to have had an external make over - with bold advertising on pale paint offering "Ales, Stouts, Wines, Porters, Tonics and Revivers".

Under the Arches

The pub has a mezzanine floor, crying out for exploration and a chance to do a Begbie.  But first the ale selection.  There a lot of Speckled Hens and Greene Kings on offer, so I go LocALE for a pint of Bewdley Breweries Worcestershire Way.  Unusually, I am offered the choice of a straight of handled jug.  I feel like Michael Caine in Get Carter.

My Untappd check in elicits a grim warning of "water infections" from Mrs Mappiman.

LocALE

The Mug House, 12 Severn Side, Timothy Taylor Landlord

No more unfound Geocaches but a chance to recreate the photo from the Great Western.

Bewdley by Night

The Mug House has always been my destination pub in Bewdley.  Perfect location by the river, with one of the best beer gardens in the land - suitable for all year round use by a outdoor heating system that would have environmentalists shaking their heads.

It's the closest place to home where I can get Timothy Taylor Landlord.  I never before noticed the premium that I have been paying.  £3.85 a pint.

Still, pubs are like houses...... it's location, location, location.

Mug House - also home of a fine restaurant

The closest to home Timothy

25-03-17 - Wye to Thames - Walk 9 - Moreton-in-Marsh to Kingham

Distance - 12.7 Miles
Geocaches - 2
Previous Walks - Walk 1, Walk 2, Walk 3, Walk 4, Walk 5, Walk 6, Walk 7, Walk 8
Pubs - Horse and Groom, Upper Oddington and Kings Head, Bledington

I boldly claimed that Stage 8 of this superb walk from Hereford to Oxford along the Cotswold Railway Line would be the best.

It appears I may have peaked too early in my praise.

It could have been the sunshine (after all, we have had two weekends at opposite ends of the country in Fog) but this is a special, easy walk.

And it will be remembered for the day when Mrs Mappiman smashed the psychological double digit walking miles barrier.

We've looked at the train times and know that the two hour mid afternoon siesta taken by Great Western Railways means an early start.  Frost knocked off the car and at 7:30am, we are the first to park up at Moreton-in-Marsh railway station car park.

And out, through the surprisingly busy high street, and into the countryside.  Nice to report a new geocache has been placed at the Duck Pond since the last leg.

Geocache GZ 1 - The Duck Pond

Early Morning Countryside Views

The Monarch's Way takes us out of town to the first architectural highlight of the day, Sezincote Hall, a little bit of India in the Cotswolds.  Worth the short detour off the planned route to get the an up close view.  I will meet it again when I complete the Heart of England Way.  Look at the views, it's going to be no hardship.

Built 1805

The Heart of England Way

This walk is a collection of pretty villages.  If you time it right, it could be a four pub beauty.  If you judge a village by its local, then Longborough is the pick of the lot.  We are greeted by the beautiful church and then meet the Coach and Horses, including the landlord who tries to convince me its never too early.  It's 8:30am.  He may have been joking with the daft ramblers.

Longborough Church 

What a Beauty - Coach and Horses - Longborough

The HOE Way is shunned and we let the Monarchs Way take us through Donnington and a revisit into Broadwell, a mere 5 months since our last visit.  One day we'll time it right for when the Fox is actually open.

Photos of the Fox - 2 - Actual Visits - 0

We lunched on Broadwell Village Green during our last visit.  We are making good time but I feel the need to press on.  I do vow to stop at the next bench we see at just the moment (7.5 miles in) that Mrs M suggests it would be a good point to "rest her hips".  Next bench found outside a the Horse and Groom in Upper Oddington.  It's 10:06am and has a sign both proclaiming its North Cotswolds CAMRA Pub of the Year 2013 and open at 10am.

I get that look.  The one that says "You're not having a pint, are you?".   As usual, she is correct.  The landlord will only sell me tea.  Cafe culture, my aris.

Tea for 2 and a 15 minute breather

Geocache 2 is at the Church at Lower Oddington.  The description tells all about the C14th Wall painting called the Doom.  Alas, copper thieves have rendered access impossible - the rain has got in, the picture has been damaged and the church is under repair.  This is the description of the painting from the cache page and you have to hope the Big G is really this vengeful.

The main wall painting in the church is the 14th century'Doom',dated to about 1340 it is 32ft long and 15ft high.

In the upper part is the seated figure of Christ,attended by Angels and Apostles.Below Angels blowing trumpets summon the dead from their graves.To the right the lost are being propelled by devils into the jaws of hell.

Nearby some of the torments of the damned are depicted with fearful realism inc a man suspended from a gibbet and a group of persons being boiled in a cauldron.

I wouldn't mess with his roof.

The final part of the walk can be filed under "Mud", as we cross woodland and Bledington Heath. The railway station is mid way between Bledington and Kingham.  We have made an excellent 2.6 MPH and timed it to perfection to at least visit the one pub.  The Kings Head in Bledington, located idyllically on the village green.

Everything I want from a pub.  Open, serving pints and an entry in the 2017 Good Beer Guide.   And a chance to sample a never seen before Otter Bright.

Kings Head, Bledington.  Shame about the Telegraph Wires

I've got Sunshine in a Glass!

Cheers All - Happy Spring!

19/03/17 - Porlock - Top Ship to Bottom Ship

Distance - 4 Miles
Pubs - 2
Geocaches - 5

We learn a couple of things about this part of the world.  Exmoor appears to have it's own micro climate.  We left our Porlock apartment bathed in blue skies to arrive at Lorna Doone farm in thick, wet flog.

But what an adventure getting there!  Road, the width, windiness and steepness I have never before experienced.  And if a BMW X5 is 1968mm wide, then Robber's Bridge is exactly 2m.  It may look a pretty pack horse bridge from the picnic area, but its frankly terrifying when your wife is out in the rain - giving you confident hand signals that betray the grimace on her face.

Park up, decide the 8 miles in the fog will be no fun and head back.  Taking different roads.

We can complete a nice little walk between the two Good Beer Guide Pubs in the area.

The Top Ship Inn, Porlock, High Street - Exmoor Ales, Otter Ales

This was our base for both holidays in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and this year.  We were keen to come back to a 13th Century thatched pub, renown for its food and beer.

Thankfully, it was exactly as we remember it.

Multi Building Pub - C13th at its oldest 

We did spend more time exploring both the beers and the different rooms.  Otter Amber was the pick of the pints although a special shout out has to go to Exmoor Ales Beast.  Rather fittingly for a 6.6% beer, the bar staff disappear down into the cellar when you order it.  Presumably it's kept under lock and key, away from the lesser ales.

What's on at the Top Ship

The Walk

Nothing could be simpler than the walk down to Porlock Weir.  We followed the quiet road on the way down.  Spent a bit of time investigating the Weir and the handful of geocaches on offer.  We found a more interesting route back, following an excellent brideway through the woods.

Only photos required to tell a story.

Gloomy Views over Porlock

Striding Purposely through West Porlock

To the Weir

Photo needed for an Earth Cache

Views from Porlcok Weir

Slightly elevated views from the Woodland

The Bottom Ship, Porlock Weir

The Bottom Ship - Just as impressive

Seemingly, the two pubs are owned by the same management.  We saw posters advertising two nights B&B for £90 and spent a while debating whether this was per person.  It appears that this is the total price - and if so, a bargain.

They also have a beer festival - WeirFest - and run a shuttle bus between the two locations for those real alers not into their walking.

We arrived at 10am on a Sunday morning and although tempted by the fine selection of LocALEs, it was a cup of tea for me a coffee for Mrs Mappiman.

I am not that much of a beast.

Can you believe I chose tea over this.